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Introducing The Amazing Compact Disc | 1982 | Retro vintage 80s technology
ABC Science ^ | 6.10/15 | ABC Science

Posted on 07/09/2022 10:14:03 PM PDT by DallasBiff

When the first compact discs arrived on the Australian market in 1983, they ranged in price from $900-$1800. The price didn’t hold back the rapid adoption of the technology

(Excerpt) Read more at youtube.com ...


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Computers/Internet; History
KEYWORDS: cd; lp; music; vinyl
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Interesting that CD's would take over the world. They did, and then there was Napster and streaming.

Now there is retro market back to vinyl LP's.

I guess the millenials and Z'ers will never the joy of being able to walk into a record store, buy a 12 inch LP and actually be able to read the liner notes, without a magnifying glass.

1 posted on 07/09/2022 10:14:03 PM PDT by DallasBiff
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To: DallasBiff

I remember the first CD player I heard. It was at the June ‘82 Consumer Electronics Show in Chicago. “Funky Town” on premium headphones. It sounded great, and I didn’t even like the song.


2 posted on 07/09/2022 10:19:09 PM PDT by Dr. Sivana (What was 35% of the Rep. Party is now 85%. And it’s too late to turn back—Mac Stipanovich )
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To: DallasBiff

I have sold a few laserdisc players for really decent money recently.

I should probably sell all my old cd players too.


3 posted on 07/09/2022 10:24:15 PM PDT by algore
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To: DallasBiff

I bought a Betamax in 1981 for around $850, as I recall. The movies it played looked great on my SONY Trinitron.


4 posted on 07/09/2022 10:24:35 PM PDT by Ken H (Trump /DeSantis)
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To: DallasBiff

https://www.stereophile.com/content/sony-cdp-x77es-cd-player


5 posted on 07/09/2022 10:26:56 PM PDT by algore
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To: DallasBiff

Sound engineers and audio producers will verify the CD is the crappiest audio medium ever. Vinyl is soooo much better sound quality wise. CDs are hollow and tinny.


6 posted on 07/09/2022 10:29:56 PM PDT by DeathBeforeDishonor1 ( )
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To: Dr. Sivana

I was fresh out of the Navy, and had saved up enough money to buy a good stereo, and I spent $700 on a turntable alone.

Then, I heard a CD. Used that turntable just a few times after that.

Heh, the first catalogue I got had something like ten titles, and the first one I purchased was Dark Side of The Moon...:)


7 posted on 07/09/2022 10:31:17 PM PDT by rlmorel (Nolnah's Razor: Never attribute to incompetence that which is adequately explained by malice.)
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To: DallasBiff

I bought a Nakamichi Dragon cassette tape player in 1984 in Japan. Near top of the line tape player, with top of the line price. I think $800 for last years model, fresh from the factory warehouse, when they were going for $3000 in the states. When used with top quality cassette tapes, it was the equal of the early CD players, with the advantage of being able to record.

By the late 1980’s, though, it suffered by comparison to the newer model, much cheaper CD players.


8 posted on 07/09/2022 10:34:38 PM PDT by jimtorr
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To: Ken H

I still remember the hype about the CD and the CD player, where one could put peanut butter on the CD, and it would still play perfect.


9 posted on 07/09/2022 10:35:27 PM PDT by DallasBiff (Lautenberg The Forefather of "The Nanny State!")
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To: DallasBiff

I’m glad vinyl is in vogue again. Maybe it will help young people appreciate albums, instead of just random playlists of singles. It’s good for people’s appreciation of music, and for their appreciation of the artists that pour their heart and soul into producing albums.

The boom in streaming and vinyl means I can collect used, and often new cd’s much cheaper than before, now that demand for them is less.

By the way Spotify streamed music sounds awful. As Neil Young says it’s only about 5 percent of the music. Even 128k streaming is terrible compared to cd, but Spotify has the worst fidelity of the prominent streaming services.


10 posted on 07/09/2022 10:35:59 PM PDT by zipper (In their heart of hearts, all Democrats are communists)
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To: DallasBiff
It look quite some time from the initial release of music CDs to get both the mastering adjusted properly for the medium and the necessary improvement in the digital-to-analog converters (DACs).

About the time the DAC technology had matured, it seemed like two things happened: (1) music compression for portable devices became popular (128 kbps - ugh!), and (2) music CDs were being remastered for a higher loudness level at a given volume setting.

The latter had the net effect of compressing the music and reducing the dynamic range as compared to the original mastering. Some collectors make an effort to locate the original masterings if they didn't already own them (or made the mistake of selling them when they bought the new "remasters").

