Floppy discs may have altered how computers stored and transferred memory, but Compact Discs revolutionized both the computer and music businesses. Originally invented in the early 90s, CDs were designed to replace floppy drives and cassettes, and over a 10-year period, they not only replaced floppies and cassettes, but made them completely obsolete. The CD impacted the creation of DVD players and CD players, and even paved the way for future items such as MP3 players. Without the CD, the music, video game, movie and computer industries might have appeared much different than they do today.
Computers
During much of the 80s and 90s, floppy discs were widely used as the storage device of choice used to transfer information from one computer to the next. As soon as CDs were created, computer designers started to prefer CD drives over floppy drives because of the ability to transfer more media onto a single CD; plus, the relatively low cost of a disc was also helpful. CDs were light, compact, and much more resistant to damage than a floppy disc.
Music
It may have been the computer industry that profited the most from the CD’s creation, but the music industry came in close second. CDs made it feasible to save hundreds of digital songs onto one disc, something that no floppy disc or cassette could ever copy because of the limited memory. With help from the Internet, Peer-to-Peer music programs and a music burner, people could copy their most beloved songs onto a disc. While pirating music is deemed illegal, it didn’t hinder millions of people from pirating songs and placing them onto discs. No other music memory unit, including vinyl records and cassettes, gave buyers the power to produce their own custom audio compilations.
Movies and Games
Movies and video games developers manage to compress the audio and video onto one CD, making for a device that’s easy to hold. The movie business could give rise to higher quality images and place them onto a CD, and when the introduction of Blu-ray players came about, newer discs with up to gigabytes worth of memory were used. The video game market no longer had to trouble itself with less memory that cartridge-based games had and could cram more information on one CD with ease.
While the older vinyl albums and cassettes may no longer be popular, some buyers still hold on to these items to show future generations the mediums that once existed. Individuals may have old White Stripes vinyl records laying around the house, but the sentimental value an album has is priceless.
