Happy Birthday CD ( 30 Today )

[Guest Willow]

The revolution that still evolves today

30 years ago, the CD started the digital music revolution

The first commercially available CD player, Sony's CDP-101

The digital music revolution officially hit 30 years ago, on Oct. 1, 1982. While you may be surprised to learn that the heralds of the coming age were, in fact, the Bee Gees, it probably comes as less of a shock to learn that Sony was at the very heart of it. After years of research and an intense period of collaboration with Philips, Sony shipped the world's first CD player, the CDP-101. Music — and how we listen to it — would never be the same.

Today the CD player might be seen as something of a relic, since our smartphones, iPods and satellite radios provide seamless access to not only our entire music libraries, but to nearly every artist or track available. We can dictate any song or album to an app and have it playing in seconds, or download a new single by visiting an artist's Facebook page.

In such a world, the idea of carrying around a disc loaded with just 10 or 12 tracks and switching it out every hour sounds positively stone-age. But the MP3 and streaming media are not just the CD's replacements, but its descendants. The future of music in fact made its unofficial debut, believe it or not, in the hands of the Bee Gees.

It was on the BBC show Tomorrow's World in 1981 that the Bee Gees publicly demonstrated CD technology (and a new album, Living Eyes) for the first time. Artists were excited about the format — the prospect of a high-quality, track-separated, non-degrading medium was enticing, though many were still skeptical of digital encoding. But music industry heavies like David Bowie and renowned conductor Herbert von Karajan were quick to embrace it, and soon the likes of Dire Straits would hit a million sales and cement the CD's position as the new standard for music.

That triumph was a long time coming: development of the format began in the '70s, when both Sony and Philips were independently doing research on an digital, optical disc format to replace cassette tapes and records. Early work at Sony was led by Norio Ohga, who bravely bore the skepticism of his comrades in order to create and demonstrate the earliest versions in 1976 and 1978.

Meanwhile, Philips was on the same track, so to speak. Their original version, an evolution of the laserdisc, was a whopping 20cm in diameter, but after reflection they brought the size of their prototype down to 11.5cm — the same size, measured diagonally, as a cassette tape.

In 1979, the two companies decided to work together. They set up a task force of less than a dozen people — engineers who didn't know if they could trust each other. After breaking the ice, however, the team worked for a year and managed to arrive at a set of standards, called the "Red Book." The manufacturing process and method of encoding were contributed by Philips, while Sony created the digital error-correction that made reading the data reliable.

The new technology was privately inaugurated in 1980, and the first modern CD pressed was Richard Strauss's "Alpine Symphony." The next year, the Bee Gees went on the BBC, and the year after that the CD as we know it today was born.

That October of 1982, the CDP-101 made its debut in Japan alongside the first run of CD albums, led by Billy Joel's 52nd Street. The device was expensive: ¥168,000, about $730 at the time, or almost twice that when adjusted for inflation. But home audio wasn't cheap then, and there was a market eager to snap up the new, high-fidelity audio format.

The engineers behind it had really had a task: everything about the system was brand new. As Jacques Heemskerk, one of the senior Philips engineers on the project, told the BBC in 2007:

It was revolutionary in many fields — the optics were new, the disc was new. At the start of development there wasn't even a laser that would work well enough for our needs. The most advanced laser at the time had a lifespan of only 100 hours.

So the cost was justified by the complexity and novelty of the hardware. Other manufacturers, like Toshiba, Kenwood, and of course Philips, would produce variant CD players over the course of the next year.

The first CDs to market, with the notable exception of Billy Joel, were mostly classical. In fact, the capacity of the CD was raised during development from 60 to 74 minutes in order to accommodate Beethoven's Ninth Symphony. The creators of the format knew that classical music lovers were more likely to appreciate (and more likely to pay for) the increased quality of the CD system.

The pop and rock market, however, was still in love with cassettes, which were more portable and more ubiquitous than ever. 1979 had brought the first Walkman, and cassette players were now standard equipment in car radios. The CD was, for the moment, strictly for the home, where your nice speakers and amp would make the improved fidelity sing. Even there, to this day, some audiophiles swear by vinyl records and an all-analog setup.

It wasn't until later in the '80s that things really took off. Dire Straits' Brothers In Arms sold a million CDs in 1985, suggesting that the format had finally hit its stride. It wasn't long before other artists were selling millions upon millions of their albums in CD format. The Discman, introduced in 1984, and the CD-ROM format, enabling computers to read the discs, further accelerated uptake.

The rest, as they say, is history. Since that time, hundreds of billions of CDs have been shipped and sold — the numbers are near-impossible to track, since the easily duplicated digital data led to an enormous increase in piracy and counterfeiting, not to mention the billions of copies and mix-CDs made by normal users.

Music CDs peaked in 2000 with global sales estimated at around 2.5 billion. Soon (legal) digital downloads began to replace physical media for many music buyers. Though its numbers are on the decline, CDs are still produced today on the order of hundreds of millions, and it will be many years yet before the world's CD factories shut their doors.

