1 00:00:04,240 --> 00:00:07,240 Speaker 1: Welcome to tech Stuff, a production of I Heart Radios, 2 00:00:07,320 --> 00:00:14,080 Speaker 1: How Stuff Works. Hey there, everyone, and welcome to tech Stuff. 3 00:00:14,120 --> 00:00:16,439 Speaker 1: I'm your host, Jonathan Strickland. I'm an executive producer with 4 00:00:16,440 --> 00:00:18,319 Speaker 1: How Stuff Works and I heart Radio and a love 5 00:00:18,720 --> 00:00:23,400 Speaker 1: things tech. And we are continuing our epic series about 6 00:00:23,440 --> 00:00:28,880 Speaker 1: the evolution of media, of recorded media specifically and our 7 00:00:28,920 --> 00:00:31,920 Speaker 1: relationship with it and how that has changed over the years. 8 00:00:32,680 --> 00:00:36,240 Speaker 1: And uh, you know, I started with the earliest days 9 00:00:36,240 --> 00:00:39,920 Speaker 1: of consumer media, stuff like wax cylinders. By earliest days, 10 00:00:39,960 --> 00:00:42,760 Speaker 1: I mean like media you could play back and experience, 11 00:00:43,120 --> 00:00:45,920 Speaker 1: not stuff like sheet music or or written plays or 12 00:00:45,960 --> 00:00:48,199 Speaker 1: things like that. And we're gonna be leading all the 13 00:00:48,240 --> 00:00:51,680 Speaker 1: way up to today's streaming formats in this series. And 14 00:00:51,680 --> 00:00:53,640 Speaker 1: in our last episode, I covered the birth of the 15 00:00:53,720 --> 00:00:57,000 Speaker 1: video cassette, and I talked about the very early days 16 00:00:57,080 --> 00:01:00,200 Speaker 1: of the compact disc. But I want to folk it's 17 00:01:00,240 --> 00:01:04,399 Speaker 1: more on CDs in this episode because they are very important. Uh. 18 00:01:04,440 --> 00:01:08,520 Speaker 1: They played a big part in sort of the transformation 19 00:01:08,560 --> 00:01:12,120 Speaker 1: of music. So in order for us to understand the 20 00:01:12,240 --> 00:01:17,679 Speaker 1: era of digital files and then eventually the the migration 21 00:01:17,760 --> 00:01:20,560 Speaker 1: to streaming services, we have to understand more about c 22 00:01:20,680 --> 00:01:23,080 Speaker 1: d s. And I talked a bit about the development 23 00:01:23,200 --> 00:01:26,480 Speaker 1: of the c D standard, the compact disc standard, and 24 00:01:26,520 --> 00:01:29,600 Speaker 1: the format of the compact disc in that last episode, 25 00:01:29,840 --> 00:01:32,840 Speaker 1: and how the Audio CD debuted on the market way 26 00:01:32,880 --> 00:01:35,800 Speaker 1: back in n two. But I should give a bit 27 00:01:35,840 --> 00:01:39,840 Speaker 1: more background on some of those standards. I mentioned that 28 00:01:39,959 --> 00:01:44,280 Speaker 1: the alleged reason that compact discs measure twelve centimeters in 29 00:01:44,319 --> 00:01:47,960 Speaker 1: diameter is because an executive at Sony felt a single 30 00:01:48,040 --> 00:01:50,440 Speaker 1: compact disc should be able to fit a full recording 31 00:01:50,480 --> 00:01:53,920 Speaker 1: of Beethoven's Ninth Symphony on it. Sony had partnered with 32 00:01:53,960 --> 00:01:58,480 Speaker 1: the company Phillips on developing this compact disc standard, and 33 00:01:58,560 --> 00:02:03,280 Speaker 1: Phillips owned a subsidiary, uh and it was PolyGram Records. 34 00:02:03,320 --> 00:02:06,920 Speaker 1: So PolyGram Records is music label. And the longest recording 35 00:02:07,160 --> 00:02:11,840 Speaker 1: of Beethoven's Ninth that was in PolyGram's catalog was seventy 36 00:02:11,840 --> 00:02:14,840 Speaker 1: four minutes long. So to fit seventy four minutes of 37 00:02:14,880 --> 00:02:18,400 Speaker 1: audio on a compact disc using the standards they had 38 00:02:18,480 --> 00:02:21,880 Speaker 1: arrived at would require a disc of at least twelve 39 00:02:21,919 --> 00:02:25,200 Speaker 1: centimeters in diameter. Now again I said the beginning of 40 00:02:25,240 --> 00:02:28,520 Speaker 1: all that allegedly because sometimes these things just turn out 41 00:02:28,520 --> 00:02:33,200 Speaker 1: to be legends and not actually true, And I honestly 42 00:02:33,240 --> 00:02:35,840 Speaker 1: don't know if that legend is true or not. It 43 00:02:35,880 --> 00:02:37,680 Speaker 1: may well be. I hope it is. It's kind of 44 00:02:37,680 --> 00:02:40,480 Speaker 1: a cool little way of saying that's why c d 45 00:02:40,600 --> 00:02:43,080 Speaker 1: s are the size that they are. Now, it wasn't 46 00:02:43,120 --> 00:02:47,600 Speaker 1: just music that determined that size, right, It wasn't just 47 00:02:47,760 --> 00:02:51,800 Speaker 1: the fact that Beethoven's Symphony is seventy four minutes, because 48 00:02:52,880 --> 00:02:55,360 Speaker 1: why did seventy four minutes take up that much space 49 00:02:55,400 --> 00:02:57,880 Speaker 1: as opposed to less space or more space? Well, the 50 00:02:57,960 --> 00:03:02,040 Speaker 1: sample rate and the bit encoding played a big part 51 00:03:02,080 --> 00:03:05,160 Speaker 1: in that. So sample rate refers to how many times 52 00:03:05,240 --> 00:03:09,040 Speaker 1: you measure something, how many measurements you're taking per unit 53 00:03:09,120 --> 00:03:12,519 Speaker 1: of time, And in this case with audio, uh, we're 54 00:03:12,560 --> 00:03:17,360 Speaker 1: talking about measuring some sort of level of audio energy 55 00:03:17,800 --> 00:03:21,680 Speaker 1: per unit of time. Frequency is typically what we're talking about. 