Young Minds, Inc.

Young Minds Inc. is a privately held company located in Southern California. Founded in 1989 by Andrew Young, David Cote, and Matthew Hornbeck, the company's original focus (as reflected in its name) was to develop educational CD-ROM titles. The lack of good CD-ROM development tools resulted in the company shifting its focus to creating CD authoring software.

With the introduction of CD-R recorders, the company developed CD Studio, the first direct attach CD recording solution for Unix computers. CD Studio was well-received in the market, and has evolved into the current family of Young Minds' Studio CD-R and DVD-R solutions. These solutions include CD Studio, DVD Studio, Power Studio, and MPS4. Young Minds has always taken a leading role in expanding the capabilities of CD and DVD technology through its relationship with other prominent companies and as an active partner in various optical disc standards committees.

Andrew Young, Chairman of the company, authored the Rock Ridge Interchange Protocol proposal, which defines additional functionality for ISO 9660 standard discs used in UNIX environments. It was the publication of Rock Ridge that made the use of CD and DVD technology practical in Unix environments.