The invention of, and the death of the CD

The first ever CD was created by Sony and Phillips, and was commercially available since 1982. Advantages over the Vinyl included it's capability to hold information in a physically smaller disc. a CD is usually around the size of 120 mm and can hold up 80 minutes of audio or 700 MB. The CD actually was the first commercial product to take advantage of laser technology so that it could read the disc without actually making contact with it. It copied the binary reading that the vinyl used, e.g. emulated sound according to minuscule ridges in and dips in the Cd's surface, which would manipulate the sound that was made. the CD slowly taken over the market from Vinyls, however they still remain commercially available today. most house held computers are compatible with Cd's used for music and other forms of saved data, which really helped the CD overcome the Vinyl. The CD was adapted to become the CDR along with several other variations which also improved sales massively. the CDR allowed consumers to save files from there PC onto the discs and therefore transfer files from one area to another.

The music industries very swift transferal to the Internet began to destroy the Cd's market, and crushed many small CD stores across the world. this is a big social issue as CD stores for some people were more than just shops, they became a meeting place and a personal haven. several people in a documentary spoke about the experience of CD stores like a surreal experience, to be able to walk in and look at the artwork of bands you had never heard of, then listen to the music, and get yourself listening to a variety of bands from all sorts of areas. This experience is being taken away by the musical industries new output in the form of stores mainly iTunes. the prices that the songs are sold at makes accessing music so much easier, and the end product for the artist after $0.99 goes through Itunes, and then the record label, leaving the artist themselves with very little profit per sale.

This now leaves the main form of profit for the band coming from touring and concerts. also the profit they make is generated by the merchandise that is sold at concerts and from retail in stores and through the Internet. Some have suggested that all people using programs such as limewire pay a royalty every year to download the music that they want, for example £50 for access to music for 12 months. this money would then go to the artists to sustain there living and allow them to make money from there music again. However this would possibly worsen the situation of Cd's by making more people become reluctant to buying a CD when music is openly available all year round for just £50. CD player producers have also began to cap there manufacturing because of a lack of customers which also puts damages the CD market. Another issue with CDR is of personal memory sticks, which have become a more popular form of saving certain file types as they are easier to carry round and with the increase in use of IT in modern jobs they are useful just to have attached to car keys of in a bag instead of carrying lots of Cd's around