56 00:03:22,040 --> 00:03:25,480 Speaker 1: So the more times you sample audio per second, the 57 00:03:25,560 --> 00:03:29,600 Speaker 1: closer the recording will resemble the original audio, And each 58 00:03:29,639 --> 00:03:32,880 Speaker 1: sample has a certain amount of data associated with it. 59 00:03:33,120 --> 00:03:35,920 Speaker 1: The more samples you take per second, the more data 60 00:03:36,040 --> 00:03:38,680 Speaker 1: you're going to have to represent whatever it is that 61 00:03:38,720 --> 00:03:42,280 Speaker 1: you've measured. So with audio CDs, Sony and Phillips decide 62 00:03:42,280 --> 00:03:45,280 Speaker 1: on a sample rate of forty four point one killer hurts. 63 00:03:45,320 --> 00:03:49,800 Speaker 1: That's forty four thousand, one hundred samples per second. So 64 00:03:49,840 --> 00:03:52,920 Speaker 1: why forty four point one killer hurts? Why arrive at 65 00:03:52,960 --> 00:03:55,680 Speaker 1: that number? Was it arbitrary? Well, and now it has 66 00:03:55,720 --> 00:03:58,480 Speaker 1: to do with something called the Nyquist rate. So Harry 67 00:03:58,600 --> 00:04:05,200 Speaker 1: Nyquist was an electric electronic engineer and he studied signal processing, 68 00:04:05,280 --> 00:04:07,640 Speaker 1: and his work was what prompted the adoption of the 69 00:04:07,760 --> 00:04:14,520 Speaker 1: term niquist rate and niquist limit um. So this explains 70 00:04:14,640 --> 00:04:19,520 Speaker 1: a phenomena. It says that for any finite bandwidth signal, 71 00:04:20,120 --> 00:04:23,479 Speaker 1: you need to sample the signal at twice the frequency 72 00:04:23,680 --> 00:04:26,719 Speaker 1: range of that signal in order to capture all of 73 00:04:26,760 --> 00:04:31,640 Speaker 1: the information represented within it. So if a signals frequency, 74 00:04:31,800 --> 00:04:34,359 Speaker 1: let's don't worry about audio. Just say that you've got 75 00:04:34,440 --> 00:04:36,640 Speaker 1: some sort of signal, and you say you've got a 76 00:04:36,640 --> 00:04:41,000 Speaker 1: frequency that ranges from ten killer hurts to sixty killer hurts. 77 00:04:41,640 --> 00:04:44,719 Speaker 1: The full range of frequencies there is fifty kill hurts 78 00:04:44,800 --> 00:04:48,080 Speaker 1: right ten to sixty that's a fifty killer hurts range. 79 00:04:48,640 --> 00:04:53,039 Speaker 1: To sample that bandwidth and to get all the information 80 00:04:53,360 --> 00:04:56,360 Speaker 1: that is associated with that signal so that you're you're 81 00:04:56,400 --> 00:04:59,000 Speaker 1: not losing anything, you would need a sample rate of 82 00:04:59,040 --> 00:05:03,080 Speaker 1: at least one hundred killer hurts. That's twice the frequency range. 83 00:05:03,120 --> 00:05:06,039 Speaker 1: The range was fifty, you double that. That's a hunry 84 00:05:06,080 --> 00:05:09,920 Speaker 1: killer hurts. That's your niquist rate. But how do you 85 00:05:09,920 --> 00:05:13,640 Speaker 1: come up with a single standard sampling rate for all 86 00:05:13,680 --> 00:05:18,240 Speaker 1: audio recording? After all, a complex, nuanced piece of music 87 00:05:18,720 --> 00:05:22,080 Speaker 1: there has a lot of very low pitch, very high 88 00:05:22,080 --> 00:05:24,919 Speaker 1: pitch music in it could have a much greater range 89 00:05:24,920 --> 00:05:28,719 Speaker 1: of frequencies than a simple pop song. And that's not 90 00:05:28,800 --> 00:05:31,800 Speaker 1: me putting down pop music. I happen to love pop music. 91 00:05:31,839 --> 00:05:35,839 Speaker 1: But how do you apply one set of rules to 92 00:05:36,000 --> 00:05:39,960 Speaker 1: all music? Well, Sony and Phillips engineers agreed on forty 93 00:05:40,000 --> 00:05:43,440 Speaker 1: four point one killer hurts because we generally say that 94 00:05:43,520 --> 00:05:46,880 Speaker 1: the range of human hearing goes from twenty hurts to 95 00:05:47,000 --> 00:05:50,919 Speaker 1: twenty killer hurts. So, in other words, any sounds that 96 00:05:50,960 --> 00:05:54,559 Speaker 1: have a frequency below twenty hurts are too low pitch 97 00:05:54,680 --> 00:05:57,120 Speaker 1: for us to hear, and any sounds with a frequency 98 00:05:57,200 --> 00:06:00,320 Speaker 1: higher than twenty killer hurts are too high pit for 99 00:06:00,400 --> 00:06:03,400 Speaker 1: us to hear. So a CDs sample rate is forty 100 00:06:03,440 --> 00:06:05,640 Speaker 1: four point one killer hurts to be able to capture 101 00:06:05,680 --> 00:06:09,039 Speaker 1: all the perceptible information in an audio piece with a 102 00:06:09,040 --> 00:06:11,520 Speaker 1: little bit of wiggle room. But that's just part of 103 00:06:11,520 --> 00:06:14,960 Speaker 1: the picture. Sure, we're measuring audio at forty four thousand, 104 00:06:14,960 --> 00:06:17,520 Speaker 1: one times per second. But another thing we have to 105 00:06:17,560 --> 00:06:21,160 Speaker 1: think about is how detailed are we getting with those measurements. 