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The CD is 30 years old today

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Re: The CD is 30 years old today

#11

Post by bitwize »

joeyh wrote: post #5

http://article.olduse.net/7038@philabs.UUCP That's the second ever mention of the CD made on Usenet, back in July 1982. "It has no grooves, the digitally encoded recording lies beneath the disc surface, invulnerable to dirt and damage."

That's a riot, Glass Tty VT220 in stunning amber. Just like my xterms!

Re: The CD is 30 years old today

#13

Post by dsk2012 »

erickhill wrote: post #9

When is the music industry going to actively promote (and select) a high definition music format? Like, Blu-Ray for audio-only?

Never. First, CD audio quality is good enough. Second, the market is in transition (already transitioned?) to a pure digital format, distributed either via flat files (e.g. mp3s), or via SaaS streaming services.

Similarly, Blu-ray is probably the last physical format for movies.

Re: The CD is 30 years old today

#14

Post by [deleted] »

cowsaysoink wrote: post #10
erickhill wrote: post #9

When is the music industry going to actively promote (and select) a high definition music format? Like, Blu-Ray for audio-only?

Is there a problem with the current format lacking definition? I thought the major factor for listening quality was listening equipment rather than the actual format (as the quality on cds is rather good).

[deleted]

Re: The CD is 30 years old today

#16

Post by runjake »

dsk2012 wrote: post #13
erickhill wrote: post #9

When is the music industry going to actively promote (and select) a high definition music format? Like, Blu-Ray for audio-only?

Never. First, CD audio quality is good enough. Second, the market is in transition (already transitioned?) to a pure digital format, distributed either via flat files (e.g. mp3s), or via SaaS streaming services. Similarly, Blu-ray is probably the last physical format for movies.

NPR mentioned this morning that digital music download sales far exceed physical media music sales already. This might explain there being virtually no record stores around anymore.

Re: The CD is 30 years old today

#17

Post by stan_rogers »

erickhill wrote: post #9

When is the music industry going to actively promote (and select) a high definition music format? Like, Blu-Ray for audio-only?

There were three and a lot of noise around them at the time: HDCD; DVD-A; and SACD. A very small handful of audiophiles cared, nobody else was paying enough attention to hear the difference. (For the people who are going to bring up Nyquist, that is true of the frequency domain, but not of the time domain, and differences in timing affect spatial resolution more audibly than they do timbre.) Really, it only matters to people for whom listening to music is an activity unto itself, and we're a really small group. You can still get good players, but the catalog of available media is a few Sony-owned classics in SACD and the odd bit of audiophile porn (you know, where the recording is amazing, but the actual performance wasn't really worth the bother of recording it).

Re: The CD is 30 years old today

#18

Post by pasbesoin »

erickhill wrote: post #9

When is the music industry going to actively promote (and select) a high definition music format? Like, Blu-Ray for audio-only?

Well, there is/was SACD. I don't know much about it. It remains a niche market; whether sustaining or dying, I couldn't say.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Super_Audio_CD

Interesting to think about it in comparison with Blu-Ray, which has also had issues around uptake.

P.S. And https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DVD-Audio , I see.

Re: The CD is 30 years old today

#19

Post by stan_rogers »

gbeeson wrote: post #4

This article also reminds me of where I used to pick up CD's back when they first came out - Tower Records in Mountain View, CA. CD's - still around; Tower Records - not so much. Interesting how it all worked out.

The reason we loved Tower is the reason it died: just about every one of its stores was a record museum. You could find almost anything you were looking for, which meant that they had to stock just about everything anyone would ever be looking for. If I'd damaged (or inadvertently "lent" permanently) an album that was a somewhat obscure gem in a less-than-popular genre when I'd bought it ten years previous, I could always walk into Tower and get a new copy. Great for the customer, but I can't see it being a great business model overall.

Re: The CD is 30 years old today

#20

Post by dollarpizza »

joeyh wrote: post #5

http://article.olduse.net/7038@philabs.UUCP That's the second ever mention of the CD made on Usenet, back in July 1982. "It has no grooves, the digitally encoded recording lies beneath the disc surface, invulnerable to dirt and damage."

invulnerable to dirt and damage

Yeah. Who'd'a thought they'd end up being even more perishable, & way more disposable than vinyl....

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