The Compact disc is 30 years old today

So True!

 

They may stop making them sooner rather than later ...

Billboard reported that 93.3 million physical albums (CD+LP, of which ~97.5% are CD) were sold 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 and the 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!

 

Me too!

 

Thank you Jim for the most powerful post I have ever read on this forum; I don't know you, but it made a difference in my life today.

 

If I remember correctly, my copy of Front 242's Front By Front uses the indexing feature (and it is even noted in the liner notes along with BPM).

 

Cds are awesome, my favorite music format by far. The first 2 cds I got were in 2000 when I was 9, it was N-sync's No Strings Attached and jimmy buffetts greatest hits they were birthday gifts. My first cd players were an old radio boombox/cd player, and a $10 audiovox semi-portable cd player. I only really starting collecting cds about 3 years ago, and so far I have 4,000+ and counting.

 

I celebrated by buying more CDs! Brought a lot of happiness in my life.

 

Perfect Sound Forever!

My first CD was Hyaena by Siouxsie and the Banshees. As I mentioned on another thread, I sadly can't remember the make of my first CD player. I was very heavily invested in LPs and LP playback; the fact that I'm happily CD only now speaks fairly well for the format. Happy Birthday, you little gem!

 

Happy Birthday, CD!

I doubt I'll ever stop buying you

 

Gave a listen to my earliest CD tonight. Huguette Dreyfus - Scarlatti: 14 Sonatas (Denon 38C37-7095, Japan), released in 1984 featuring 5 indexed tracks (out of total 9) and pre-emphasis. Performances were recorded in PCM back in Jul 1978. Still sounds good actually... Happy birthday CD!

 

My first cd was the Suicide Blonde cd single by INXS; I'm thinking Autumn of '90 ?? I didn't have a cd player either, that had to wait until the summer of '91. Ugh. It was an all-in-one Sony system with dual tape decks, tuner, equalizer in one with seperate cd player and TT. Oh how I loved that thing ...... it's still working and my dad uses it still. Good times.

Long live the cd !!

 

I love the CD too.

And I take satisfaction that when people, who aren't using clouds, see their music libraries lost on their computers, and most probably don't back up their files, I'll just be pulling my CDs off the shelf.

I remember my first one too; it was a Maurice Andre album. Second, I think, was Maynard Ferguson's Birdland Dreamband RCA comp.

One thing I'll never forget...when I bought my first player at Sears, I set it up in my apartment. My mother loved the CD I was playing, Andre, and was looking at the new player, bewildered. Five minutes later, she was trying to figure out how to put one of my 45s in the CD drawer. Priceless moment. Decades later, she's probably do the same thing.

 

The CD won because vinyl playback, for most people, just wasn't where it is today. The cassette tape was quite good if you recorded them yourself, but the commercial product was awful. Even the 8-track cartridge sounded better than most prerecorded cassettes. The CD had to happen.

 

The only CD I have with index points is Genesis' "Invisible Touch".

 

Wow. I bought my first player in June of '85 for $399. If I had shopped around, I probably would have gotten a better one, but I didn't know back then.

 

Quite a few Sony Music CDs in the 1990s had indexes actually, f.e. Jean Michel Jarre's 1997 remasters, Oxygene 7-13, etc.

 

Well..yes.
Here I am in front of a rounder (the only section) of CDs at the time. This was in 1984-85. The rest of the store is vinyl.

 

hey you guys, when everyone says the 1st released cd= billy joel 52nd street. you mean really that was the only 35DP cd released at first and the rest came later, or do people just always quote the billy cd cause its the 1st catalogue number.

 

I joined the CD wagon in 1991, with my first all in one Kenwood. My first CD was George Michael's "Faith", 22 years later I'm still collecting and even though the "virtual" technology may be the way to go, I'm old school, I like the physical media so for me it's CD all the way until I lose my hearing or bite the dust.

 

Oh yeah...forgot to add...my first CD was XTC - English Settlement, Virgin UK single disc issue. I bought it before I had a player, but my girlfriend's father had one and would go and put it on his player. This happened quite a bit, that I think he got exasperated and gave me a player for Christmas .

 

This is my guess....

CBS/Sony released 50 CD titles on 10/1/1982. However, Billy Joel's "52nd Street" was the best known of all CD that had "1" in their respective catalog numbers. I suppose the below CD can also be "the first CD released" as well....

 

I resisted buying CDs when they arrived on the market, mainly because of the price (CDs and the players). When vinyls disappeared, I switched to cassettes which were easy for the car stereo. Then I won "Ultimate Hendrix" in a radio quiz so I had to buy a player. I bought a little Discman which plugged into the hi-fi. By then the CDs and plyers were getting much cheaper, so I finally took the plunge. I kept all my vinyls however.

 

My good friend Baz P (a forum member) has passed on a large number of Hi-Fi magazines form the 1970/80's which include the era when the CD was introduced, interesting to read the reviews of the machines and the early CD's. Do you remember the claims that were made at the time that you could spread jam, throw around and scratch them and they would still play!
Many of the reviewers took a 'luddite' view at the time that the format would never be 'Hi-Fi' and was a novelty, how wrong they were.
I bought a Phillips CD104 in 1984 at a mind blowing price of £400 but it worked well (and still does) apart from the clunky drawer and the heat that builds up!

Keep on CD rocking!

 

I attended a demo of Compact Disc by Philips at a Chicago CES around 1981 or 1982, and I seem to recall Emil Patrone of Polydor spreading peanut butter on a CD, wiping it off with a paper towel, then shoving it into a top-load player and having it play just fine.

I saved quite a few of the press releases and brochures from that era; I really should scan them and post them somewhere.

 

I believe it was the first pop/rock CD.