106 00:06:21,560 --> 00:06:25,160 Speaker 1: Sony and Phillips decided on a sixteen bit audio bit 107 00:06:25,279 --> 00:06:29,880 Speaker 1: depth that gives us sixty five thousand, five hundred thirty 108 00:06:29,920 --> 00:06:33,440 Speaker 1: six possible ways to describe the audio energy in a 109 00:06:33,560 --> 00:06:37,720 Speaker 1: sound file. So, in other words, you have that many 110 00:06:37,800 --> 00:06:42,080 Speaker 1: degrees to describe the sound in in terms of its frequency. 111 00:06:42,240 --> 00:06:45,680 Speaker 1: And uh, obviously the more degrees you have, the more 112 00:06:45,720 --> 00:06:49,880 Speaker 1: precise you can be with that measurement. So it's pretty precise. 113 00:06:50,400 --> 00:06:54,240 Speaker 1: It's it's not you know, it's not flawless, but it's 114 00:06:54,240 --> 00:06:56,520 Speaker 1: pretty precise. Now, if we do a bit of math, 115 00:06:57,000 --> 00:06:59,600 Speaker 1: we see that the bit rate or amount of information 116 00:06:59,640 --> 00:07:03,080 Speaker 1: we need to describe the audio ends up being one 117 00:07:03,200 --> 00:07:09,320 Speaker 1: point three five megabits per second. Now that's megabits, not megabytes. Remember, 118 00:07:09,360 --> 00:07:12,000 Speaker 1: a bit is a single unit of information. It's either 119 00:07:12,080 --> 00:07:15,000 Speaker 1: a zero or a one, whereas a byte is a 120 00:07:15,040 --> 00:07:19,360 Speaker 1: collection of eight bits. Okay, so one point three five 121 00:07:19,600 --> 00:07:22,760 Speaker 1: megabits per second is what we get for sixteen bit 122 00:07:22,840 --> 00:07:26,200 Speaker 1: audio sampled at forty four point one killer hurts or 123 00:07:26,320 --> 00:07:31,280 Speaker 1: Cede equality. That means a minute of stereo audio ends 124 00:07:31,360 --> 00:07:35,440 Speaker 1: up being about ten megabytes of information storage space. So 125 00:07:35,600 --> 00:07:38,800 Speaker 1: the amount of data per second, coupled with the total 126 00:07:38,840 --> 00:07:43,000 Speaker 1: storage time is what dictated the CD form factor. Also, 127 00:07:43,560 --> 00:07:47,960 Speaker 1: these were standards for consumer compact discs and compact displayers. 128 00:07:48,200 --> 00:07:51,600 Speaker 1: In the professional audio world, the sampling rate for recording 129 00:07:51,640 --> 00:07:55,120 Speaker 1: and duplicating tends to be forty eight killer hurts or higher, 130 00:07:55,440 --> 00:07:58,640 Speaker 1: and that generates way more data per second than the 131 00:07:58,680 --> 00:08:03,240 Speaker 1: lower sampling rates. But that was for the professional processing 132 00:08:03,320 --> 00:08:07,320 Speaker 1: as opposed to consumer grade c d s and CD players. Also, 133 00:08:07,400 --> 00:08:10,320 Speaker 1: this is a really good reminder that digital formats are 134 00:08:10,360 --> 00:08:15,480 Speaker 1: inherently different from analog formats. In analog, you don't slice 135 00:08:15,560 --> 00:08:18,240 Speaker 1: up the audio energy levels like you do with digital. 136 00:08:18,600 --> 00:08:21,840 Speaker 1: It's sort of a seamless experience, at least to human perception. 137 00:08:21,840 --> 00:08:25,160 Speaker 1: It's seamless. So with digital, you're taking what seems to 138 00:08:25,200 --> 00:08:29,320 Speaker 1: be a smooth, unbroken sound, and effectively you're chopping it 139 00:08:29,400 --> 00:08:32,840 Speaker 1: up and describing it at each instance for a certain 140 00:08:32,920 --> 00:08:38,480 Speaker 1: number of instances per second. In this case, but these 141 00:08:38,480 --> 00:08:41,920 Speaker 1: sections are so small that to us, to our perception, 142 00:08:42,040 --> 00:08:44,480 Speaker 1: it doesn't really sound chopped up at all, at least 143 00:08:44,480 --> 00:08:46,440 Speaker 1: if if you're doing the whole thing correctly, it doesn't 144 00:08:46,480 --> 00:08:49,360 Speaker 1: sound chopped up. Still, this approach meant that audio files 145 00:08:49,360 --> 00:08:53,040 Speaker 1: who swear by vinyl would often reject the very concept 146 00:08:53,200 --> 00:08:56,320 Speaker 1: of digital music. There are those who argue that because 147 00:08:56,320 --> 00:08:59,440 Speaker 1: CDs have a sample rate at all means they cannot 148 00:08:59,480 --> 00:09:02,920 Speaker 1: possible capture all the information of an audio performance. And 149 00:09:02,960 --> 00:09:06,600 Speaker 1: while you might say that the sounds not captured might 150 00:09:06,600 --> 00:09:09,360 Speaker 1: be outside the range of human hearing, they might somehow 151 00:09:09,360 --> 00:09:12,560 Speaker 1: shape other sounds in the recording in ways that aren't 152 00:09:12,600 --> 00:09:17,079 Speaker 1: replicable in digital formats and only happen as we actively 153 00:09:17,120 --> 00:09:21,559 Speaker 1: listen to analog music. So the sounds we can't hear 154 00:09:22,000 --> 00:09:26,079 Speaker 1: might affect sounds we do hear, But if those are 155 00:09:26,160 --> 00:09:29,560 Speaker 1: never captured on digital recording, if they are blocked from 156 00:09:29,559 --> 00:09:33,360 Speaker 1: being recorded, then we'll be hearing something we weren't meant 157 00:09:33,400 --> 00:09:36,599 Speaker 1: to hear. On top of that, if there are frequencies 158 00:09:36,640 --> 00:09:39,840 Speaker 1: that are greater than the niquist rate, those frequencies are 159 00:09:39,880 --> 00:09:42,800 Speaker 1: