Poll of the Day > Compact Discs

(+) Yeah! (+)

I listen mostly to digital music but back in the day, I had a ton of CDs.

83? They certainly took a while to take off. It wasn't until like 10 years after that that I had a computer that even had a CD drive.

Kinda. I still buy CDs sometimes and I rip them to FLAC files and listen to those.

adjl posted...

83? They certainly took a while to take off. It wasn't until like 10 years after that that I had a computer that even had a CD drive.

...you do realize they had a use entirely unrelated to computers originally, yes?

Yes, but it also took a while for them to dominate the audio world as well. Cassettes were still pretty common well into the early 90's. Granted, a big chunk of that was because of the challenges of incorporating CD players into cars, but still.

Yes, but really only around Christmastime

adjl posted...

Yes, but it also took a while for them to dominate the audio world as well. Cassettes were still pretty common well into the early 90's. Granted, a big chunk of that was because of the challenges of incorporating CD players into cars, but still.

Cassettes were just easier to listen to on the go until the invention of the Discman, and those weren't really a product that your average user could buy until 10 years after they came out. Even then, cassettes still had a lot of advantages over early CD players. It wasn't until the prices went down that it became a viable consumer product.

Sometimes (kinda rare) when I buy some vinyl it comes with a CD. I never listen to it though. I just keep it in its packaging.

Dikitain posted...

Cassettes were just easier to listen to on the go until the invention of the Discman, and those weren't really a product that your average user could buy until 10 years after they came out. Even then, cassettes still had a lot of advantages over early CD players. It wasn't until the prices went down that it became a viable consumer product.

I suppose DVD's took a similar amount of time to really catch on, and followed a similar progression. Less so in computers, but it was several years before DVD players became cheap enough to compete directly with VCR's instead of just being a luxury upgrade, and several more before DVD's themselves became ubiquitous because people were content with their VHS collections. I attribute part of the PS2's success to that: By including a DVD player before DVD players were something most people were willing to buy for themselves, buying a PS2 to use it primarily as a DVD player wasn't actually a bad idea, which was huge for establishing an early install base and giving it a competitive edge over the GC/Xbox (by extension, this meant it was pretty silly that so many people complained about the Wii not playing DVD's, since DVD players were everywhere and dirt cheap by then).

I guess my impression is mostly an age thing. I have watched CD's take over within my lifetime, so I assumed they'd also shown up within my lifetime, if not slightly sooner. Having been born in '89, though, I wasn't exactly sentient enough to keep up with the market trends of the early 90's in detail, so I'm not surprised my impression's a little off.

I don't listen to them anymore as it's more convenient to just use digital format for me.

Not since 2000.

Yeah. I mean it's not like they're these weird obscure relics from the past. I can still buy them new at Walmart, Barnes n Noble, Best Buy, and online.