Album eraThe album era (sometimes, album-rock era) was a period in popular music, usually defined as the mid-1960s through the middle of the 2000s decade, in which the album – a collection of songs issued on physical media – was the dominant form of recorded music expression and consumption. It was driven primarily by three storage formats: the 33⅓ rpm long-playing record (LP), the cassette tape, and the compact disc (CD).
Compact discDigital optical disc data storage formatThe compact disc (CD) is a digitaloptical discdata storage format co-developed by Philips and Sony to store and play digital audio recordings. It employs the Compact Disc Digital Audio (CD-DA) standard and is capable of holding uncompressed stereo audio. First released in Japan in October 1982, the CD was the second optical disc format to reach the market, following the larger LaserDisc (LD).
Phonograph recordA phonograph record (also known as a gramophone record, especially in British English) or a vinyl record (for later varieties only) is a disc-shaped analog sound storage medium with an inscribed, modulated spiral groove. The groove usually starts near the outside edge and ends near the center of the disc. The stored sound information is made audible by playing the record on a phonograph (or "gramophone", "turntable", or "record player").
8-track cartridgeThe 8-track tape (formally Stereo 8; commonly called eight-track cartridge, eight-track tape, and eight-track) is a magnetic-tape sound-recording technology that was popular from the mid-1960s until the early 1980s, when the compact cassette, which antedated the 8-track system, surpassed it in popularity for recorded music.
Cassette tapeMagnetic audio tape recording formatThe cassette tape, officially named the Compact Cassette, and also known as audio cassette, or simply tape or cassette, is an analogmagnetic tape recording format for audio recording and playback. Invented by Lou Ottens and his team at the Dutch company Philips, the Compact Cassette was introduced in August 1963, and Philips freely licensed the patented format to other manufacturers from 1966.
MusicForm of art using soundGrooved side of the Voyager Golden Record launched aboard the Voyager probes to space, which features music from around the worldMusic is the arrangement of sound to create some combination of form, harmony, melody, rhythm, or otherwise expressive content. Music is generally agreed to be a cultural universal that is present in all human societies. Definitions of music vary widely in substance and approach.
Digital distributionDigital distribution, also referred to as content delivery, online distribution, or electronic software distribution, among others, is the delivery or distribution of information or materials through digital platforms. The distribution of digital media content may be of digitized versions of analog materials, as well as other materials offered in a purely digital format, such as audio, video, e-books, video games, and other software.
MP3MP3 (formally MPEG-1 Audio Layer III or MPEG-2 Audio Layer III) is an audio coding format developed largely by the Fraunhofer Society in Germany under the lead of Karlheinz Brandenburg.
Sound recording and reproductionSound recording and reproduction is the electrical, mechanical, electronic, or digital inscription and re-creation of sound waves, such as spoken voice, singing, instrumental music, or sound effects. The two main classes of sound recording technology are analog recording and digital recording.
AudiotapeAudiotape is magnetic tape used for storing audio. Information stored can be in the form of either an analog or digital signal. Audiotape can be used in various tape recorders including machines for reel-to-reel audio tape recording on open reels or they can be enclosed in cases that only have one reel (tape cartridge) or two reels (cassette).
Record salesRecord sales or music sales are activities related to selling music recordings (albums, singles, or music videos) through physical record shops or digital music stores. Record sales reached their peak in 1999, when 600 million people spent an average of $64 on records, achieving $40 billion in sales of recorded music. Record sales started declining in the 21st century, which made artists rely on touring for most of their income.
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