attenuated and end up being at a lower frequency than 160 00:09:42,840 --> 00:09:47,079 Speaker 1: they should, which is called aliasing. Aliasing is a real problem, 161 00:09:47,480 --> 00:09:51,360 Speaker 1: and so to address that, engineers designed analog to digital 162 00:09:51,440 --> 00:09:55,080 Speaker 1: converters or A d c s, and they incorporate a 163 00:09:55,120 --> 00:09:57,760 Speaker 1: low pass filter. The ideas the filter kind of acts 164 00:09:57,760 --> 00:10:01,480 Speaker 1: like a bouncer at a nightclub. If a frequency in 165 00:10:01,520 --> 00:10:05,160 Speaker 1: an analog audio source would be higher than twenty two 166 00:10:05,160 --> 00:10:08,040 Speaker 1: point oh five killer hurts, which is the niquist limit 167 00:10:08,200 --> 00:10:11,120 Speaker 1: for c d s. Since it's half the niquist rate 168 00:10:11,120 --> 00:10:13,960 Speaker 1: of forty four point one killer hurts, then the filter 169 00:10:14,200 --> 00:10:17,200 Speaker 1: doesn't let that frequency through the converter. It says, sorry, sorry, 170 00:10:17,240 --> 00:10:19,600 Speaker 1: you're too high pitched, we're not laying you in. That 171 00:10:19,679 --> 00:10:23,040 Speaker 1: information uh never makes it to the recording. In other words, 172 00:10:23,080 --> 00:10:25,559 Speaker 1: it gets blocked. Now, if the A d C is 173 00:10:25,600 --> 00:10:29,280 Speaker 1: well designed and really well implemented, the recorded audio shouldn't 174 00:10:29,360 --> 00:10:32,320 Speaker 1: really be affected in that case. But early A d 175 00:10:32,360 --> 00:10:34,480 Speaker 1: c s were a bit primitive and sometimes they could 176 00:10:34,520 --> 00:10:39,240 Speaker 1: degrade audio quality, giving music lovers ammunition in the vitriolic 177 00:10:39,400 --> 00:10:43,959 Speaker 1: analog versus digital debate. And I'll probably touch on audio 178 00:10:44,000 --> 00:10:47,800 Speaker 1: file objections now and again through the rest of this series, 179 00:10:47,840 --> 00:10:51,480 Speaker 1: but let's get back to information storage. You store information 180 00:10:51,480 --> 00:10:55,080 Speaker 1: on CDs in the form of little pits and and 181 00:10:55,200 --> 00:10:58,600 Speaker 1: flat sections really, and a CD player has a laser 182 00:10:58,640 --> 00:11:00,679 Speaker 1: that scans across the surf so of the c D 183 00:11:01,240 --> 00:11:04,360 Speaker 1: and it detects these pits or the smooth sections. And 184 00:11:04,400 --> 00:11:07,920 Speaker 1: these are very very small features on the c D. 185 00:11:08,240 --> 00:11:09,959 Speaker 1: On a casual glance, you would never see them. You 186 00:11:10,000 --> 00:11:12,080 Speaker 1: would really need to look super close, like with a 187 00:11:12,120 --> 00:11:14,880 Speaker 1: microscope to be able to see them. These sections on 188 00:11:14,920 --> 00:11:18,480 Speaker 1: the c D represent zeros and ones, the binary digital 189 00:11:18,559 --> 00:11:23,559 Speaker 1: information that the player will decode and then interpret as audio. 190 00:11:24,679 --> 00:11:27,960 Speaker 1: On top of that, the laser starts from the inside 191 00:11:28,120 --> 00:11:31,760 Speaker 1: edge of the c D and works outward in a spiral. 192 00:11:31,800 --> 00:11:34,480 Speaker 1: It's sort of the reverse of a vinyl album. So 193 00:11:34,520 --> 00:11:37,360 Speaker 1: if you wanted to listen to a full vinyl album, 194 00:11:37,720 --> 00:11:40,280 Speaker 1: you would put the needle or stylus on the outer 195 00:11:40,480 --> 00:11:43,720 Speaker 1: edge of that album, and as the record turns on 196 00:11:43,800 --> 00:11:47,280 Speaker 1: the turntable, the stylus makes its way down the spiral 197 00:11:47,559 --> 00:11:51,120 Speaker 1: path of the groove, slowly moving towards the center of 198 00:11:51,160 --> 00:11:53,240 Speaker 1: the record until it gets to the end of that side. 199 00:11:53,679 --> 00:11:56,680 Speaker 1: C D s go the other way. The laser positions 200 00:11:56,720 --> 00:11:59,000 Speaker 1: itself near the center for the beginning of the album, 201 00:11:59,400 --> 00:12:01,640 Speaker 1: and then slow he moves outward toward the edge as 202 00:12:01,640 --> 00:12:05,160 Speaker 1: the album continues to play. The music industry's response to 203 00:12:05,200 --> 00:12:11,080 Speaker 1: the introduction of this technology wasn't immediately overwhelming. Music studios 204 00:12:11,080 --> 00:12:14,160 Speaker 1: thought was interesting, but a lot of the retail establishments 205 00:12:14,400 --> 00:12:17,679 Speaker 1: kind of resisted. Uh. They expressed some reluctance, and they 206 00:12:17,679 --> 00:12:21,120 Speaker 1: gave a lot of different reasons for their pessimism. One 207 00:12:21,160 --> 00:12:24,720 Speaker 1: perceived shortcoming was that c D s are much smaller 208 00:12:24,760 --> 00:12:28,120 Speaker 1: than vinyl records, and that meant they might more easily 209 00:12:28,160 --> 00:12:30,960 Speaker 1: be stolen. So there was a worry about shoplifting that 210 00:12:31,040 --> 00:12:33,280 Speaker 1: these the c d s. Because of their form factor, 211 00:12:33,360 --> 00:12:37,280 Speaker 1: you could probably shove one under your jacket and casually 212 00:12:37,280 --> 00:12:38,960 Speaker 1: walk out of the record store and no one would 213 00:12:38,960 --> 00:12:42,600 Speaker 1: be able to notice. Whereas vinyl albums took up more space, 214 00:12:42,760 --> 00:12:44,480 Speaker 1: it was harder to to get away with that kind 215 00:12:44,480 --> 00:12:47,600 Speaker 1: of stuff. One of the ways that some retailers tried 216 00:12:47,640 --> 00:12:52,840 Speaker 1: to fix this perceived problem was in the packaging see PolyGram. 