CD-RW Requirements?

[Marc Shapiro <mshapiro@inetone.net>]

This is not specifically a Debian question, or even, really, a Linux
question, but I don't know where else to ask.

Why do CD-RWs have such ungodly system requirements?

I was just looking at a CD-RW (24/10/40) that actually specified Linux
compatability (Slackware, but a Linux driver is a Linux driver, I would
guess).  The box says that it requires a PII 350 MHz (500 MHz
recommended for writing) and 64 MB of disk space (128 MB recommended for
writing).

My P 166 MHz desktop reads and writes to my IDE hard drive at
considerably faster speeds, why can't it read and write to an IDE
CD-RW?  Is that kind of memory and processor speed REALLY required to
run these things, and, if so, why?

-- 
Marc Shapiro                         "If you drink melomel every day,
m_shapiro@bigfoot.com                you will live to be 150 years old,
Please visit "The Meadery" at:       unless your wife shoots you."
http://www.bigfoot.com/~m_shapiro/   -- Dr. Ferenc Androczi, winemaker,
                                     Little Hungary Farm Winery