Compact Disc

technology · music · storage

Invented together. Philips and Sony worked as a team to create the CD in the early 1980s. They wanted a way to store music digitally that would be better than vinyl records and cassette tapes.

Released in Japan. The first CDs came out in Japan in October 1982. It wasn't long before they became popular all around the world for playing music.

Spiral of data. Information on a CD is stored in a super tiny spiral groove, kind of like the grooves on a vinyl record but much, much smaller. A laser reads this groove to play your music.

Pure digital sound. CDs store music as digital information, which means the sound quality stays perfect no matter how many times you listen to it, unlike old cassettes that could wear out.

Billions sold. By 2007, people had bought over 200 billion CDs worldwide. That's about 30 CDs for every person on Earth!