Compact Disc Celebrates Silver Anniversary
Hard to believe it's been that long isn't it? Or maybe that's not quite right. With the iPod and other MP3 players, along digital music downloads, perhaps the "Golden Age" of the CD is over, just as it reaches its 25th birthday.
It was Aug. 17, 1982, and row upon row of palm-sized plates with a rainbow sheen began rolling off an assembly line near Hanover, Germany.
An engineering marvel at the time, today they are instantly recognizable as Compact Discs, a product that turns 25 years old on Friday and whose future is increasingly in doubt in an age of iPods and digital downloads.
Not only did the CD revolutionize music, it also revolutionized computer software. Before the days of the CD, even in the days of much smaller operating systems, games, and programs, one would sometimes have to install 10 - 15 or even more floppy disks worth of software. The CD changed all that. Of course, nowadays take a DVD or more to install, but that's another anniversary.
