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Technology
Bringing technology news from around Berkshire |
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Musical Milestones – 25 Years of the CD
This week saw the 30th anniversary of the passing of the King of Rock n Roll – and according to the latest sales figures it seems Elvis is more popular now than he’s ever been before. The past week also marked another milestone for music lovers, although it passed almost unnoticed: it’s 25 years since the launch of the CD.
For those of us that still get misty-eyed at the mention of vinyl records, this week saw the anniversary of a musical milestone: can you believe it’s 25 years since the launch of the CD?
When the first CDs rolled off a Philips production line in Germany back in 1982, nobody seriously envisaged the role they would ultimately end up playing in the world of entertainment – even the inventors of the format. One of the Philips engineers that worked on the project recently said: “We never imagined that one day, the computing and entertainment industries would opt for the digital CD to store the growing volume of data for computer programs and movies.”
For music lovers, the CD format has always been something of a mixed blessing. On the one hand it paved the way for countless reissues of lost and rare material. CD re-releases abounded with ‘bonus tracks’, alternate takes, and rare ‘B’sides that the traditional vinyl collector would have spent serious time and money trying to track down. On the other hand, classic ‘album cover art’ (think ‘Sgt Pepper’ for example) just didn’t lend itself to the new format. The thrill of rushing home to play the latest slab of vinyl whilst relishing the cover design was all but lost with these newfangled tiny digital discs.
But here we are 25 years - and more than 200 billion CD sales – later, wondering how we ever managed without them. Philips initially developed the CD for video rather than audio. The first video discs were 12” copies of the familiar vinyl format. They never caught on, but Philips engineers pursued the idea of a more compact version for audio only… the rest is history.
· The first album to be pressed onto CD was "The Visitors" by ABBA.
· The first million-selling CD album was ‘Brothers in Arms’ by Dire Straits
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