217 00:12:52,880 --> 00:12:55,480 Speaker 1: The division over at Phillips had come up with what 218 00:12:55,559 --> 00:12:58,400 Speaker 1: would become the standard CD case, also known as the 219 00:12:58,480 --> 00:13:02,000 Speaker 1: jewel case. The purpose of the case was to protect 220 00:13:02,000 --> 00:13:04,720 Speaker 1: the reflective surface of the c D that's the side 221 00:13:04,720 --> 00:13:07,840 Speaker 1: that actually contains all the information on it, and the 222 00:13:07,880 --> 00:13:10,720 Speaker 1: cases needed to hold that c D in place so 223 00:13:10,760 --> 00:13:13,800 Speaker 1: it didn't slide around because it could potentially get scratched 224 00:13:13,840 --> 00:13:16,199 Speaker 1: up if it slid around, And the case needed to 225 00:13:16,240 --> 00:13:19,679 Speaker 1: be fairly inexpensive to produce, because otherwise it was going 226 00:13:19,720 --> 00:13:23,040 Speaker 1: to add to the already premium price of a compact disc. 227 00:13:23,679 --> 00:13:26,680 Speaker 1: The original jewel cases were thicker than the ones that 228 00:13:26,679 --> 00:13:30,080 Speaker 1: would come on later, and the original ones were less 229 00:13:30,080 --> 00:13:33,079 Speaker 1: likely to break. They were much more resilient. But as 230 00:13:33,080 --> 00:13:36,360 Speaker 1: competition drove companies to find ways to cut costs, many 231 00:13:36,360 --> 00:13:39,160 Speaker 1: would take liberties with the design of the jewel cases 232 00:13:39,400 --> 00:13:42,720 Speaker 1: and make them with less plastic material, make them thinner 233 00:13:42,760 --> 00:13:46,640 Speaker 1: and less dirty. In North America, retailers would put the 234 00:13:46,679 --> 00:13:50,640 Speaker 1: CD jewel cases in what we're called long boxes. These 235 00:13:50,640 --> 00:13:53,839 Speaker 1: packages were twelve inches in length that's about thirty point 236 00:13:53,920 --> 00:13:58,880 Speaker 1: five centimeters. This was way longer than a jewel case was, 237 00:13:59,040 --> 00:14:01,800 Speaker 1: but it meant that the boxes could easily fit in 238 00:14:01,880 --> 00:14:06,480 Speaker 1: the displays that had previously held LP vinyl records, because 239 00:14:06,480 --> 00:14:10,240 Speaker 1: that was about the same height as a vinyl record sleeve. 240 00:14:10,760 --> 00:14:13,880 Speaker 1: So long boxes required special art or they were in 241 00:14:13,920 --> 00:14:16,600 Speaker 1: generic white boxes that had sort of a a clear 242 00:14:16,679 --> 00:14:18,800 Speaker 1: panel that would allow you to see the cover art 243 00:14:18,960 --> 00:14:21,760 Speaker 1: on the jewel case that was inside the box. The 244 00:14:21,800 --> 00:14:24,760 Speaker 1: boxes were also harder to hide under a jacket or something, 245 00:14:24,800 --> 00:14:26,920 Speaker 1: so they were thought of as a sort of theft 246 00:14:27,040 --> 00:14:30,400 Speaker 1: deterrent strategy, but they were also really wasteful, and after 247 00:14:30,440 --> 00:14:35,280 Speaker 1: pressure from several different fronts, including artists and consumers and 248 00:14:35,480 --> 00:14:39,920 Speaker 1: environmental advocacy groups, it forced the industry's hand in the 249 00:14:40,000 --> 00:14:43,960 Speaker 1: long box, said Farewell, and retailers focused on selling CDs 250 00:14:44,040 --> 00:14:46,680 Speaker 1: that were just in the jewel case, albeit with other 251 00:14:46,760 --> 00:14:49,880 Speaker 1: anti theft measures put in place in you know, in 252 00:14:50,000 --> 00:14:54,640 Speaker 1: order to again deter that shoplifting. One retailer said that 253 00:14:54,680 --> 00:14:57,000 Speaker 1: the smaller size might actually make consumers feel like they're 254 00:14:57,000 --> 00:15:00,520 Speaker 1: not getting enough for their money, which I personally pretty 255 00:15:00,520 --> 00:15:04,000 Speaker 1: funny since most people I know weren't thinking about the 256 00:15:04,040 --> 00:15:07,160 Speaker 1: physical media so much as the experience to listening to 257 00:15:07,200 --> 00:15:10,280 Speaker 1: the music that was stored on that media, And there 258 00:15:10,320 --> 00:15:13,360 Speaker 1: was a reluctance to invest in a technology that would 259 00:15:13,400 --> 00:15:17,000 Speaker 1: require retailers to double up on their inventories because they 260 00:15:17,000 --> 00:15:20,040 Speaker 1: would have to carry both vinyl records and c d s, 261 00:15:20,800 --> 00:15:24,800 Speaker 1: or later on cassettes and CDs. That was something that 262 00:15:24,840 --> 00:15:27,680 Speaker 1: the retailers were forced to do. As cassette tape sales 263 00:15:27,800 --> 00:15:31,720 Speaker 1: grew beyond vinyl sales, they were supporting vinyl and cassettes, 264 00:15:31,760 --> 00:15:34,800 Speaker 1: and then some were even doing vinyl, cassettes and