Is a CD-rom the same as a DVD-r?

The term "CD" means Compact Disk..so there really is no product just called a "CD"..it must be CD-ROM, CD-R, CD-RW,etc. "CD" means the same thing in all categories. The difference lies in the letters after CD, for example CD-ROM mean Compact Disk Read Only Memory which means you cannot write to it you can only read it as in play a movie. CD-RW, means Compact Disk Read/Write, which means you can read and write to it. Hope this helps.
They are totally different. You cannot play a CD-ROM in a CD/DVD player; but, depending on your computer software, you can play a CD on your computer.

In other Words, a CD-ROM can only be used in a computer, but a CD can be used in a CD/DVD player and on any computers that have software for playing CD's.