CD-ROM

James Russell (b. 1931)

The optical disc was the breakthrough storage technology for three decades in
a row. Originally developed for storing digitized audio in the 1970s, optical
discs were adopted to store computer data in the 1980s and then digital video
in the 1990s. During this time, the physical format remained standard: a
polycarbonate disc, 120 millimeters in diameter, with a central hole and a
spiral track—like a vinyl record, but high tech. Read with a laser, optical discs
used error-correcting codes to recover from reading errors caused by dust and
minor scratches. The industry even developed writable media after a time.
The key inventions that made the compact audio disc possible date back to the
1960s, when James Russell, a classical music enthusiast working at Battelle
Memorial Institute’s Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, demonstrated a
system that could digitize music, store it on optical media, and play it back.
The consumer market that drove the adoption and commoditization of the
technology was the result of a partnership between Philips® Electronics and
Sony®, both eager to avoid a repeat of the “format wars” they had fought over
the VHS and Beta tape recording formats in the 1970s.
Sony introduced the first audio CD player on October 1, 1982. The machine
cost around $900, and the discs retailed for $30 each at a time when records
were typically priced under $10. But CDs sounded so much better than the
average vinyl record that the technology was a success.
For computers, the big breakthrough came in 1988, with the release of the CD-
ROM standard. With greater error correction than audio CDs, a CD­ROM
stored 682 megabytes of data—more than 450 3.25-inch floppy disks. Libraries
started purchasing database applications delivered on CD-ROM. By the mid-
1990s, CD-ROMs became the dominant media for distributing software, and
writable CDs (CD-Rs) and rewritable CDs (CD-RWs) became a popular format
for both backups and exchanging information.
Optical discs were just entering their fourth generation of technology— with
storage in the 50-gigabyte range—when the growing availability of high-speed
residential broadband created a better way for consumers to get their music,
video, and software.
SEE ALSO Error-Correcting Codes (1950), DVD (1995), USB Flash Drive (2000)
The compact disc could be used both to access data from CD-ROMs and to
play music from conventional CDs.