On October 1 in 1982, the first commercial compact disc was released, as was the first commercial CD player. The first CD released that day was released in Japan and it was Billy Joel’s 1978 album 52nd Street.
Although that day saw the first commercial release, the joint work of Sony and Philips created the new music format several years earlier before the technology became commercially available.
Partly because of a high price tag on the new technology, cassette tapes remained more popular than CDs until the late 1980s. But the CD format eventually took over.
The CD changed the way we listen to music. It featured longer playing times than record albums all in a compact size.
The CD also featured what many thought was a better sound than other formats, although that issue is still debated. The CD format is still very popular, and digital sales did not surpass CD sales until 2015.
Whatever the future holds, take a moment to salute the CD format. It originally gave us great music listening experiences through the 1980s, the 1990s, and into the current century. And I do miss CD stores.
In tribute, lets go back to someone plopping down the big bucks thirty years ago and buying that first CD and turning it on to hear that first song, “Big Shot”. . .
My personal encounter with CDs was still a few years away on that October day in 1982. I recall hearing music on a friend’s CD player for one of the first times years later, around 1986. And I got my first player a few years later. At that time, I made my first CD purchase of Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony, Vivaldi’s Four Seasons, and Bruce Springsteen’s Born to Run.
What was your first CD?
Leave your two cents in the comments.
(Some related Chimesfreedom posts.)
I think it was 1987 or 1988 and Mike got his first stereo. They accidentally gave him the 6-cd changer rather than the single cd player that was supposed to come with it! The first cd he bought was Talking Heads because he thought the drums on Burning Down the House would sound really good. Mine is a guilty pleasure, which I hardly want to admit to now, but it was Crowded House just b/c I was really into it Don’t Dream it’s Over at that time.
I like the picture you put on this post. You may recall that I found the special gold edition at the Salvation Army for $10. Another lucky moment in my personal cd history.
From my first CD player for my stereo and through a couple replacements as they wore out, I always had one of the 6-CD players. I liked having the option of keeping some CDs loaded up all the time. I recall seeing ones in stores that held 100 CDs and envying being able to have so many CDs readily accessible. Then came the iPod. . .
My first CD was Tchaikovsky’s Swan Lake, probably in late summer 1983, although I can’t remember who it was conducted/performed by. I do remember that I eventually traded it with my resident director for Darkside of the Moon, which I do still have, albeit in digital format.
I had a decent record collection at the time, so most of the purchases were replacements and not particularly memorable. Great memories of haunting Record Revolution and Record Exchange for hours on end! We don’t do that anymore, do we?
That is an interesting trade of Tchaikovsky for Pink Floyd. Many of my early CD purchases were for record replacements too, although that was a slow process. Yes, those were great record stores in Cleveland. I still have a few rare albums I purchased there that I have held onto through the decades.