The Anniversary Of The CD

It was 25 years ago today…well, it was 25 years ago, anyway. That was when the first CD hit the shops, marketed in its distinctive longbox (a necessity, because the racks weren’t made to hold anything smaller, and also to discourage shoplifting).   But as we witness the battle royal going out to determine the winner in the HD format wars, it’s worth remembering that the CD came about because of collaboration between Dutch giant Philips and Sony.   According to Piet Kramer, who worked on the project for Philips,   “When Philips teamed up with Sony to develop the CD, our first target was to win over the world for the CD. We did this by collaborating openly to agree on a new standard. For Philips, this open innovation was a new approach and it paid off.”   It wasn’t an easy process. As they began development, the most advanced laser only had a life of 100 hours, and Philips only envisaged the format lasting 20-25 years. Certainly, no one envisaged the CD as a means of data storage.   It was 1979 when Sony and Philips began working together, envisioning that the CD would be able to hold an hour of audio. The only reason that was expanded was to encompass an entire performance of Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony – and so it was made physically larger to hold 74 minutes of audio.   When the first CDs went on sale in November 1982, they were geared mostly at classical music fans, who were deemed to be more affluent (for the curious, the first CD was The Visitors by Abba), and the first CD players cost around $2000 in today’s terms.   Although CD sales have taken a beating in recent years as downloading has become more and more popular, the CD remains an important format – and it’s worth remembering that it largely kick-started the digital age.   It’s a silver anniversary for a silver-colored platter.