Entry to the Digital Age

The end of Magnetic Tape

When asked about what started the digital age of music, programs and the like, most people would suggest MP3’s and download services. The truth of it is we most likely wouldn’t be here without the advent of the Compact Disc; you remember CD’s right? You can probably find a few lying around in your parent’s stuff.

They were used to save files from computers, but most of the time they were simply used as a means of listening to music. However, none of it would have been possible without the influence of two parties. L. Ottens, the director of Phillips audio division in 1974 and James T. Russel.

The Long Road to the Compact Disc

So skipping ahead of the boring stuff like the invention of this odd transparent foil that is seen as the first form of a Compact Disc we’re going to get right into the good stuff. A Compact Disc is nothing more than an advanced version of something called a laser disc. The laser disc is, of course, something that no one in the entertainment chooses to acknowledge because it was heavily pushed as the next form of entertainment back in the 90’s and ultimately failed.

Moving forward, Phillips decided that the best course of action was to focus research and development solely on the Compact Disc. Before they did this, they had started studying the concept back in the late 70’s. The original Compact Disc was an 11.5 cm disc that quickly fell to the wayside. In the Far East, companies were also struggling to create a new disc based format. Sony’s audio department began production on their optical disc in 1974 after creating a PCM adapter using a Betamax video recorder.

Glory unto the Compact Disc

Now that we’ve finally arrived why not talk about exactly how they were made and what happened after. The first Compact Disc that was available commercially was released in 1982 and from that point on; they evolved into DVD’s which were just Compact Discs that held more information. This has culminated in the Blu-Ray disc and who knows what might come next. The likely scenario is that Compact Discs have reached their peak and digital will be the way to go from now on.

Let us never forget, though, without the Compact Disc; we would still be using VHS tapes and Beta Max. I don’t think that’s the world any of us want to live in. For those of you that are still using Compact Discs for storage, you should consider contacting atlantadisc.com for literally anything you may need regarding disc usage.