Although I am a day late (not to mention being woefully short in the $ department), I still wanted to make note of the CD player's 25th anniversary. Can you believe it's been that long? According to the book "Chase's 2006 Calendar of Events", the first compact disc player was developed jointly by Sony, Philips, and Polygram. It went on sale on Oct 1st, 1982 and sold for $625. When you make adjustments for inflation, that CD player would cost you almost $1,500 today! If the CD player went on sale for the first time today, it would pose quite a dilemma for me. Do I want to listen to music in pristine sound or should I keep both of my kidneys?Having a CD player back in the 80s was something of a status symbol. I remember back in college when a friend told me and another friend about a guy he knew who had "The Joshua Tree" on compact disc... ooh!...aah! You would have thought that Vanna White was displaying a prize showcase or something.
In addition to the price of CD players back then, the fact that I wasn't looking forward to replacing my extensive tape collection prevented me from joining the CD revolution right away. In the early 90s, I finally broke down and bought my first CD player. I think the last straw for me was when I was working as a manager at Hot 'n' Now (damn I hated that job). One night we were listening to music after closing time. I put in a tape from Prince's "The Hits and the B-Sides" and the boombox at work chewed it up... it didn't even have the courtesy to spit it back out! Man was I pissed!
Surprisingly, I still have the CD player I bought back then and it works just fine... although I don't use it much anymore. Ironically, I mainly use it when I critique my radio shows (which are recorded on cassette). Like many others, I have been gradually downsizing by ripping CDs to my computer and selling the ones I no longer want. Did you ever think we would get to a point where we thought that CDs took up too much space? Just think... in about 5 years (or less) people will be complaining about getting rid of their bulky iPods.
What are some of your favorite CD memories?
8 comments:
My first Pioneer CD player is still in my house and it still works. My first CD was Then And Now (The Best Of The Monkees)
My first CD was "I Love Rock-n-Roll" by Joan Jett. It came in a huge longbox. I remember marveling at how much better the music sounded over the LP or the cassette tape.
Don't Be Cruel by Bobby Brown was MY first CD. Dad had brought home some Classical music when we got the player one Christmas, but the player was soon taken over by My Perrogative
My original CD player died a horrible death. Well, actually a quiet one, but dealing with the Sony repair people was horrible.
I worked at a record store back then. Used my paychecks and discounts to buy lots of good 80s music (Van Halen!).
I still buy CDs. I should probably blush when I say that, but I have a Creative MP3 player and it doesn't play nice with iTunes. :(
I had no idea they were out in 1982! I didn't get one until I turned 16....in 1993! My first CDs were: Duran Duran (Ordinary World?),Arrested Development (the one with Tennessee)and Toad the Wet Sprocket (?). I suppose I still have those somewhere. I used to join those CD clubs where you get one for a penny and then they rip your eyeballs out for the ones you actually pay for. I hardly ever buy CDs anymore with itunes and all of that.
I got my first cd player in 1985 and I had the first one on my block. The first cd I ever played was "Love Zone" by Billy Ocean and to this day that song and video remains among my favorite of all times. It seems that the cd player came on the scene right around the time that music videos took off. I wonder if that was coincidental. The second cd I remember buying was by a group called Starpoint (Restless). I ended up giving that one to my bestfriend.
After I bought my cd player I still continued to buy albums because unfortunately most music was not available in the cd format. I still remember the last record album I bought back in 1987. It was by an artist named Robert Brookins and he had a duet with Stephanie Mills entitled "Where Is The Love". Yes it was a remake of the Roberta Flack and Donnie Hathaway classic.
Malcolm I should have mentioned in my post that my son does not own any cd's and is in fact is what is referred to in some circles as a music purist. He is a disc jockey who still totes around crates of albums to gigs and states categorically that albums and disco singles sound better than cd's. He has even conned me out of some of the classics that I have been able to replace with cd's. For instance I parted with my "Renegades of Funk" disco single by Afrika Bambaataa, which I am told is a rare find.
Mistress of the Dark: A friend of mine bought me the cassette version of "Then And Now (The Best Of The Monkees)" for one of my birthdays. My first CD was "The Ultimate Box Tops"... it's still in my collection.
Stealth: Your love for Joan Jett is how I discovered your blog not too long ago.
I had forgotten about the CD longbox... I never understood the reasoning behind those. In addition to what you mentioned about CDs, I loved that you could easily skip tracks or listen to fave songs repeatedly.
Sparky Duck: Bobby Brown defeats Beethoven. I can see the Celebrity Deathmatch showdown now.
Susan Helene: Back when I had more disposable income, I would get a new CD or boxed set every paycheck. ... ah the good ole days.
Holly: I had that Arrested Development album on cassette. Your comment about the CD clubs ripping your eyeballs out had me cracking up. I belonged to Columbia House for awhile. The most recent CD I bought was The Beatles "Love" last November or December.
Pjazzy: You joined the CD revolution pretty early. "Love Zone" is one of my favorite Billy Ocean tunes. Starpoint... now that's a group that has been largely forgotten.
Your son is definitely old school. Although toting all that vinyl around must be good for the biceps, I wouldn't be able to deal. I don't even store a majority of the CDs I use for my show in their cases. Instead I keep them in CD wallets.
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