Compact Disc Digital Audio (CDDA or CD-DA), also known as Digital Audio Compact Disc or simply as Audio CD, is the
standard Standard may refer to:
Symbols
* Colours, standards and guidons, kinds of military signs
* Standard (emblem), a type of a large symbol or emblem used for identification
Norms, conventions or requirements
* Standard (metrology), an object th ...
format for audio
compact disc
The compact disc (CD) is a digital optical disc data storage format that was co-developed by Philips and Sony to store and play digital audio recordings. In August 1982, the first compact disc was manufactured. It was then released in Oc ...
s. The standard is defined in the ''Red Book'', one of a series of
Rainbow Books
The Rainbow Books are a collection of CD format specifications.
''Red Book'' (1980)
*CD-DA (''Digital Audio'') – standardized as IEC 60908
**CD-Text—a 1996 extension to CD-DA
** CD-MIDI—part of the original red-book standard
**CD+G (' ...
(named for their binding colors) that contain the
technical specifications
A specification often refers to a set of documented requirements to be satisfied by a material, design, product, or service. A specification is often a type of technical standard.
There are different types of technical or engineering specificati ...
for all CD
formats.
The first commercially available audio
CD player
A CD player is an electronic device that plays audio compact discs, which are a digital optical disc data storage format. CD players were first sold to consumers in 1982. CDs typically contain recordings of audio material such as music or audio ...
, the
Sony CDP-101
The Sony CDP-101 is the world's first commercially released compact disc player. The system was launched in Japan on October 1, 1982 at a list price of 168,000 yen (approx US$730).
The Japan-only launch was partially because Philips, Sony's pa ...
, was released October 1982 in Japan. The format gained worldwide acceptance in 1983–84, selling more than a million CD players in those two years, to play 22.5 million discs.
Beginning in the 2000s, CDs were increasingly being replaced by other forms of digital storage and distribution, with the result that by 2010 the number of audio CDs being sold in the U.S. had dropped about 50% from their peak; however, they remained one of the primary distribution methods for the
music industry.
In the 2010s, revenues from digital music services, such as
iTunes,
Spotify
Spotify (; ) is a proprietary Swedish audio streaming and media services provider founded on 23 April 2006 by Daniel Ek and Martin Lorentzon. It is one of the largest music streaming service providers, with over 456 million monthly active us ...
, and YouTube, matched those from physical format sales for the first time. According to the
RIAA's midyear report in 2020,
phonograph record revenues surpassed those of CDs for the first time since the 1980s.
History
The optophone, first presented in 1931, was an early device which used light for both recording and playback of sound signals on a
transparent photograph. More than thirty years later, American inventor
James T. Russell has been credited with inventing the first system to record digital video on an optical
transparent
Transparency, transparence or transparent most often refer to:
* Transparency (optics), the physical property of allowing the transmission of light through a material
They may also refer to:
Literal uses
* Transparency (photography), a still, ...
foil
Foil may refer to:
Materials
* Foil (metal), a quite thin sheet of metal, usually manufactured with a rolling mill machine
* Metal leaf, a very thin sheet of decorative metal
* Aluminium foil, a type of wrapping for food
* Tin foil, metal foil ...
that is lit from behind by a high-power halogen lamp, not a laser. Russell's patent application was filed in 1966, and he was granted a patent in 1970. Following litigation, Sony and Philips licensed Russell's patents for recording, not the play-back part (then held by a Canadian company, Optical Recording Corp.) in the 1980s. It is debatable whether Russell's concepts, patents, and prototypes instigated and in some measure influenced compact disc's design.
