The CD celebrates its 30th birthday, recalls a time when it was cool to play music with lasers

The CD celebrates its 30th birthday, looks forward to retro kitsch retirement

Like so many other technologies, it’s tough to pin down an exact birthday for the compact disc. If we’re tracing things back to the world of LaserDisc as a potential commercial product, we’re talking years or decades earlier. As far as laboratory testing is concerned for the tech as we’ve come to know, love and subsequently abandon, the we’re going back to the mid-70s in our journey. For the sake of simplicity, let’s go with the first commercial record to be released on the format. That would be 52nd Street by one William Martin Joel, a release that came a few years after the album’s issuing on vinyl, to coincide with the Sony’s CDP-101, which let audiophiles do more than just stare in wonder at the shiny plastic disc they just bought.

Filed under: Home Entertainment

The CD celebrates its 30th birthday, recalls a time when it was cool to play music with lasers originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 01 Oct 2012 10:16:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink Email this | Comments

Latest posts

LG will release the first 1000Hz, 1080p gaming monitor this year

If you just can't choose between refresh rate and resolution, LG's next gaming monitor could solve your problem, as the UltraGear 25G590B monitor is...

YouTube removes dedicated ‘Subscriptions’ tab from mobile app in new test

YouTube is no stranger to redesigns, but the next one could throw your muscle memory for a loop. The mobile app might be getting...

Volvo teases a new affordable EV to replace discontinued EX30

Volvo's compact, quirky EX30 had a lot of problems when it was first released. Tariffs essentially erased its affordability, making it more expensive to...

Sony is raising short-subscription prices for PlayStation Plus

Sony is hiking the starting price of one-month and three-month PlayStation Plus subscriptions in "select regions," blaming "ongoing market conditions." Beginning May 20th, 1-month...

Google is rolling out its redesigned Workspace app icons

It's not just you - the Google Workspace apps are getting a new look. The redesigned app icons, leaked last month, are now rolling...

Elon Musk loses his case against Sam Altman

After around two hours of deliberation, the jury has reached a unanimous verdict in Musk v. Altman, the tech trial of the year. The...

Dyson’s super-slim PencilWash just hit its best price to date for Memorial Day

If Dyson’s PencilVac Fluffycones made you wish the company had built something similarly slim for scrubbing the hard floors in your home, enter the...

Walmart launches new budget-friendly Android tablets starting at $97

Walmart's Onn brand just launched a whole line of budget-friendly Android tablets that, all together, cost less in total than a single iPad Pro....

Musk v. Altman proved that AI is led by the wrong people

The tech trial of the year, Musk v. Altman, was ultimately a fight for control. Elon Musk argued that Sam Altman, with whom he...

PlayStation exclusives aren’t coming to PC anymore

Sony reportedly won't release its major single-player PlayStation games on PC anymore. According to Bloomberg's Jason Schreier, Hermen Hulst, who heads up PlayStation's studios...