Optical discs in general and CD-ROM in particular are helping fuel a revolution in information access that media, hardware, and information providers and producers hope will not only reach a variety of targeted groups, but will also lead to interactive involvement of the general public. This chapter reviews the events of recent years in this dynamic area; discusses the variety of read-only, write once, and erasable media that have been developed; considers standards that provide consumers with confidence to acquire. new systems and products; describes approaches and activities to publishing and accessing CD-ROM and related materials; surveys the broad application areas; considers the research underway and required; anticipates future trends; and draws conclusions regarding the importance of this exciting technology. While videodiscs are frequently referred to, the focus is on CD-ROM, along with related products like CD-I. The importance of having second generation products that are highly interactive and which draw on the best work on hypertext, hypermedia, and retrieval methods is emphasized.