Compact Disc turns 30, MP3 doesn't bother to send a gift

We're not quite sure how much related celebrating went on this past weekend, but the iconic Compact Disc managed to hit the big three-oh. The IEEE was credited with presenting its prestigious IEEE Milestone Award to Royal Philips Electronics for its contribution to the development of the CD, and as the story goes, the award coincides with the 30th anniversary of the "historic demonstration of the first CD prototype codenamed 'Pinkeltje' on March 8th, 1979." While many would argue that the CD is on its way out in favor of smaller, highly portable MP3 files, the disc has definitely left a lasting mark on the industry. To date, over 3.5 billion audio CD players have been sold alongside 240 billion discs. Oh, and not to be a Debbie Downer or anything, but what are the chances that we won't be throwing an "over the hill" party for this here format?

[Thanks, Sylva]

[(Unverified) Posted Mar 9th 2009 8:38PM]

...except we don't all agree that its life as a storage medium is over :)
Great website, btw.

[(Unverified) Posted Mar 9th 2009 11:44AM]

I purchased my first CD way back in 1988. It was The Cure - Kiss Me Kiss Me Kiss Me. It cost a whopping $33 dollars plus tax. Wow! And, looking back on my collection of CDs purchased over these past 21 years, I've only ever had one that went belly up on me—and that was the Beatles 1 album from 2000. It went bad a few years ago... won't play. But, all those old discs still work great.

I grew up on vinyl, and while I miss the excitement of pulling the record from the paper sleeve and placing it so carefully on the turntable, I don't miss vinyl. I don't miss the scratches and occasional warped discs.

I will miss the CD when it eventually goes. I fear for our digital future with no long-term and reliable storage.

[Skorpius Posted Mar 9th 2009 11:49AM]

Too bad MP3s are lossy pieces of shit. That codec needs to die a quick death and be replaced with FLAC. CDs are not going anywhere until that happens.

[scape Posted Mar 9th 2009 12:54PM]

surprisingly not many know of flac and it's awesomeness-- and many equate mp3 as music on a computer, and usually never even heard of wav or know what mp4 even is, just that if there is music on a computer it's called mp3...

[shhac Posted Mar 9th 2009 1:26PM]

I was agreeing with you untill you said mp4. mp4 is a container format, not an encoding.

[(Unverified) Posted Mar 9th 2009 12:29PM]

Wait a second.

Why are we complaining about audio from Compact Discs? Didn't this invention pave the way for making CD-Rs and DVD-Rs a household object?
I don't see Laserdiscs fitting into a PC case, do you?

[matty990 Posted Mar 9th 2009 12:28PM]

I remember getting my first cd player in my car, the shag wagon my friends would call it, losing my virginity to a brand new high fidelity Journey greatest hits CD. I am not sure how people lost there virginity to records. tapes or even 8 tracks, all I know is that I owe that whole moment to my first aftermarket cd player with 15 secs of anti-shock. Don't stop believing... Thanks cds and happy bday.

[MickBurke Posted Mar 9th 2009 12:52PM]

Arg! He's got his fingers on the groove of the record!!!

Yea, I remember going into John Wanamaker and seeing the first player they had. A top loader.

[(Unverified) Posted Mar 9th 2009 2:56PM]

One of our professors at uni was working at Philips on this project back in the days, he had some fun trivia.. the hole in the middle is exactly the size of an old 10 guilder cent coin.
Also the first demonstration unit they built was a very small unit, very sleek. It was presented on a table with a long tablecloth, underneath which was a huge unit with all the actual electronics inside.

[Angel Mass Posted Mar 9th 2009 4:14PM]

It reach its age of retirement!

[(Unverified) Posted Mar 9th 2009 8:03PM]

i will miss the day cds become obsolete. I still buy them since you can rip the music to any format and has better quality than most files sold online. Cd's for me is like what vinyl was to my parents; it gives you a lot of great memories and can be displayed. Also, I love opening a cd and going through the sleeve and looking at the cd art itself.

[SWGooner Posted Mar 10th 2009 6:08PM]

As a format for holding music, there is nothing more versatile than a CD. Without them, MP3 would sound even worse (ripped from Vinyl/Cassettes) and the ability to be ripped into any digital format going is good enough reason for them to remain for another 30 years at least.

As for the comment about not hearing differences between AAC+ and Lossless, then you sir have poor hearing. I switched from 128kbps AAC to AIFF and even discounting better bass fidelity from the iPod, AIFF sounds much brighter than AAC ever could. Whilst I have vastly reduced capacity on my 80GB Classic, I've got much better fidelity in return.