Most software publishers now distribute their software on CD-ROM which is cheaper and more convenient than conventional floppy disk packaging. CD-ROMS will not be around forever, though. Computers are already being shipped with DVD drives built in. The DVD drive will eventually replace the videotape and VCR for storing movies. They also typically support playing audio CDs via an external headphone jack or line level output.
Some CDs also allow reading the frames of data from audio CDs in digital form.
With appropriate software, you can view the images on a computer, manipulate them, or send them to a printer. They use a different media and specialized equipment for recording, but the resulting disc can be read by any CD-ROM drive. In the future CD-ROM drive vendors are expected to offer new technologies that will increase storage capacity by an order of magnitude.