alt Hacker NewsCompact disc story (1998)
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I remember seeing my friends dad’s first cd player. Huge jazz fan and it did sound great. Especially the quiet parts (No tape hiss or record pops) and easy to use. He bought a couple of cds of rock and man they sounded good.
Every other media at the time required some maintenance to sound good. Records would scratch, those tape pinch rollers would need to be cleaned. Nothing was easy, cds were (skip forward with a button push). Cassettes still were the only way to record, better for portability and sounded pretty good (we did some a:b testing cd vs cassette as kids).
Late 80s, cds were everywhere. I stopped buying records. At my highschool radio station someone got a ton of great records from his neighbor who was replacing with cds.
My friends dad who liked jazz did lament that a lot of the jazz he had in record form would never be re-released as cds. Not digital so a lot of music lost to time and a format change.
For a thorough breakdown of everything CDs, here's Technology Connections playlist on the subject:
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLv0jwu7G_DFWBEyCKt4tK...
If you can read German, somebody also wrote a whole dissertation on the subject of the CD's development history:
I was one of the bozos believing that the dimensions of the CD had to do with Beethoven 9th symphony. :(
Yes I did went and paired up a CD with a cassette this morning OMG!!! Is true.
I could not afford the $300.00 USD Sony Portable CD but I friend of mine did.
First CD he let me listen to: Genesis "Genesis"
First DDD CD: Peter Gabriel "Security"
That last one probably the most influential music in my upbringing.
Funny though, I have hundred of CDs but I don't have those two.
I guess I have to go back to my friends house to listen to them.