CDs 265 00:15:34,880 --> 00:15:37,160 Speaker 1: all at the same time. I was a kid in 266 00:15:37,200 --> 00:15:40,480 Speaker 1: the eighties and I was completely unaware of CDs until 267 00:15:40,640 --> 00:15:43,440 Speaker 1: very late in the nineteen eighties. I always thought music 268 00:15:43,520 --> 00:15:46,680 Speaker 1: was essentially available either on vinyl albums or This was 269 00:15:46,720 --> 00:15:49,120 Speaker 1: way more common the cassette tape when I was a kid. 270 00:15:49,600 --> 00:15:53,280 Speaker 1: That's largely because when CD players first came out, they 271 00:15:53,280 --> 00:15:58,840 Speaker 1: were incredibly expensive, prohibitively so for my budget. So when 272 00:15:58,840 --> 00:16:01,200 Speaker 1: we come back, I'll talk a little bit about what 273 00:16:01,320 --> 00:16:04,880 Speaker 1: the earliest CD player was like and how much it cost, 274 00:16:05,400 --> 00:16:08,520 Speaker 1: and then we'll talk more about the evolution of the 275 00:16:08,520 --> 00:16:12,480 Speaker 1: compact disc as a medium itself. But first let's take 276 00:16:12,680 --> 00:16:23,560 Speaker 1: a quick break, all right. So I left off talking 277 00:16:23,600 --> 00:16:27,480 Speaker 1: about how the first CD players were really expensive. Let's 278 00:16:27,520 --> 00:16:30,600 Speaker 1: look at an example. The first consumer c D audio 279 00:16:30,680 --> 00:16:33,960 Speaker 1: player to hit the market was Sony's c D P 280 00:16:34,400 --> 00:16:39,040 Speaker 1: one oh one that retailed for nine D dollars as 281 00:16:39,040 --> 00:16:42,280 Speaker 1: the base model. It was an even grand if you 282 00:16:42,320 --> 00:16:44,680 Speaker 1: wanted to get the unit that had a remote control, 283 00:16:44,880 --> 00:16:48,480 Speaker 1: a little infrared remote control you could use. Adjusted for inflation, 284 00:16:49,080 --> 00:16:51,480 Speaker 1: that would be the same as about two thousand, three 285 00:16:51,600 --> 00:16:55,480 Speaker 1: hundred to two thousand five fifty dollars today just for 286 00:16:55,520 --> 00:16:59,160 Speaker 1: a CD player, not like a full stereo system with 287 00:16:59,200 --> 00:17:03,440 Speaker 1: speakers and everything. The CDs themselves cost about thirty dollars 288 00:17:03,480 --> 00:17:06,919 Speaker 1: a piece, which, again if we adjust for inflation, is 289 00:17:06,960 --> 00:17:10,880 Speaker 1: today about seventy six dollars. So just imagine that albums 290 00:17:10,920 --> 00:17:14,800 Speaker 1: costing more than seventy five bucks a pop. You really 291 00:17:15,040 --> 00:17:17,680 Speaker 1: better like that band before you PLoP down the cash 292 00:17:17,720 --> 00:17:20,960 Speaker 1: for their latest album. I found a review for the 293 00:17:21,080 --> 00:17:24,960 Speaker 1: c d P one ah one player online which revealed 294 00:17:25,000 --> 00:17:28,879 Speaker 1: some other interesting tedbits. For example, the prototype model that 295 00:17:28,960 --> 00:17:33,800 Speaker 1: Sony had shown off earlier UH played discs vertically, with 296 00:17:33,920 --> 00:17:36,840 Speaker 1: the playing surface parallel to the front of the player. 297 00:17:37,400 --> 00:17:39,240 Speaker 1: The c d P one oh one went with what 298 00:17:39,359 --> 00:17:43,240 Speaker 1: would become the more traditional orientation for most CD players, 299 00:17:43,680 --> 00:17:47,000 Speaker 1: with a horizontal tray that would slide out to accept 300 00:17:47,000 --> 00:17:50,199 Speaker 1: a c D before sliding back into the player. The 301 00:17:50,240 --> 00:17:53,240 Speaker 1: review also went into how the CD would allow you 302 00:17:53,320 --> 00:17:55,399 Speaker 1: to do things that you couldn't do with other types 303 00:17:55,440 --> 00:17:58,920 Speaker 1: of recorded media and allowed you to to skip to 304 00:17:59,080 --> 00:18:02,919 Speaker 1: specific track X or sometimes they call them bands on 305 00:18:03,160 --> 00:18:05,720 Speaker 1: the CD, not bands as in musical bands, but bands 306 00:18:05,760 --> 00:18:09,920 Speaker 1: is in bands of of recording, so track one, track 307 00:18:09,960 --> 00:18:12,960 Speaker 1: two or band one band two made it really easy 308 00:18:13,040 --> 00:18:16,080 Speaker 1: to select a specific passage or song on the c D. 309 00:18:16,520 --> 00:18:19,480 Speaker 1: And it also the review marveled and how you could 310 00:18:19,520 --> 00:18:21,840 Speaker 1: quickly skim through a track and you could hear a 311 00:18:21,880 --> 00:18:24,120 Speaker 1: sped up version of the music as you were going through, 312 00:18:24,160 --> 00:18:27,760 Speaker 1: either fast boarding or rewinding. But while it was sped up, 313 00:18:27,800 --> 00:18:30,800 Speaker 1: it didn't increase in pitch. You know, if you increase 314 00:18:30,880 --> 00:18:35,680 Speaker 1: the rotational speed of a turntable, then the pitch of 315 00:18:35,720 --> 00:18:40,440 Speaker 1: the record increases as well, something that lead to never 316 00:18:40,680 --> 00:18:44,040 Speaker 1: ending hours of entertainment. When I would put a thirty 317 00:18:44,119 --> 00:18:48,240 Speaker 1: three rpm record on a turntable but switched the turntable 318 00:18:48,320 --> 00:18:51,679 Speaker 1: to forty five rpm so