The compact disc and what we can learn from it
12/18/2019
In 1982, the compact disc was introduced, a new standard for storing music with considerable advantages over the previous methods, i.e. vinyl records. The new technology was touted as noise-free, vibration-resistant, dynamic, wear-free and dirt-tolerant, and consumers were quickly won over, especially as Philips and Sony managed to avoid entering the market with different standards.
Some of us will still remember those days. The selection of CDs was very limited, taking up just a few meters of shelf space. The players were large, the ease of use minimal (compared to later generations). And everything was comparatively expensive.
Nevertheless, the CD caught on, even in cars (from the 1990s onwards). Even today, most cars still have a CD player on board, if only to feed the navigation system. But soon the CD slot in the car will be as much history as the one in the laptop. Only nostalgics will still buy and listen to CDs, the majority will "stream". However, the rediscovery of the vinyl record proves that even technologies that were thought to be dead can have a long life. At the same time, the CD shows how even widely used technologies have a limited lifespan, in the case of the CD it was around 30 to 40 years.
As we know, something similar happened with electric drive technology at the beginning of the 20th century. Electric cars were seen as the solution until they were overtaken and eventually replaced by combustion engines. At the moment, things seem to be going the other way round, but who knows where we will be heading in five, ten or twenty years' time.
Let's just look back to the beginning of the 1980s, when the compact disk was introduced, because it's so wonderfully nostalgic:
