The article was written by Daniel Maikowski, a journalist at Gazeta.pl.
The history of the small polycarbonate disc, which revolutionized the music industry at the end of the 20th century, began long before its official release. As early as the 1960s, American inventor James Russel introduced the concept of data recording technology on an optical medium.
Later, major corporations like the Dutch Philips and the Japanese Sony took on the task. On March 8, 1979, Philips presented a prototype compact disc. It had a diameter of 115 mm and could hold about 60 minutes of music. At the same conference, the Dutch also showcased their digital player, "Pinkeltje."
Sony had a different idea for CDs. Initially, the Japanese proposed that a CD should have a diameter of 30 centimeters, the same as a vinyl record. This would have meant that the disc could hold 12 hours of music. However, by the end of 1979, both companies signed an agreement that laid the foundation for the creation of a new digital audio format.
In 1980, detailed guidelines for the Compact Disc standard were published in the so-called "Red Book." The polycarbonate disc was to have a thickness of 1.2 mm and a diameter of 12 cm, which allowed for 74 minutes of music (about 650 MB of data) to be stored on it.
Why 74 Minutes?
The romantic version of the story claims that this requirement was set before the engineers at Sony and Philips by Norio Oga, CEO of the Japanese corporation, and Herbert von Karajan, the famous Austrian conductor. Karajan supposedly insisted that a CD should be able to hold the entire 9th Symphony by Ludwig van Beethoven, which lasts just over 70 minutes.
This version of the story was later refuted by one of the co-creators of the new format, Kees Immink, and it now mostly exists as an urban legend. However, it is true that von Karajan participated in the presentation of the final version of the CD, which took place in April 1981.
From ABBA to Chopin
The official launch of the first CD took place on August 17, 1982, in Langenhagen, Germany, at a PolyGram factory, which was then owned by Philips. The disc was "The Visitors" by the Swedish group ABBA. The first CD produced on a mass scale was Billy Joel's album "52nd Street," which hit Japanese stores in October 1982. By the end of that year, around 150 albums recorded on CDs were available for purchase in Japan.
Some sources suggest that the Compact Disc took the music market by storm, almost immediately eliminating the popular formats of the time. However, this is not entirely true. The beginnings were not easy, partly due to the relatively high price of CDs and players. It's worth noting that the first CD player from Sony (the CDP-101 model) cost a whopping $730, which, adjusted for inflation, would be about $1,750 today.
Audiophiles were also skeptical, finding the sound offered by Audio CDs to be too "dry" compared to the vinyl records that were popular at the time. Store owners and some record labels were also hesitant, as the prospect of simultaneously releasing vinyl LPs, Audio CDs, and cassette tapes was not particularly appealing to them.
The success of compact discs was largely due to the aggressive strategy of large technology corporations, which did everything in their power to ensure that the new format gained acceptance. Their determination paid off, as by the mid-1980s, CDs had begun to win the format war.
The turning point is considered to be 1985, when Dire Straits released the now-iconic album "Brothers in Arms" on CD. It was the first CD to sell over 1 million copies. That same year, 5 million discs were sold worldwide, and the following year, that number doubled. It got to the point where factories couldn't keep up with the demand for CDs.
By the late 1980s, CDs had also arrived in Poland. The first Polish album on CD was released in January 1988 by the WIFON label. "Chopin-Tausig-Wieniawski" featured Fryderyk Chopin's Piano Concerto in E minor, Op. 11, and Józef Wieniawski's Piano Concerto. The first Polish pop music CD is considered to be "The Best of Urszula & Budka Suflera," although some sources suggest that "Tak! Tak!" by Obywatel GC was released earlier.
Before the end of the 1980s, CD sales in the U.S. had surpassed vinyl sales. In Europe, the final blow to vinyl LPs came from Deutsche Grammophon, which announced in 1989 that it would stop releasing albums in that format. By 1992, CDs had also outpaced cassette tapes and became the most popular music format in the world.
Not Just Music
The advantage of Compact Discs over other formats—aside from sound quality—was their durability. Initially, engineers at Sony and Philips assumed that data recorded on a compact disc would last for several hundred years. These forecasts were later revised somewhat, as the quality of materials used in disc production deteriorated. However, it is still believed that data recorded on CDs can be read even decades later.
For this reason, CDs also became popular in the IT industry in the 1990s. In 1991, the CD-i was introduced, allowing for the storage of documents, video files, and other content. Much earlier, in 1984, the CD-ROM was introduced, which became the primary medium for computer programs and games for many years, virtually eliminating floppy disks from the market due to their poor durability and low capacity.
In 1997, the CD-RW disc, which allowed for multiple recordings, was introduced. That same year, Philips released the first CD-RW burner, starting yet another revolution. From that point on, any computer owner with such a drive could "burn" their own CDs.
It's also worth mentioning the now somewhat forgotten Video CD format, which aimed to replace VHS tapes with compact discs containing movies. However, this attempt was unsuccessful, as Video CDs were overtaken by the emergence of DVDs before they could gain widespread popularity.
MP3 and Streaming: The Killers of the CD
It is estimated that by 2007, over 200 billion CDs (including CD-ROMs and CD-Rs) had been sold worldwide. However, after 2000, the format began to decline. The culprits behind this decline were MP3 files, associated piracy, and... Steve Jobs.
The Apple mogul introduced the iPod in 2001, a digital MP3 player marketed with the slogan "1000 songs in your pocket." Jobs then convinced record label executives to embrace the concept of the iTunes digital store, where users could purchase both individual tracks and entire albums. The idea took off—within 24 hours of launching, iTunes sold nearly 300,000 tracks.
According to statistics gathered by Statista, 938.9 million CDs were sold in the United States in 1999. A decade later, that number had dropped to 292.9 million, and in 2019, it reached a record low of 46.5 million. Full data for 2020 is not yet available, but it is estimated that in the first half of last year, CD sales were down 48% compared to the same period in 2019.
CDs are "dying" before our eyes, and recently, the rise in popularity of streaming services like Spotify, Apple Music, and Tidal has played a significant role in this decline. Perhaps the CD will experience a renaissance in the future, as vinyl records have, but for now, the Compact Disc is entering its twilight years.
