CD turns 39 today

[Ax^]

i reget the recklessness of my youth

 

[farmerbarleymow]

You have been outed. You are Moxey
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Good job I didn't live in a fire-prone arid area like the US I suppose.

that's DANGEROUS hot day in a car vinyl'd warp even if you stack them vertically

I once left an LP too close to a radiator with the inevitable results. After putting it back on it to rewarp it it sort of played OK, albeit with a weird effect every revolution.

 

[hitmouse]

Lots of people demonstrated how indestructible CDs were when they first came out. Of course, a fingerprint can stop a CD playing.

On Tomorrow's World they scratched one with a stone. On Breakfast TV they smeared honey on one. It was DJ Peter Powell on the Oxford Road Show (Fridays, BBC 2, 7pm) who smeared jam on his.

I wish they hadn't sold them as some kind of immortal technology - the amount of 2nd hand CDs I've seen that look like they've had been sandpapered then gone at with a drill is dispiriting.

This has made me dig out my copy of The Rich Man's Eight Track tape to check the liner notes:
"This compact disc, compiled to exploit those of you gullible enough to own the bastardly first-generation digital home music system, contains all-analog masters. Compact discs are quite durable. This being their only advantage over real music media, you should take every opportunity to scratch them, fingerprint them, and eat egg and bacon sandwiches off them. Don't worry about their longevity, as Philips will pronounce them obsolete when the next phase of the market-squeezing technology bonanza begins."
And then printed on the CD itself:
"When, in five years, this remarkable achievement in the advancement of fidelity is obsolete and unplayable on any 'modern' equipment, remember: in 1971, the 8-track tape was the state of the art."

 

[Ax^]

*goes on gumtree


to look for a mini disc

 

[krtek a houby]

Still buying the format. Very popular over here. And cheap if you don't mind 2nd hand.

 

[Spandex]

This has made me dig out my copy of The Rich Man's Eight Track tape to check the liner notes:
"This compact disc, compiled to exploit those of you gullible enough to own the bastardly first-generation digital home music system, contains all-analog masters. Compact discs are quite durable. This being their only advantage over real music media, you should take every opportunity to scratch them, fingerprint them, and eat egg and bacon sandwiches off them. Don't worry about their longevity, as Philips will pronounce them obsolete when the next phase of the market-squeezing technology bonanza begins."
And then printed on the CD itself:
"When, in five years, this remarkable achievement in the advancement of fidelity is obsolete and unplayable on any 'modern' equipment, remember: in 1971, the 8-track tape was the state of the art."

He wrote that in 1987 didn't he? When CDs were still a yuppie accessory. I held out against them for years for much the same reason. That and cost. They really did price gouge on CDs.

Then one night on acid in about 1994 I found they were much easier to change than records when the walls were breathing and the arm of the record player was fracturing into a million brightly coloured, impossibly complex patterns. And rather than huge black discs that I knew I had to be careful with as the whole of existence shattered before my eyes, I could just put a hand sized sparkly thing in a slot - once I'd managed to stop staring at the rainbow rays shooting off of it - and press one button to have a whole album instead of the adventure of turning a record over in what seemed like 2 microseconds after I'd put it on.

That's when I fell for CDs.

 

[hitmouse]

Yeah, CDs are pretty much the main physical format I've known, a few casette tapes aside - I think I'm maybe both just too young and slightly too old for vinyl?

 

[farmerbarleymow]

Yeah, CDs are pretty much the main physical format I've known, a few casette tapes aside - I think I'm maybe both just too young and slightly too old for vinyl?

Vinyl is for old fogeys so you're not missing owt.

 

[krtek a houby]

Vinyl is for old fogeys so you're not missing owt.

Nah. Space is the main issue, not time.

 

[Nanker Phelge]

I've just finished sorting through all the CDs I 'need'.

I sold a load off for a couple of hundred quid a while back.

I was later surprised to see a thriving market on Discog, and some CD releases having fairly high price tags.

I've also noticed a bit of a renaissance in collecting CDs with nice packaging. The OBI strip being a thing was news to me. I've always found them annoying and never known if I should bin 'em or keep em (I kept 'em, cos, well, y'know, I might need them). I never knew it was called an obi strip. I called it the bit of paper around the record.

Once a month I think 'just get rid of them', but I think that about all the vinyl too. I occasionally feel a bit hemmed in.

First CD I had was The Beatles - Please Please Me, the day it came out on CD. I loved my vinyl copy, and still play that version. I've multiple copies on CD, but I did work at EMI for 10 years during the 90s.

 

[farmerbarleymow]

I got rid of most of the CDs I had some years back - sold them for next to nothing at one of the record shops in town. Kept some that I hadn't got round to ripping to digital and haven't got round to doing them since.

 

[kabbes]

I have hundreds of CDs stored in the back of an inaccessible cupboard that I really should get rid of given that I no longer actually have any means of actually playing the things (other than in the car)...

It would feel like getting rid of my adolescence, though.

Mind you, when I put it like that, it suddenly seems a more appealing thing to do.

 

[two sheds]

I have dozens, too, I'd be tempted to sell but some of them are water damaged from the flood I had in my house years ago, and the thought of listing and selling and packaging and post each of them is too much for me. Same with the vinyl. I'd also be tempted to sell them at the auction across the road but it's good for buying and atrocious for selling.

