What type of device is commonly associated with the term 'sequential access'?

The term 'sequential access' is commonly associated with devices that retrieve data in a specific order or sequence. CD-ROMs operate using a method where data is accessed in a linear manner – you typically cannot jump directly to a specific location as one could with other types of storage. Instead, the device reads the data sequentially from the start to the end, which makes it inherently different from random access devices.

In contrast, hard drives are generally considered random access devices, allowing data to be fetched from any point on the disk without needing to read through all preceding data. Solid-state drives (SSDs) and RAM also fall into the category of random access, permitting much faster retrieval of data that can be accessed out of order.

Thus, the association of sequential access with CD-ROMs highlights the limitations in how data can be retrieved on that medium, and it accurately represents the nature of its access method.