The Compact Disc turns 25 today.

[aaharvel]

Here's a great article from Prospect Magazine on the rise and fall of the most popular multimedia format in history.

http://www.prospect-magazine.co.uk/a...ls.php?id=9735

An exert:

Arriving on the market in 1982, just after record sales began to revive following a three-year downturn, the compact disc ushered in the biggest boom in profits the record companies had known since 7" singles gave way to 12" LPs in the late 1960s. The CD persuaded many music fans to replace their vinyl collection with digital copies of music they had already paid for. And the rise of the CD permitted record companies to double the price of their basic product without incurring a huge uplift in costs. Even allowing for the royalty paid to the joint inventors of the CD—Philips and Sony—the discs were soon being manufactured for little more than it cost to crank out vinyl records on ancient presses.

Initial anxieties that consumers might be resistant to the more expensive format proved unfounded. Research revealed that music fans were more worried about the cost of acquiring a CD player than by the price of the discs. Paying £12 (£30 in today's money) for an album that, nearly everybody agreed, sounded better and was easier to manipulate than a vinyl LP, didn't feel steep in the mid-1980s. In 1994, the CD supplanted the cassette as the most popular platform for recorded music in western markets.

Yet in some ways the CD contained the seeds of its own destruction. One of the few industry moguls to raise his voice against the digital format in its early days was the late Maurice Oberstein, an American who was latterly head of the Polygram UK (later Universal) label. "Do you realise we are giving away our master tapes here?" he asked at an industry event. At the time, everybody was too busy counting the cash to listen. But as the advent of recordable CDs kickstarted a black economy in counterfeits in the 1990s, Oberstein was proved right.

[hearingimpared]

It's amazing how what worked 25 years ago now works backasswards today.

When I was going to concerts at least three a week, it started off at $1.25 per ticket. It then slowly rose to $4.50 up through $8.50 per. Bands toured to promote their latest album. Now it is backwards and I'm sure tickets are costing $75 to $200 per ticket.

[rskarvan]

I purchased my first CD player in 1983. It was a 3-beam Sony that I found open-box at a clearance sale at HH Gregg. Worked great. Cost = $69.

[hearingimpared]

You just fired a memory cell. My first CD player was an NAD. Man did those first generation players sound like ass! I think I still have that player somewhere buried in storage.

[avguytx]

I think my first CD player was an ADC or something like that. It was a nice little beast for its time and for what it cost. It couldn't be too expensive as I was only about 16 or 17 when they first hit the market.

[treitz3]

Mine was a Pioneer that had a single disc transport and a six disc cartridge. Expensive for a guy popping zits and mowing lawns. Those were the days.....

[Silverti]

Pretty sure my first CD player was Sony. My first changer was one of them early Pioneers with the 6 disk cart. I think I sold that to my mom (lol) and bought the first Sony 5 disk round table changer. I think I paid for them when I was 15.5 years old making $3.35 an hour at Taco Bell.

[Danny Tse]

Somewhat related....

In the current issue of The Absolute Sound, the magazine celebrates the 25th anniversary of the CD. In the issue, it mentioned....

CD was launched in Japan on August 31, 1982.
CD was launched in the US on October 1, 1982.

Apparently, there's some kind of discrepency regarding the "launch date", especially in light (ahem....pardon the pun :D ) of the history of the format as provided by Sony. Therefore, I e-mailed The Absolute Sound and received a personalized response from Robert Harley, who said that the magazine's dates were verified by Sony. I have since e-mailed Mr. Harley links to the forementioned Sony site, plus links to other sites on the internet that mentioned October 1, 1982 as the date on which CD first became available to the public.

Perhaps the magazine has a different definition of the word "launch".

[reeltrouble1]

cd=vhs

I suspect only the sacd will be around until you can download in high rez then it will be kissed goodbye as well, sure players will be available just like vcr's are still sold, the paradigm though has already shifted. Vinyl will get a mild bump, but downloads is where the money is at.

you know the big money boys want you to pay for something each time you use it, they already tried it once with those movies you could watch for a few times then they disappeared. That failed because it was a hard product, folks do not seem to mind as much if a soft product disappears after they use it.

RT1

[ND13]

I bought my first cd player in 1983, a Sharp single disc. It was a great little player for it's time, costing around $200. From that day forward, I never bought another pre-recorded cassette.

[zombie boy 2000]

You just fired a memory cell. My first CD player was an NAD. Man did those first generation players sound like ass! I think I still have that player somewhere buried in storage.

I figured you would have just thrown this month's issue of TAS directly into the fireplace Joe:D

[hearingimpared]

I figured you would have just thrown this month's issue of TAS directly into the fireplace Joe:D

Well my friend I have changed my position concerning digital audio. I've been listening through a tube pre and I now found that I can enjoy the 800 or 900 CDs and SACDs that I own. :o

[treitz3]

Mark that one down in the history books folks..........

[candyliquor35m]

Well my friend I have changed my position concerning digital audio. I've been listening through a tube pre and I now found that I can enjoy the 800 or 900 CDs and SACDs that I own. :o

Joe,

I think this deserves it's own thread. Tell us more. What pre is it and what tubes are you using?

[hearingimpared]

That thread is a long time coming. I'm just getting all my ducks in a row.