It was way back in 1974 when a project kickstarted from within the audio industry group at Philips in the Netherlands. The premise was to develop an optical audio disc with superior sound to that of the incumbent vinyl format, and coming in at 20cm, the initial dabblings were far chunkier than the products that eventually went to market.
Fast forward three years to 1977, and the group established a lab with the sole mission of building CDs and players – they opted for the name ‘Compact Disc’ because it was in line with another Philips offering, the compact cassette. Oh, and it was also sheared by 8.5cm in diameter, with the new discs offering awesome audio packed in to a mere 11.5cm.
Simultaneously (and independently) Sony had also been working on CDs, first demoing its efforts in September 1976. However, both Sony and Phillips would eventually partner for the commercial launch in 1982, which saw the final diameter come in at a still-small 12cm. And the rest, as they say, is history.
via The Next Web
October 1, 2012
