The CD Turns 25 Today

netbuzz writes "Seems like only yesterday to those of us of a certain age, but the CD turns 25 today. Philips, maker of the first CD on Aug. 17, 1982, estimates that more than 200 billion have been sold since. The younger set might have trouble appreciating the difference in auditory quality that the compact disc represented over vinyl or cassette tapes (some have probably never even seen a record). And all but true trivia buffs will have trouble coming up with the name of the artist on that first disc."

The First Discs Were Not ABBA

[eldavojohn]

The artist on that first disc: ABBA.

Huh, that's funny because I always thought that the first discs were of the Alpine Symphony by Richard Strauß [cdman.com]. I read about it yesterday on an actual article that isn't written like a comedian was drunk [physorg.com]. From the article in the summary,

And lastly -- hey, hey, hey, wait just another second, those video games aren't going anywhere ... And lastly, I want you to know exactly how close the manufacturing of that very first CD came to killing -- and I mean killing deader than Elvis -- the entire music industry.

Maybe ABBA's "The Visitors" was the first commercially released CD in the United States but even Wikipedia says there were 16 different discs released in Japan [wikipedia.org] first, it wasn't until a year later they came to the United states and all sixteen of them couldn't be ABBA. Furthermore they were popular at the time, how could that kill the music industry? There was only trash on Blu-Ray for a while but that doesn't mean other movies aren't going to come out. Ugh, I hate articles that are written poorly & contain pointless interjections making fun of my age. Of all [google.com] the news [bbc.co.uk] sources you could link to, this one is pure trash.

He also forgot the part where they re-released a few new or live tracks on a disc just to make the die hard fans buy into another medium. That kind of practice really makes me sick. Of course, we're doomed to see it repeated until the end of time in the name of making another buck.

heheh

[grub]

I remember when they released. I commented something to the effect of "Bah, perhaps for classical music they'll be great but for stuff like Motorhead or Slayer? Why? So I can say 'this is the cleanest distortion around?'

Boy was I ever wrong. I still miss the large album covers and inserts from the LP days. Other than that vinyl is dead to me.

RIP

[Guppy06]

Judging by the lack of Philip's logo on most (if not all) music media sold today (due to the inclusion of DRM efforts violating the standards), I'm not altogether sure CD-DA has lived long enough to reach 25.

Re:Stupid CDs

[melt away]

They are MUCH more scratch-resistant than vinyl, though - which I think was the point at the time. But yeah, they are far less indestructible than first advertised.

Re:Happy Birthday!

[Anonymous Monkey]

Oh, you mean the USB thumb drive/MP3 player that holds 4gb? Why not just check your order status on line. ;)

Auditory Quality?

[hansamurai]

The younger set might have trouble appreciating the difference in auditory quality that the compact disc represented over vinyl or cassette tapes (some have probably never even seen a record).

Auditory Quality? Maybe CDs sound better than cassette tapes, and technically, they probably sound better than vinyl, but I still prefer the sound of vinyl records to anything else. I grew up listening to my dad's music who has something like 10,000 45s and LPs. I love the sound of the needle touching down on the record and the opening scratchiness. Maybe it's just me, but I think we're missing something... analog.

Re:War on standards

[multipartmixed]

> CD-R, CD-RW was one schism, that looks trivially comprehensible compared to
> the acronym soup of DVD+R, DVD-R, DVD-ROM, etc. Then the HD/Bluray war.

You said, it brother.

I once witnessed the following discussion between a sales droid and a customer in a major department store:

C: (looking at blank media) What's the difference between the DVD minus R and the DVD plus R?
SD: The DVD plus R, you can read and write to it. The minus R is, well, you can only write to it, you can't read from it

*jesus fucking christ*

Re:Stupid CDs

[DerekLyons]

Maybe CD's were/are fragile to someone who just 'throws stuff into a pile', but I was raised to take care of my things. (Didn't have a lot of money, so stuff that got broke might not get replaced.) I never find putting vinyl/tapes/CDs back into their cases to be much of a burden.

Re:Stupid CDs

[Aluvus]

When you put CDs on a spindle, you are making it very difficult for them to incur any damage. Much more so than if they are loose and able to rub horizontally. CDs have a raised ring (top and bottom surfaces) near the center hole; when placed on a spindle, this ring and the very edge of the disc are all that come into contact with the discs above and below. Spindle storage is very safe as a result.