PMCD (PreMaster CD) is a specially formatted, recordable

Compact Disc The compact disc (CD) is a Digital media, digital optical disc data storage format that was co-developed by Philips and Sony to store and play digital audio recordings. In August 1982, the first compact disc was manufactured. It was then rele ...

designed to be sent to a CD pressing plant for replication. The PreMaster CD format, developed in the early 1990s by the

CD-ROM A CD-ROM (, compact disc read-only memory) is a type of read-only memory consisting of a pre-pressed optical compact disc that contains data. Computers can read—but not write or erase—CD-ROMs. Some CDs, called enhanced CDs, hold both comput ...

division of

Sony , commonly stylized as SONY, is a Japanese multinational conglomerate corporation headquartered in Minato, Tokyo, Japan. As a major technology company, it operates as one of the world's largest manufacturers of consumer and professional ...

, in cooperation wit
"START Lab Inc."
of Tokyo and

Sonic Solutions Sonic Solutions was an American computer software company headquartered in Novato, California. In addition to having a number of offices in the U.S., the company also maintained offices in Europe and Asia. It was acquired by Rovi Corporation in 201 ...

, contained a hidden “PreMaster Cue Sheet” that held the metadata needed for replication that a ''Red Book''

CD-DA Compact Disc Digital Audio (CDDA or CD-DA), also known as Digital Audio Compact Disc or simply as Audio CD, is the standard format for audio compact discs. The standard is defined in the ''Red Book'', one of a series of Rainbow Books (named fo ...

lacks. The PreMaster CD format made use of the fact that not all data-recording surfaces are specified for use in the ''Red Book'' CD-DA or ''Yellow Book'' CD-ROM standards. CD transports were not able to recover the data hidden in the Cue Sheet unless commanded to by proprietary software. The Cue Sheet specified a broad range of metadata, including number of channels, per track

pre-emphasis Typically, prior to some process, such as transmission over cable, or recording to phonograph record or tape, the input frequency range most susceptible to noise is boosted. This is referred to as "pre-emphasis"before the process the signal will u ...

status, per track

copy protection Copy protection, also known as content protection, copy prevention and copy restriction, describes measures to enforce copyright by preventing the reproduction of software, films, music, and other media. Copy protection is most commonly found on ...

bit setting, per track ISRC Codes, per disc UPC/

EAN Ean may refer to: People * Ean Campbell (1856–1921), Anglican bishop in the early 20th century * Ean Elliot Clevenger, multi-instrumentalist, vocalist, and songwriter * Ean Evans (1960–2009), bassist for Lynyrd Skynyrd from 2001 until his de ...

, etc. Despite claims to the contrary, only

’ “Sonic System” software was able to generate PreMaster CDs. PMCDs were subsequently obsoleted by the more modern and generalized DDP specification. Several factors led to the decline of the PreMaster CD standard. First, the CD-R mechanisms that were able to read and write the hidden cue sheet metadata went out of production in the late 1990s. Second, only Laser Beam Recorders or LBRs manufactured by

were able to read PMCDs, which limited the formats adoption by replicators. Many CD replicators now accept regular

CD-R CD-R (Compact disc-recordable) is a digital optical disc storage format. A CD-R disc is a compact disc that can be written once and read arbitrarily many times. CD-R discs (CD-Rs) are readable by most CD readers manufactured prior to the in ...

discs in place of true PMCDs, which can be created using specialized

Audio CD Compact Disc Digital Audio (CDDA or CD-DA), also known as Digital Audio Compact Disc or simply as Audio CD, is the standard format for audio compact discs. The standard is defined in the ''Red Book'', one of a series of Rainbow Books (named fo ...

pre-mastering software. Unfortunately, CD-Rs formatted as “Audio CDs,” which really are Red Book-formatted Orange Book discs, are not designed for disc replication, only content distribution. The

CIRC Circ or CIRC may refer to: * Čirč, a village and municipality in northern Slovakia * Circ (company), a German scooter-sharing company acquired by Bird * Circ (duo), an American music duo * China Insurance Regulatory Commission * Climate Impact ...

error correction In information theory and coding theory with applications in computer science and telecommunication, error detection and correction (EDAC) or error control are techniques that enable reliable delivery of digital data over unreliable communica ...

used for the

audio data Digital audio is a representation of sound recorded in, or converted into, digital form. In digital audio, the sound wave of the audio signal is typically encoded as numerical samples in a continuous sequence. For example, in CD audio, sampl ...

on these discs is not as extensive as what is used for

DVD The DVD (common abbreviation for Digital Video Disc or Digital Versatile Disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any kind ...

formats so, corruption of the audio data during readout due to dirt or mechanical damage could result in total loss of the audio data. Modern, professional pre-mastering software relies on the DDP format, which protects both the audio data and its associated metadata.

External links

"PreMaster CD"
an

software from Sonic Studio, are the direct descendants of the original Sonic System from

. *A 199
technical memorandum
provides details concerning the PreMaster Cue Sheet. Sound technology Compact disc {{sound-tech-stub