The great “CD” we all know what it is and we’ve all used it, but what is the actual value of having a CD (in your hands), just the way the manufacturer sold it? Since 1974 Philips audio industry had been working on the developing and manufacturing CD’s and CD player, but in 1977 they established a research lab to facilitate there needs. Philips decided on naming this new product the “Compact Disc” in succession of there most recent release the “Compact Cassette“. At the same time, Sony had also been working on developing there own type of CD revealing its first efforts in 1976. In 1982 Sony and Philips partnered up for the release of there new 12cm disc, with the Sony CDP-101 and Billy Joel’s sixth studio album, 52nd Street, in a CD format.
Can you remember when you had to go to your local record store or wait for a song to come out on the radio just to listen to a song? Since 1977 until now, there has been products that have come and gone like the audio cassettes, Mini Disc and now the CD. Sales in the UK last year have reported a fall by 13%, while sales for Vinyl albums have increase from 2.8 million records to 3.9 million. Other newer video formats such as DVD and Blu-ray use the same physical geometry as CD, and video players can usually play audio CDs as well. By the early 2000’s, the CD largely replaced the audio cassette player as standard equipment in new auto mobiles with 2010 being the final model for any car in the UK to have a factory-equipped cassette player. So could the CD still have a bright future?
At first, MP3’s were burned from CDs onto computers, traded on peer-to-peer networks such as Napster and the Internet’s back alleys. Then Apple released the iPod, and its iTunes store turned digital music files into a legitimate business. Now popular services like Spotify and Pandora let users stream music from anywhere, and Amazon and Apple are encouraging people to store their digital libraries in the cloud. Like CDs before them, this new format is changing both the creation and consumption of music. Listeners have more flexibility than ever, with unlimited mix-and-match options. And increasingly, they’re opting to download single songs over albums.
With the quality being the same (or better) on a non physical format then a CD, could we be entering a new era where compact discs (CD’s) are known as just a thing of the past? But it goes without saying that the CD helped bring the music industry into the modern digital era. But inspite of all that, I believe that the CD will always have its place in the office and in our homes.
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