OTHER TECH

The 1980s

The CD debuts in Europe and Japan. The first commercial release is Billy Joel's 1978 album, 52nd Street.

The CD comes to America! No one can figure out how to open the jewel cases, yet 30,000 players (Sony's CDP-101, priced at about $1,000) and 800,000 CDs (average price: $17) are sold between spring and year-end. (LPs are still doing fine at 209.6 million sold.)

Sony introduces the first portable CD player, an answer to the company's own runaway success, the cassette Walkman. The height of four jewel cases and weighing in at a pound, it can also be used as a small dumbbell.

Future CD-timeline writer buys his first player, a Technics, for $300 and his first CD, the soundtrack to Paul McCartney's Give My Regards to Broad Street. The CD sounds amazing; the movie isn't.

Let 'er rip! CD-authoring comes to the masses via burners and recordable discs. And when we say "the masses," we mean those who have $100,000 to spare and the room for something roughly the size and weight of a washing machine.

In the U.S., the CD passes the LP in popularity: 149.7 million units shipped. vs. 72.4 million!

The 1990s