News-Record.com

Twenty-five years ago, on Aug. 17, 1982, ABBA's "The Visitors" became the very first CD to be released commercially. Which means that CDs have been around nearly as long as I have, even though I can remember having cassettes until middle school. The first CD I ever saw was my friend's copy of Green Day's "Dookie," and the first CD I ever owned was Nirvana's "Nevermind," followed quickly by the soundtrack to "The Bodyguard" and Credence Clearwater Revival's greatest hits.

They've had a good run, but how long before they become obsolete? I wonder if my children will wrinkle their noses at my CDs, the way I used to laugh at my parents' 8-tracks and records. Instead of the click-clack sound of flipping through CDs at the music store, will they only hear the clicking of a mouse as they download songs?

Some other interesting facts about CDs:

-- The original disc was meant to hold an hour of audio. It was extended to the odd measure of 74 minutes, however, to make room for Beethoven's 9th Symphony.
-- The first CD players cost as much as $2,000, when adjusted for inflation.
-- More than 200 billion CDs have been sold since 1982.

Side note: I found this part of the BBC article interesting:

"Piet Kramer, who was a member of the optical group at Philips during the disc's development, said: "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."

Seems as if philosophies have changed a bit since then. I wish the DVD companies would collaborate on a new standard, instead of making me choose between BluRay and HD-DVDs.