The compact disc is an evolution of
LaserDisc technology, where a focused
laser
A laser is a device that emits light through a process of optical amplification based on the stimulated emission of electromagnetic radiation. The word "laser" is an acronym for "light amplification by stimulated emission of radiation". The fi ...
beam is used that enables the high information density required for high-quality digital audio signals. Unlike the prior art by Optophonie and James Russell, the information on the disc is read from a reflective layer using a laser as a light source through a protective substrate. Prototypes were developed by
Philips
Koninklijke Philips N.V. (), commonly shortened to Philips, is a Dutch multinational conglomerate corporation that was founded in Eindhoven in 1891. Since 1997, it has been mostly headquartered in Amsterdam, though the Benelux headquarters i ...
and
Sony
, commonly stylized as SONY, is a Japanese multinational conglomerate corporation headquartered in Minato, Tokyo, Japan. As a major technology company, it operates as one of the world's largest manufacturers of consumer and professiona ...
independently in the late 1970s. Although originally dismissed by
Philips Research
The Philips Natuurkundig Laboratorium (English translation: ''Philips Physics Laboratory'') or NatLab was the Dutch section of the Philips research department, which did research for the product divisions of that company. Originally located in the ...
management as a trivial pursuit,
the CD became the primary focus for Philips as the
LaserDisc format struggled.
In 1979, Sony and Philips set up a joint task force of engineers to design a new digital audio disc. After a year of experimentation and discussion, the ''
Red Book'' CD-DA standard was published in 1980. After their commercial release in 1982, compact discs and their players were extremely popular. Despite costing up to $1,000, over 400,000 CD players were sold in the United States between 1983 and 1984. By 1988, CD sales in the United States surpassed those of vinyl LPs, and by 1992 CD sales surpassed those of prerecorded music cassette tapes. The success of the compact disc has been credited to the cooperation between
Philips
Koninklijke Philips N.V. (), commonly shortened to Philips, is a Dutch multinational conglomerate corporation that was founded in Eindhoven in 1891. Since 1997, it has been mostly headquartered in Amsterdam, though the Benelux headquarters i ...
and
Sony
, commonly stylized as SONY, is a Japanese multinational conglomerate corporation headquartered in Minato, Tokyo, Japan. As a major technology company, it operates as one of the world's largest manufacturers of consumer and professiona ...
, which together agreed upon and developed compatible hardware. The unified design of the compact disc allowed consumers to purchase any disc or player from any company, and allowed the CD to dominate the at-home music market unchallenged.
Digital audio laser-disc prototypes
In 1974, Lou Ottens, director of the audio division of
Philips
Koninklijke Philips N.V. (), commonly shortened to Philips, is a Dutch multinational conglomerate corporation that was founded in Eindhoven in 1891. Since 1997, it has been mostly headquartered in Amsterdam, though the Benelux headquarters i ...
, started a small group to develop an analog optical audio disc with a diameter of and a sound quality superior to that of the vinyl record. However, due to the unsatisfactory performance of the analog format, two Philips research engineers recommended a digital format in March 1974. In 1977, Philips then established a laboratory with the mission of creating a digital audio disc. The diameter of Philips's prototype compact disc was set at , the diagonal of an audio cassette.
Heitaro Nakajima
was a Japanese digital audio pioneer, who led Sony's Compact Disc project in the 1970s.
Born in Kurume, Fukuoka Prefecture, Nakajima graduated from the Tokyo Institute of Technology with a bachelor's degree in electrical engineering in 1944, an ...
, who developed an early digital audio recorder within Japan's national public broadcasting organization
NHK
, also known as NHK, is a Japanese public broadcaster. NHK, which has always been known by this romanized initialism in Japanese, is a statutory corporation funded by viewers' payments of a television license fee.
NHK operates two terrestr ...
in 1970, became general manager of
Sony
, commonly stylized as SONY, is a Japanese multinational conglomerate corporation headquartered in Minato, Tokyo, Japan. As a major technology company, it operates as one of the world's largest manufacturers of consumer and professiona ...
's audio department in 1971. His team developed a digital
PCM adaptor
A PCM adaptor is a device that encodes digital audio as video for recording on a videocassette recorder. The adapter also has the ability to decode a video signal back to digital audio for playback. This digital audio system was used for mast ...
audio tape recorder using a
Betamax video recorder in 1973. After this, in 1974 the leap to storing digital audio on an optical disc was easily made.
