19
2011
Who Invented the CD
The compact Disk was originally the brainchild of a brilliant scientist named James Russel. In the 1960’s, Russel worked at the Battelle’s Pacific Northwest National Laboratory in Richland to devise the optical digital data service technology. He acquired twenty-two patents for various elements of his compact disk. However, it did not gain popularity till much later when Sony and Philips combined task forces to co-produce the Compact disc-digital audio standard.
In the year 1979, both Sony and Philips corporations were on the verge to launch incompatible audio discs format when instead they decided to join hands and formulate a single industry standard disc format. Philips contributed to the physical design of the compact disc, which was quite similar to its previous laserdisc format. On the other hand, Sony’s contribution to this new development was in terms of digital encoding and error-correction code designs.
In the year 1980,both companies announced the CD-DA standard, which included specifications regarding sampling, recording and the physical format of present Compact Disk. Once the specification was set, both companies raced against each other to be the first to launch the compact disk in the market. However due to its extensive experience with digital electronics, Sony managed to beat the chase and introduced the first commercial CD featuring Billy Joel’s 52nd album, on 1st October 1982.