11 posted on 07/09/2022 10:38:25 PM PDT by CatOwner (Don't expect anyone, even conservatives, to have your back when the SHTF in 2021 and beyond.)
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To: DeathBeforeDishonor1
...the CD is the crappiest audio medium ever.

Yes, but you need quality hardware, a good environment and a good ear to really tell the difference.

I used to travel a lot by car, so that's where I listened to music the most. A CD is good enough for the car.

12 posted on 07/09/2022 10:41:16 PM PDT by jimtorr
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To: DeathBeforeDishonor1

Paint the edges (inner and outer) of your CDs green with a marker. So said “The Absolute Sound” at the time.


13 posted on 07/09/2022 10:49:42 PM PDT by Born in 1950 (Anti left, nothing else.)
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To: DallasBiff

They made records small.


14 posted on 07/09/2022 10:50:21 PM PDT by Arcadian Empire (The Baric-Daszak-Fauci spike protein, by itself, is deadly.)
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To: zipper
I’m glad vinyl is in vogue again. Maybe it will help young people appreciate albums, instead of just random playlists of singles.

That's why vinyl LP's were great, they flowed from song to song.

The first to do this were the Beach Boys with "Pet Sounds", and the Beatles copied with "Rubber Soul" in 1965.

15 posted on 07/09/2022 10:51:57 PM PDT by DallasBiff (Lautenberg The Forefather of "The Nanny State!")
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To: DeathBeforeDishonor1

From what I understand, the early digital sampling cut off sampling sounds at frequencies both higher, and lower than the average human ear can discern...but although some frequencies cannot be detected by the human ear, the sound wave pressure can effect other parts of the body including the ear. So the sound is fuller on the old recordings. Also old recordings took into effect the whole studio sounds, including echos or reasonant sounds reflecting off of studio structures. I have read that the newer digital recordings try to include all frequencies and have tried to pick up ambient sounds


16 posted on 07/09/2022 10:58:25 PM PDT by Getready (Wisdom is more valuable than gold and diamonds, and harder to find.)
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To: jimtorr

Even the mighty Nakamichi Dragon was never the equivalent of “early” cd’s. One of the first cd’s was MJ’s Thriller, and it was excellent. There were no cheap CD players at the time, but even the least expensive ones had a good enough d/a converter to outshine cassettes, especially since pre-recorded commercial cassettes were terrible, and user recordings were sourced from vinyl — inferior dynamic range, signal-to-noise ratio, wow & flutter issues, rumble issues, static electricity, tonearm resonance, etc.

Even my Teac 10.5 inch reel-to-reel with DBX was not technically as good as a cd, and it was obviously better than any available cassette and player, especially on high speed.

I used the reel-to-reel to record my virgin vinyl, then played the tape so I could preserve the vinyl album.

I considered getting a Dragon years later, after they were affordable, but since cars stopped coming equipped with cassette players there was really no point.


17 posted on 07/09/2022 11:04:11 PM PDT by zipper (In their heart of hearts, all Democrats are communists)
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To: DallasBiff
That's why vinyl LP's were great, they flowed from song to song.

Yes, and cd’s even more so!

But I get what you mean — albums have themes, and a consistent instrumental arrangement that makes them flow. Think about some other great albums like Dark Side of the Moon, or Wish You Were Here, or The Wall. If some young person didn’t know these albums and was buying them as MP3’s online, they’d probably cherry-pick which songs to buy, missing out on the experience we’re referencing, or they might just take the easy way out and buy a “greatest hits” album.

18 posted on 07/09/2022 11:22:20 PM PDT by zipper (In their heart of hearts, all Democrats are communists)
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To: DallasBiff

I think you’re gonna see a slowdown in format changes now that the physical form is no longer germane to the conversation. Bitrates, codecs, etc. will still improve but that’s not such a big deal now that it’s just 1’s and 0’s flying through the ether.

CC


19 posted on 07/09/2022 11:37:16 PM PDT by Celtic Conservative (My cats are more amusing than 200 channels worth of TV.)
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To: Celtic Conservative
I think you’re gonna see a slowdown in format changes now that the physical form is no longer germane to the conversation. Bitrates, codecs, etc. will still improve but that’s not such a big deal now that it’s just 1’s and 0’s flying through the ether

Yes, I know, I'm a modern day Luddite in this world Bill and Steve created.

20 posted on 07/09/2022 11:50:03 PM PDT by DallasBiff (Lautenberg The Forefather of "The Nanny State!")
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