Dave Horvath
16 Aug 2007 19:27
For some of us it doesn't seem all that long ago, but the revolutionary Compact Disc is officially 25 years old. Although, development of the disc dates back many years, the official date in which the Compact Disc was unleashed upon the world stands at August 17, 1982.
The format was co-developed by Philips and Sony and opened up a new pressing plant in Hanover, Germany. The very first audio CD to be pressed at that plant intended for production belonged to ABBA's The Visitors. Although production of the Compact Disc began in August of 1982, it wasn't offically brought to the market, only in Japan, until November of the same year. The US and Europe didn't see this bright new format until March of 1983.
It seems the UK took hold of the format almost immediately and in 1985, Dire Straits released their album Brothers in Arms which was bought up by early adopters of the format. This milestone was important because it marked the first time a CD was produced using a digital master.
Other digital albums proved to be even more popular with Pink Floyd's Dark Side of the Moon rumored to have its own CD pressing plant to keep up with demand for the hyperdimensional sounds of Floyd.
Originally in 1979, Sony and philips intended to unleash a 11.5cm disc to the masses capable of storing an hours worth of music, but later was scrapped in favor of the 12cm disc holding 74 minutes of digital audio.
To this day, CD still remains the majority in legally purchased music formats. Some 200 billion have been sold in its 25 years, but its global domination is slowly being etched away by legal and illegal downloading.
Source:
Register