Sony
, commonly stylized as SONY, is a Japanese multinational conglomerate corporation headquartered in Minato, Tokyo, Japan. As a major technology company, it operates as one of the world's largest manufacturers of consumer and professiona ...
first publicly demonstrated an optical digital audio disc in September 1976. A year later, in September 1977, Sony showed the press a disc that could play an hour of digital audio (44,100 Hz sampling rate and 16-bit resolution) using
MFM modulation.
In September 1978, the company demonstrated an optical digital audio disc with a 150-minute playing time, 44,056 Hz sampling rate, 16-bit linear resolution, and
cross-interleaved error correction code—specifications similar to those later settled upon for the standard compact disc format in 1980. Technical details of Sony's digital audio disc were presented during the 62nd
AES Convention, held on 13–16 March 1979, in
Brussels
Brussels (french: Bruxelles or ; nl, Brussel ), officially the Brussels-Capital Region (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) (french: link=no, Région de Bruxelles-Capitale; nl, link=no, Bruss ...
. Sony's AES technical paper was published on 1 March 1979. A week later, on 8 March, Philips publicly demonstrated a prototype of an optical digital audio disc at a press conference called "Philips Introduce Compact Disc" in
Eindhoven, Netherlands.
Sony executive
Norio Ohga
, otherwise spelled ''Norio Oga'' (January 29, 1930 – April 23, 2011), was the former president and chairman of Sony Corporation, credited with spurring the development of the compact disc as a commercially viable audio format.
Biography
Earl ...
, later CEO and chairman of Sony, and
Heitaro Nakajima
was a Japanese digital audio pioneer, who led Sony's Compact Disc project in the 1970s.
Born in Kurume, Fukuoka Prefecture, Nakajima graduated from the Tokyo Institute of Technology with a bachelor's degree in electrical engineering in 1944, an ...
were convinced of the format's commercial potential and pushed further development despite widespread skepticism.
Collaboration and standardization
In 1979, Sony and Philips set up a joint task force of engineers to design a new digital audio disc. Led by engineers
Kees Schouhamer Immink and
Toshitada Doi
is a Japanese electrical engineer, who played a significant role in the digital audio revolution. He received a degree in electrical engineering from the Tokyo Institute of Technology in 1964, and a PhD from Tohoku University in 1972.
He joined ...
, the research pushed forward
laser
A laser is a device that emits light through a process of optical amplification based on the stimulated emission of electromagnetic radiation. The word "laser" is an acronym for "light amplification by stimulated emission of radiation". The fi ...
and
optical disc
In computing and optical disc recording technologies, an optical disc (OD) is a flat, usually circular disc that encodes binary data (bits) in the form of pits and lands on a special material, often aluminum, on one of its flat surfaces. ...
technology.
After a year of experimentation and discussion, the task force produced the ''
Red Book'' CD-DA standard. First published in 1980, the standard was formally adopted by the
IEC
The International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC; in French: ''Commission électrotechnique internationale'') is an international standards organization that prepares and publishes international standards for all electrical, electronic and r ...
as an international standard in 1987, with various amendments becoming part of the standard in 1996.
Philips coined the term ''compact disc'' in line with another audio product, the
Compact Cassette,
and contributed the general manufacturing
process
A process is a series or set of activities that interact to produce a result; it may occur once-only or be recurrent or periodic.
Things called a process include:
Business and management
*Business process, activities that produce a specific se ...
, based on video LaserDisc technology. Philips also contributed
eight-to-fourteen modulation
Eight-to-fourteen modulation (EFM) is a data encoding technique – formally, a ''line code'' – used by compact discs (CD), laserdiscs (LD) and pre- Hi-MD MiniDiscs. EFMPlus is a related code, used in DVDs and Super Audio CDs (SACDs).
