In Appreciation of the CD Player

October 1 marks the 34^th anniversary of the first commercial CD player. The invention revolutionized the way people would listen to music for decades.

Take a step back with Vinyl Bay777 as we take a brief look at the medium and why it became so popular.

Compact disc technology was first conceived in the mid-1960s and patented in 1970 by inventor James T. Russell. Modeled after the laserdisc, a film format that never really took off in a market dominated by VHS, electronics companies Sony and Philips worked together to perfect the medium in the 1980s.

In the race to develop a player, it was Sony that would first release the technology to play these compact discs. In 1982, the company released the CDP-101 in Japan, beating Philips’ CD-100 by one month. The system would be released globally six months later. Two years later, a portable version of the player was released by Sony, making it easier for people to take their favorite tunes on the go.

Players work by shining a laser onto the disc’s surface, which would create an analog signal playable by the machine. For the first time, one could see on a digital screen what track was playing and how long it would run. Listeners could also skip songs more easily without having to stop, start and rewind to find the right spot.

Compact discs boasted a better sound quality than the cassette tape, the dominating format of the 1980s. While sound frequencies fluctuated with tape recordings and were at risk of getting tangled in the mechanism of the player, CDs were more consistent. Unless it gets scratched, there was not much that could destroy the sound.

Like MP3s, the CD took a while to catch on. While compact disc technology became more widely available in 1982 and 1983, it wasn’t until 1988 that it would begin to dominate music listening, a domination that would last well into the new millennium. Today, sales of CDs, while on the decline in the United States, are still booming elsewhere. In Japan, CDs continue to make up 80 percent of music sales.

As an invention, the compact disc player was one of the biggest things to happen to the music industry. It created a smoother listening experience for the consumer, who could now skip tracks at their leisure and listen with a more consistent sound. Without Sony and Philips’ teamwork, music would not have evolved to where it is today.

Show some love for your CD player this weekend by coming down to Vinyl Bay 777 and searching our great wall of CDs! Browse thousands of titles in store and online at vinylbay777.com.