The size and shape of the CD, as well as its capacity, portability, and versatility, have been a major factor in how music has been developed and consumed for decades. Albums were written to fill it, new formats like the DVD were made in imitation of it, and entire new trends in media resulted from it. The Compact Disc started the digital revolution for music in the '70s, and we're still feeling the effects.

[Guest yamaha_man]

30 and dying a fast death. Long live vinyl!

[wolster]

Nice one, Willow. I heard the story on the ABC Classic FM this morning. According to Emma, the equivalent cost of the first CD players in today's money was $12,000.

I note that you can still spend that much - and more on a quality spinner today.

[Monkeyboi]

Geez, has it been that long?

A Sony CDP-101 was my first CD player. Purchased in Singapore in May 1983 along with 25 CDs. It was a bit of a novelty at the time. One of a long line of players since then.

Cheers,

Alan R.

[bob.cob]

Happy birthday CD. Whilst I started out with records and cassettes, it was the CD that opened the doors to my musical discovery. Records and tapes were suddenly so archaic. The dragging of a small rock over a piece of plastic never filled me with a sense of comfort :-) The CD is not dead just yet, but no longer quite as relevant as it once was. I'm currently enjoying the purchase of cheap second hand CD's.

So thank you, Sony and Philips. You provided us a great format that I'm still enjoying to this day.

Edited October 1, 2012 by bob.saccamanno

[Briz Vegas]

I had the narrower bodied Sony model in 85/86 I think. I still have my first CDs but the player is long gone

I had Brothers in Arms on vinyl so my first CDs were

and

It was my version of 80s alternative.

Edited October 1, 2012 by Briz Vegas

[Gruffnutz]

Great buys there BrizVegas. Must admit I bought those two pretty early on as well.

[Addicted to music]

Its been that long?, Willow, you had to bring this up, cause its really showing and reminding me of my old age, damn :mad: . I still love and used the format, I used the local library and rip them, I cant do that with vinyl :lol:

My 1st CD player was the top of the range Marantz, and I am that old I cant even remember the model number , I remember walking into Intersound in Balwyn and the guys reduced the price to $699. When I got it home it failed to work. I took the cover off and the earth lead on the pcb was sitting there proud unconnected to the pin. Plugged that in and walla, it works I remember the convenience and the lack of SCP, almost a black silence between tracks. Then I got my Stax Lambra Pro and I never bought an LP again!

[cableconnoisseur]

My first player was a Teac, purchased when Douglas Hi-Fi Nunawading had a huge clearance sale on.

Those were the days when Teac made a half decent product, I might add.

I gave it away about 10 years later and it was still working faultlessly.

[Guest Willow]

Its been that long?, Willow, you had to bring this up, cause its really showing and reminding me of my old age, damn :mad: . I still love and used the format, I used the local library and rip them, I cant do that with vinyl :lol:

I must admit to harbouring the same feelings myself when I read the article pchan , my first player being a Sony ( can't remember the model ) , they were built to last back in those days , the damn thing survived 3 moves , rough handling , parties , and never missed a beat.

I regretted selling it on to a mate as my next player ( a NAD ) was nothing but problems , so much so I went back to vinyl for some time before getting back into CD's around ten years ago and now enjoy both formats.

Both have their strengths and weaknesses which are highlighted in and around these hallowed halls , and both are here for some time yet I believe.

Such a wonderful hobby with a wide and varied range of choices , digital now becoming a major player.

Edited October 1, 2012 by Willow

[davidsss]

My first CD player was a Rotel. Wait a minute, it's still my CD player!

DS

[Addicted to music]

My first CD player was a Rotel. Wait a minute, it's still my CD player!

DS

Nice!!!! My Rotel 965 has had so much use that its now miss reading the discs. Built quality is superb, and SQ and you wouldnt believe it uses NE5534 opamps.

[Saxon Hall]

CD's are not dead in our household. The missus and I buy as many now as ever. So good move Sony/Philips. I still have a TT but for the vast majority of the great unwashed they are just a niche product now!

[davidsss]

Nice!!!! My Rotel 965 has had so much use that its now miss reading the discs. Built quality is superb, and SQ and you wouldnt believe it uses NE5534 opamps.

Mine's an 865BX and hasn't missed a beat. Still sounds good when I can't get an album on vinyl

DS

[emesbee]

I have been through a number of CD players over the years. My first player was an early vintage TEAC model, which I bought in 1985, as far as I can recall. It was a fully featured machine, and I really liked it. It also put out quite a lot of heat (there was a sizeable heatsink on the back). It lasted for about ten years, until the laser slowly died. I then made the mistake of trying to get it repaired, but made a poor choice of repairer. Turned out to be a bit of a shonk who charged way too much, and didn't do the job properly. In the end I cut my losses, and used a number of cheap players over the next few years. These days I use my Pioneer DVD player as a transport, connected to a DacMagic.

I'm still buying and playing CDs, of course, and expect I will be for some time to come yet.

Edited October 2, 2012 by emesbee

[rantan]

30 and dying a fast death. Long live vinyl!

Bollocks.

30 years and here to stay. Perhaps on a smaller sales scale but not going away.