EFM and ...
(EFM), while Sony contributed the
error-correction
In information theory and coding theory with applications in computer science and telecommunication, error detection and correction (EDAC) or error control are techniques that enable reliable delivery of digital data over unreliable communica ...
method,
CIRC
Circ or CIRC may refer to:
* Čirč, a village and municipality in northern Slovakia
* Circ (company), a German scooter-sharing company acquired by Bird
* Circ (duo), an American music duo
* China Insurance Regulatory Commission
* Climate Impact ...
, which offers a certain resilience to defects such as scratches and fingerprints.
The ''Compact Disc Story'',
told by a former member of the task force, gives background information on the many technical decisions made, including the choice of the sampling frequency, playing time, and disc diameter. The task force consisted of around 6 persons,
though according to Philips, the compact disc was "invented collectively by a large group of people working as a team."
Initial launch and adoption
Philips established the Polydor Pressing Operations plant in
Langenhagen near
Hannover
Hanover (; german: Hannover ; nds, Hannober) is the capital and largest city of the German state of Lower Saxony. Its 535,932 (2021) inhabitants make it the 13th-largest city in Germany as well as the fourth-largest city in Northern Germany ...
, Germany, and quickly passed a series of milestones.
* The first ''test pressing'' was of a recording of
Richard Strauss's ''
Eine Alpensinfonie
''An Alpine Symphony'' (''Eine Alpensinfonie''), Op. 64, is a tone poem for large orchestra written by German composer Richard Strauss in 1915. It is one of Strauss's largest non-operatic works; the score calls for about 125 players and a t ...
'' (''An Alpine Symphony''), recorded December 1-3, 1980 and played by the
Berlin Philharmonic
The Berlin Philharmonic (german: Berliner Philharmoniker, links=no, italic=no) is a German orchestra based in Berlin. It is one of the most popular, acclaimed and well-respected orchestras in the world.
History
The Berlin Philharmonic was fo ...
and conducted by
Herbert von Karajan
Herbert von Karajan (; born Heribert Ritter von Karajan; 5 April 1908 – 16 July 1989) was an Austrian conductor. He was principal conductor of the Berlin Philharmonic for 34 years. During the Nazi era, he debuted at the Salzburg Festival, wit ...
, who had been enlisted as an ambassador for the format in 1979.
* The first ''public demonstration'' was on the
BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC
Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...
...
'' (1981) was played.
* The first ''commercial'' compact disc was produced on 17 August 1982, a 1979 recording of Chopin waltzes by
''.
* The first CD played on BBC Radio was in October 1982 on BBC Radio Scotland (
programme, Followed by Ken Bruce and Eddie Mair all BBC Scotland), with the first CD ''played'' on UK independent radio station shortly after (
, Jay Crawford Show). The CD was the
''.
The Japanese launch was followed on 14 March 1983 by the introduction of CD players and discs to Europe and North America (where CBS Records released sixteen titles).
The growing acceptance of the CD in 1983 marks the beginning of the popular digital audio revolution. It was enthusiastically received, especially in the early-adopting
communities, and its handling quality received particular praise. As the price of players gradually came down, and with the introduction of the portable
, the CD began to gain popularity in the larger popular and rock music markets. With the rise in CD sales, pre-recorded
sales began to decline in the late 1980s; CD sales overtook cassette sales in the early 1990s.
The first artist to sell a million copies on CD was
''.
One of the first CD markets was devoted to reissuing popular music whose commercial potential was already proven. The first major artist to have their entire catalog converted to CD was
in February 1985, along with four greatest hits albums; his fifteenth and sixteenth albums had already been issued on CD by
in 1983 and 1984, respectively.
were released in mono on compact disc.
In 1988, 400 million CDs were manufactured by 50 pressing plants around the world.
s (DAC), which contained individual electrical components for each bit of the DAC.
Even when using high-precision components, this approach was prone to decoding errors, exacerbated by the "zero-crossing problem".