What was the first CD you ever purchased? Mine was Ammonia Avenue. (At least I think it was. At this point I’m trusting my memory of these sort of things less and less.)
From Behind the Grooves:
On this day in music history: March 2, 1983 – The Compact Disc makes its debut in the US. Research and development of the technology begins in 1974 when engineers from Philips Electronics of The Netherlands begin developing an optical audio disc designed to have superior audio quality and durability to the vinyl record. Two years later in 1976, Sony Electronics of Japan create their own prototype digital audio disc, with a 16 bit sampling rate of 44,056 hz per second. Philips and Sony Electronics begin working together in 1979 to design a new digital audio disc in a joint venture. The discs are five inches in diameter, are made of polycarbonite plastic and aluminum, and are etched with a binary code that when read by a laser turns the information back into an analog signal. The discs maintain the 16 bit sampling rate increased to 44,100 hz with a maximum running time of seventy four minutes. The first titles released by Polygram and CBS are a combination of classical and pop music titles. The format revolutionizes the music industry, surpassing sales of vinyl records and cassettes by 1985. Reaching its peak in sales during the mid 90’s, CD experiences the beginning of a decade long decline with the introduction of the MP3 (MPEG-1 Audio Layer III or MPEG-2 Audio Layer III) digital format, which allows greater compression of digital audio files. This technology gives rise to illegal file shares services like Napster, Limewire and various others, allowing people to share and trade unauthorized downloads of digitized music for free. This opens a literal “pandora’s box”, leading the devaluation of music, and the eventual downfall of the Compact Disc format, taking with it numerous music retailers, and the virtual shrinking of the music industry itself. Though still a viable audio format, currently the CD represents only about 24% of US music market in terms of physical media sales.
Yesterday, shortly after arriving at work, I noticed a rather large, gray “floater” in my field of vision. I’ve had floaters as long as I can remember, but this one was different. It was much larger (about the size of a fingernail at arm’s length) and when I closed that eye, it would turn white—with circulating black flecks inside it. This was not normal, and of course internet searches convinced me I was dying.
