Saturday, April 16, 2011

30 years of music-CD: from the gold-ass thing of the past

 The 30 years of the Compact Disc is the fascinating story of a technology that changed the world - and had in it the key to their own demise. Berlin - 30 years ago has changed the CD revolution, the music world forever. As a star conductor Herbert von Karajan 15 April 1981 representatives of technology companies Philips and Sony launched the marketing of the then new-fangled "Compact Disc" was, nobody knew what that would have consequences.


The CD was for years the dominant format for distributing music. More important still, they ushered in the digital era, can be copied to the music without quality loss. To be fair, the birthday of the CD can also explain some other time: about one day in March 1979, at the Philips Compact Disc presented his prototype to the public.

Or the publication of the final standard with the now established partners to Sony the following year. Or the production of the first CDs in Langenhagen near Hanover and the launch 1982nd The first discs were way, "The Visitors" by ABBA and the Alpine Symphony by Richard Strauss, conducted by Karajan.

Classical and Karajan had been deliberately chosen as leaders for the new format: lovers of sophisticated sounds of industry were regarded as a promising target group. Legend has even said that for diameter and time of the disc - five inches and 74 minutes - Ludwig van Beethoven was godfather.

The specification of the engineers had been to Beethoven's 9th Symphony to get on a silver plate. Supposedly this song was chosen as the wife of then-Vice President Norio Ohga, Sony it so like. 74 minutes playing time the symphony was therefore are determined according to a special reception, namely a performance at the Bayreuth Festival in 1951, conducted by Wilhelm Furtwängler.

It is to be the slowest recording of the Beethoven classic. All over again whether this story is true or not, the CD quickly grew out of the classical niche. While audio purists in digital format defendant a dry or concentrated sound and clung to their records, the broad mass of consumers was quickly convinced.

In 1985 came the turning point: "Brothers in Arms" by Dire Straits first album sold more than a million copies on CD, and the new format overtook the LP paragraph. Record companies are said to have torn at this time to the relatively scarce production lines were busy trying to squeeze the hit album.

The 80 were due to the small silver disc to golden years for the music industry. Not only chart-topper like Michael Jackson or Madonna filled their coffers. Whether Beatles or Bee Gees, the customers also bought millions of music they had already, again on CD. The song of death, the happiness did not last long.

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