that everything sounded like it 319 00:18:51,680 --> 00:18:54,600 Speaker 1: was sung by the chipmunks. You really haven't listened to 320 00:18:54,640 --> 00:18:58,000 Speaker 1: Pink Floyd's the Wall until you've listened to the Chipmunks 321 00:18:58,119 --> 00:19:02,080 Speaker 1: saying Pink Floyd's the Wall. Anyway, that didn't happen with 322 00:19:02,119 --> 00:19:05,720 Speaker 1: CDs because it was in a digital format. It wasn't 323 00:19:05,760 --> 00:19:08,199 Speaker 1: an analog signal that was being sped up and with 324 00:19:08,280 --> 00:19:13,200 Speaker 1: a pitch increasing. It was literally just skipping through the 325 00:19:13,240 --> 00:19:18,520 Speaker 1: digital file, so you would get this sped up effect, 326 00:19:18,840 --> 00:19:23,320 Speaker 1: but the pitch remained the same. Another option that the 327 00:19:23,359 --> 00:19:27,240 Speaker 1: review mentioned was the option to play a track on repeat. 328 00:19:27,960 --> 00:19:31,439 Speaker 1: Apparently that merited special mentioned because it's again something that 329 00:19:31,480 --> 00:19:35,080 Speaker 1: you could not easily do on vinyl or cassette. Uh. 330 00:19:35,359 --> 00:19:37,600 Speaker 1: You could do it like if you listen to a 331 00:19:37,600 --> 00:19:41,040 Speaker 1: particular track on vinyl, after that track has finished playing, 332 00:19:41,080 --> 00:19:43,960 Speaker 1: you could get up, walk over to the turntable, gently 333 00:19:44,040 --> 00:19:47,480 Speaker 1: lift the stylus, gently move it back to the beginning 334 00:19:47,520 --> 00:19:49,600 Speaker 1: of that track, drop it back down, and listen to 335 00:19:49,640 --> 00:19:53,439 Speaker 1: it again. Cassettes were worse because you had to push stop, 336 00:19:53,600 --> 00:19:56,199 Speaker 1: hit rewind, push play, find out where you are in 337 00:19:56,200 --> 00:19:58,200 Speaker 1: the track. Maybe you've gone too far, maybe you haven't 338 00:19:58,240 --> 00:20:01,520 Speaker 1: gone far enough. Adjust that way. CDs made it so 339 00:20:01,600 --> 00:20:03,280 Speaker 1: much easier. You could just hit a little button and 340 00:20:03,280 --> 00:20:06,400 Speaker 1: it would repeat the song you liked as many times 341 00:20:06,520 --> 00:20:08,679 Speaker 1: as you wanted until you got tired of it and 342 00:20:08,680 --> 00:20:11,399 Speaker 1: you told it to stop. It happens to be baby Shark. 343 00:20:11,720 --> 00:20:13,720 Speaker 1: You might just leave it on for weeks at a 344 00:20:13,800 --> 00:20:19,280 Speaker 1: time for your child. Yeah, Anyway, the CD player really 345 00:20:19,320 --> 00:20:23,640 Speaker 1: started to get popular in Japan pretty quickly, and Europe 346 00:20:23,640 --> 00:20:27,119 Speaker 1: followed not too long after that. It took longer to 347 00:20:27,160 --> 00:20:30,000 Speaker 1: get traction in the United States, and part of that 348 00:20:30,160 --> 00:20:34,200 Speaker 1: was just logistical because the manufacturing facilities for the players 349 00:20:34,280 --> 00:20:37,280 Speaker 1: and for the c ds we're all in Japan, and 350 00:20:37,320 --> 00:20:40,560 Speaker 1: those facilities were already chugging away to meet domestic demand. 351 00:20:41,040 --> 00:20:43,679 Speaker 1: That left very little breathing room to produce units for 352 00:20:43,680 --> 00:20:46,240 Speaker 1: the US market. And in fact, in the beginning, there 353 00:20:46,240 --> 00:20:50,399 Speaker 1: were only two manufacturing facilities in the entire world that 354 00:20:50,480 --> 00:20:54,040 Speaker 1: were making compact discs, and they were each owned by 355 00:20:54,080 --> 00:20:58,040 Speaker 1: Phillips and Sony. And that price was a really big 356 00:20:58,080 --> 00:21:00,800 Speaker 1: barrier too, Like, not a lot of people were willing 357 00:21:00,840 --> 00:21:04,040 Speaker 1: to jump in. There was a limited number of material 358 00:21:04,119 --> 00:21:07,440 Speaker 1: out there for the players, and they were really expensive. Meanwhile, 359 00:21:07,480 --> 00:21:11,400 Speaker 1: cassettes and records were relatively cheap. It would take some 360 00:21:11,520 --> 00:21:13,520 Speaker 1: time for the price to come down for CDs to 361 00:21:13,560 --> 00:21:16,840 Speaker 1: start to gain on cassettes, but boy howdy, when it happened, 362 00:21:16,880 --> 00:21:19,919 Speaker 1: it happened big time. The demand for compact discs in 363 00:21:20,000 --> 00:21:23,280 Speaker 1: Japan led to more investment in the industry, and soon 364 00:21:23,359 --> 00:21:26,720 Speaker 1: there were six manufacturing facilities, and not long after that 365 00:21:27,119 --> 00:21:30,080 Speaker 1: it grew to forty manufacturing plants that were churning out 366 00:21:30,119 --> 00:21:33,560 Speaker 1: compact discs. The technology was gaining momentum, and with the 367 00:21:33,600 --> 00:21:37,800 Speaker 1: increased output came improvements in manufacturing with more efficient processes, 368 00:21:38,080 --> 00:21:41,600 Speaker 1: which led to a steady decrease in manufacturing cost, which 369 00:21:41,600 --> 00:21:44,240 Speaker 1: meant companies could sell their products for less money while 370 00:21:44,280 --> 00:21:47,600 Speaker 1: still maintaining a profitable business. This