Vinyl is cool if you like tinkering or reading covers.

[Art Vandelay]

The revolution that still evolves today

Wow, time flies. It was my first CDP too.

[SurfaceToAir]

Bollocks.

30 years and here to stay. Perhaps on a smaller sales scale but not going away.

Vinyl is cool if you like tinkering or reading covers.

Vinyl does not compete with the CD for the hearts and minds of listeners. But the CD is going away, and more convenient digital formats and form factors are the root cause.

Billboard reported that 93.3 million physical albums (CD+LP, of which ~97.5% are CD) were sold [in the USA?] in the first half of 2012. This represents an overall decline of -11.3% from the same period in 2011. More telling, the number of "current titles" (titles less than 18 months old) sold as physical albums declined -20.2% in the same period, while "catalog titles" (older than 18 months) remained constant. Of the catalog titles sold in 2012, 80% were so-called "deep catalog" titles. Overall market share in 1H2012 for deep catalog titles is 40.6% of physical album sales, up from 36.1% in 2011 and 32.5% in 2010.

Bottom line: overall CD sales are declining, with the volume transferring to "digital album" purchases. The remaining numbers are increasingly respresented by older buyers attracted to newly-discounted prices online for deep catalog titles. CD sales will fall off the cliff when this group stops buying. While there is research to suggest that young listeners will choose CD-quality audio over lossy compressed audio when given the chance, there are no sales figures to suggest they will ever embrace the CD itself. (Link)

Cheers!

Edited October 2, 2012 by SurfaceToAir

[firefly0071]

Vinyl does not compete with the CD for the hearts and minds of listeners. But the CD is going away, and more convenient digital formats and form factors are the root cause.

Billboard reported that 93.3 million physical albums (CD+LP, of which ~97.5% are CD) were sold [in the USA?] in the first half of 2012. This represents an overall decline of -11.3% from the same period in 2011. More telling, the number of "current titles" (titles less than 18 months old) sold as physical albums declined -20.2% in the same period, while "catalog titles" (older than 18 months) remained constant. Of the catalog titles sold in 2012, 80% were so-called "deep catalog" titles. Overall market share in 1H2012 for deep catalog titles is 40.6% of physical album sales, up from 36.1% in 2011 and 32.5% in 2010.

Bottom line: overall CD sales are declining, with the volume transferring to "digital album" purchases. The remaining numbers are increasingly respresented by older buyers attracted to newly-discounted prices online for deep catalog titles. CD sales will fall off the cliff when this group stops buying. While there is research to suggest that young listeners will choose CD-quality audio over lossy compressed audio when given the chance, there are no sales figures to suggest they will ever embrace the CD itself. (Link)

Cheers!

The increase in $ terms for digital downloads has not matched the declined in $ terms of the reduction in sales of physical media.

There is a lot of people not paying for their digital music. For those sub scribers to network servers (such as the Sony Music server on the PS3), the monthly fee is trivial and less than a current price of a $20 CD.

Digital is the future . No doubt about this.

But there will be a less musicians and people in the industry since the industry for the foreseeable future will be smaller.

Structural change.

[goldiver]

What strikes me is that although sales of the physical medium are declining rapidly, there's a relatively small number of websites promoting lossless downloads. All the major ones promote MP3, with FLAC taking a backseat. This 'black hole' helps to explain why so many people don't pay for digital music, IMO. And isn't it ironic that CD sales are dying just as advances in technology have elevated Red Book replay to such a high level. Some of the CD players produced over the past seven years are extremely good.

[Monkeyboi]

What strikes me is that although sales of the physical medium are declining rapidly, there's a relatively small number of websites promoting lossless downloads. All the major ones promote MP3, with FLAC taking a backseat. This 'black hole' helps to explain why so many people don't pay for digital music, IMO. And isn't it ironic that CD sales are dying just as advances in technology have elevated Red Book replay to such a high level. Some of the CD players produced over the past seven years are extremely good.

The same thing took place with vinyl in the mid 80s. About the same time CD was just taking hold, the improvements in the electronics side of vinyl playback had overcome some of the earlier problems of noise, component value accuracy (read as affordable parts) etc.

IMHO, the digital download is driven by convenience rather than quality. You will have to agree that with digital downloads you cough up your credit card details and within a short delay you have an entire album. It seems to fit well with today's society which expects instant gratification. I still buy lots of music on physical media. Just it costs more when you add postage and then there's the wait which can be several days or weeks if it's coming from OS.

Cheers,

Alan R.

[stephennic]

Hi,

I still remember my old marantz cd40 or 50 it was a nice sounding machine in its day. I still have my marantz cd63se and its still going strong and competes well or beats a lot of budget cd players sonically today.

Cheers

Steve.

[Catostylus]

You will only prise my Oppo from my cold dead hands.

[Guest fordgtlover]

A little late to the party, but huzzah for the CD format and its creators.

[Briz Vegas]

I bought a Cd on Friday (Wedding Parties Anything 2007) and a CD today (Beth Orton 2012). Thats 2 sales,.............. now ripped to AIFF.