 

[Kaka Tim]

It was trumpeted as a huge advance over vinyl and tape - but it was always a shit format - one scratch and they are unplayable. Vinyl far more durable - and a scratched record is still playable, even if you have to nudge the stylus over the bit where it bit where it bit where it bit where it gets stuck - plus you get the whole wondrous genre of cover art with a 12" sleeve . And CD cases are so fragile - one drop and they break (dont get why they never made cd cases more robust).
I mean VHS tapes are now landfill of fodder and were kind of shit compared to digital - but offered something totally new - see films at home! no more arguments about what programme to watch! never miss a tv programme cos recording!
Ive chucked all my cds. Still have all my vinyl. I play everything from spotify these days - but vinyl's aesthetics, romance and notstaligia value stops me from selling them. You get £10 upwards for 2nd hand LPs whereas 2nd hand cds are worthless - even charity shops are starting to reject them.

 

[Mattym]

There's no contradiction between those dates.

Philips made the prototype CD in March 1979. It was 11.5cm diameter and 1.1mm thick:

Then Philip's and Sony worked together on a commercial CD, the first of which was made in August 1982. It was 12cm diameter and 1.2mm thick. This is the shiny disc we all love, hate or vaguely remember.

The first CD manufactured for sale was ABBA's The Visitors, but this was beaten into record stores by Billy Joel's 52nd Street:

I love CDs.

I always thought it was Springsteen's- Born in the USA.

 

[two sheds]

Born in The Netherlands and Japan would have been more fitting.

 

[Mattym]

My car (Golf) has no aux/line in. I don't like the sound quality/ data usage issues of bluetooth. The only input is through an SD card, which I do use but can never be arsed to update regularly, so CD is my preferred listening option.
Up until lockdown, I was buying loads.

 

[Mattym]

Born in The Netherlands and Japan would have been more fitting.

Well yes, there goes my great piece of trivia.

 

[kabbes]

CD lifespans are about 50-100 years so I expect that some of the oldest ones will start to lose their data in the next decade no matter how carefully looked after they have been

 

[Spandex]

I always thought it was Springsteen's- Born in the USA.

That was the first music CD pressed in the US, pressed at the opening of CBS Records CD production plant in Terre Haute, Indiana in September 1984.

 

[Dr. Furface]

I sold a lot of my cd's a few years ago but I still have a couple of hundred. I should have another clear-out but I'd still probably keep about half of them, even though I hardly ever play them. I rarely play my records either these days but I'd never get rid of those because they're from my teens and 20's and mean a lot more to me. But although I love them as artefacts the pops and crackles used to drive me mad and I spent a small fortune on anti-static and cleaning products back in the day.

So I loved cd's when they came out as they meant I didn't have to bother with all that nonsense - even if the sound quality wasn't quite as good, at least I was just hearing the music. And although the artwork suffered for them being more compact, I liked their portability. Although I soon found out that that had it's drawbacks when my first cd collection of about 100 was nicked one day when I was down the laundrette - along with my player, which was also portable! But that was in the early 90's - can't imagine anyone bothering to do that these days.

 

[Mattym]

That was the first music CD pressed in the US, pressed at the opening of CBS Records CD production plant in Terre Haute, Indiana in September 1984.

I'm going to commit that to memory.

 

[klang]

First CD I had was The Beatles - Please Please Me

snap.
well, it was the first CD in our house, my dad bought it.

 

[Nanker Phelge]

snap.
well, it was the first CD in our house, my dad bought it.

Sounds like decent parenting; and you are still alive, so something went well.

 

[klang]

Sounds like decent parenting; and you are still alive, so something went well.

'alive'

 

[xenon]

The disks might have longevity but why are the cases so shit. Those "diamond" plastic things that are unrecyclable and generally nasty.

I started throwing mine out. Well keeping the disks (which I never play any more)in wallets but throwing the mostly broken cases away. I did check if I could recycle them somewhere but apparently not. No I don't want to make shit sculpture out of them.

 

[kabbes]

The disks might have longevity but why are the cases so shit. Those "diamond" plastic things that are unrecyclable and generally nasty.

I started throwing mine out. Well keeping the disks (which I never play any more)in wallets but throwing the mostly broken cases away. I did check if I could recycle them somewhere but apparently not. No I don't want to make shit sculpture out of them.

In later years, some bands (like Pearl Jam, who currently have a thread going on urban) started issuing cardboard cases instead. Much better.

 

[xenon]

like for everyone else, generic MP3 player then streaming has done for CD playing here. Will occasionly buy digital music though, i.e. flack format of stuff I want to play on various devices.

 

[xenon]

In later years, some bands (like Pearl Jam, who currently have a thread going on urban) started issuing cardboard cases instead. Much better.

Funny you say that. I had in mind Vitology which came in such a case and I still have knocking about somewhere. Yep, much better. Just like a mini record sleeve.

Anyone remember mini CDs, as singles. And their rom versions as executive new media style business cards?... Well I saw one once.

 

[Yu_Gi_Oh]

Crikey, you know you are old when you reminisce. I was in the Rock Box in Camberley on Saturday. It was possibly where I bought my first ever CD which may have been by RHCP? It was certainly a memorable time for me

My dad used to take me to Rock Box to buy CD's when I was a teenager in the very late nineties/early 2000's. My dad was so great about buying me music. CD's were so expensive! It was so hard to accumulate all the music you needed wanted back then. I love my dad for recognizing how important music was to me. It was such a relief when CD burners became a thing, and around the same time, Napster. All of a sudden I could get music for free! Although since I was downloading it all on my lovely dad's 56k modem internet connection, it probably wasn't saving him any money at all. He never seriously complained though. The occasional attempt to get me to reign it in, but he knew how much it meant to me.