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.
July 16th, 2018 8:09pm