in turn led to 371 00:21:47,720 --> 00:21:51,080 Speaker 1: wider adoption of the technology in general, and this is 372 00:21:51,160 --> 00:21:54,440 Speaker 1: how new tech typically works out. If it's new tech 373 00:21:54,520 --> 00:21:57,960 Speaker 1: that you know, actually works and has an appeal to 374 00:21:58,080 --> 00:22:01,760 Speaker 1: a customer base, the early versions are really expensive and 375 00:22:01,840 --> 00:22:05,720 Speaker 1: sometimes prohibitively so for much of the intended market. Then 376 00:22:05,760 --> 00:22:07,960 Speaker 1: you get early adopters. If you have enough of those 377 00:22:08,040 --> 00:22:11,200 Speaker 1: jumping on, they're able to demonstrate that there's a demand 378 00:22:11,280 --> 00:22:16,000 Speaker 1: for that technology that merits additional investment. The investment means 379 00:22:16,040 --> 00:22:18,560 Speaker 1: that you've paved the way for the rest of us 380 00:22:18,560 --> 00:22:20,840 Speaker 1: to get a chance to join in once those price 381 00:22:20,880 --> 00:22:23,120 Speaker 1: tags are more in line with our own personal budgets. 382 00:22:23,320 --> 00:22:26,600 Speaker 1: So I'm thankful for early adopters. Um I don't quite 383 00:22:26,640 --> 00:22:30,400 Speaker 1: make the money to be one most of the time anyway. 384 00:22:30,640 --> 00:22:34,480 Speaker 1: In the first year of sales, Sony sold twenty thousand 385 00:22:34,640 --> 00:22:38,480 Speaker 1: CD players, which is not an enormous number, but it 386 00:22:38,560 --> 00:22:41,840 Speaker 1: was significant for a brand new technology that was going 387 00:22:41,920 --> 00:22:45,280 Speaker 1: head to head with vinyl and the emerging cassette market. 388 00:22:45,840 --> 00:22:48,880 Speaker 1: And other companies besides Sony and Phillips began to make 389 00:22:48,920 --> 00:22:51,639 Speaker 1: players as well. And it's here that I mentioned that 390 00:22:51,720 --> 00:22:56,160 Speaker 1: the first CD title, according to some sources, wasn't Abba, 391 00:22:56,280 --> 00:22:59,400 Speaker 1: nor was it a Symphony, but was rather Billy Joel's 392 00:22:59,400 --> 00:23:02,800 Speaker 1: album fifty two Street. In the last episode, I mentioned 393 00:23:03,119 --> 00:23:06,879 Speaker 1: Abba and Classical Music were the first albums pressed to 394 00:23:07,080 --> 00:23:10,760 Speaker 1: c D. Other sources called Billy Joel's album fifty two 395 00:23:10,880 --> 00:23:14,440 Speaker 1: Street the first CD album UM, and then The Guardian 396 00:23:14,840 --> 00:23:17,520 Speaker 1: says the first album recorded specifically with the c D 397 00:23:17,720 --> 00:23:21,800 Speaker 1: medium in mind was Dire straits Uh Brothers in Arms 398 00:23:21,840 --> 00:23:25,120 Speaker 1: in So it may well be that all of these 399 00:23:25,119 --> 00:23:28,720 Speaker 1: are true to some extent. That Abba and the Symphony 400 00:23:28,800 --> 00:23:34,080 Speaker 1: were pressed to c D, UM, that Street was uh 401 00:23:34,280 --> 00:23:37,760 Speaker 1: it debuted, and then one of the formats it debuted 402 00:23:37,800 --> 00:23:40,400 Speaker 1: on was the c D, and that Brothers in Arms 403 00:23:40,400 --> 00:23:43,800 Speaker 1: came out specifically four CDs and was engineered for that purpose. 404 00:23:44,320 --> 00:23:46,560 Speaker 1: Maybe that's what it all means. All I can tell 405 00:23:46,560 --> 00:23:50,439 Speaker 1: you is that history tends to be complicated, and there 406 00:23:50,440 --> 00:23:52,800 Speaker 1: are a lot of stories out there that, at least 407 00:23:53,240 --> 00:23:57,720 Speaker 1: on first glance, seemed to contradict each other. Well, the 408 00:23:57,800 --> 00:24:01,480 Speaker 1: music industry racked up sixteen points seven million dollars in 409 00:24:01,600 --> 00:24:05,680 Speaker 1: CD sales. Uh, that's a lot of cash. But vinyl 410 00:24:05,720 --> 00:24:09,520 Speaker 1: albums were bringing in one point nine billion dollars that 411 00:24:09,680 --> 00:24:13,800 Speaker 1: same year, so nearly two billion compared to CDs at 412 00:24:13,840 --> 00:24:17,120 Speaker 1: sixteen point seven million. Cassette tapes were not that far 413 00:24:17,200 --> 00:24:20,280 Speaker 1: behind vinyl. In night three and the following year in 414 00:24:20,320 --> 00:24:24,520 Speaker 1: eight four, cassettes sales surpassed vinyl and kept going strong, 415 00:24:25,000 --> 00:24:28,640 Speaker 1: and CDs were laying the foundation for future success. So 416 00:24:28,680 --> 00:24:31,080 Speaker 1: this is what kind of set the tone, at least 417 00:24:31,080 --> 00:24:34,160 Speaker 1: in the United States, for vinyl to go on the decline, 418 00:24:34,480 --> 00:24:37,919 Speaker 1: cassettes to rule the eighties, and for CDs to be 419 00:24:37,960 --> 00:24:41,280 Speaker 1: well positioned to take over after that. Sony even tried 420 00:24:41,320 --> 00:24:43,960 Speaker 1: to get a jump on portable CD players in the 421 00:24:44,200 --> 00:24:47,520 Speaker 1: very very early days of the technology. Back in nineteen 422 00:24:47,520 --> 00:24:51,640 Speaker 1: seventy nine, Sony had released the Walkman, the portable cassette 423 00:24:51,640 --> 00:24:55,000 Speaker 1: player that was a popular accessory in the nineteen eighties 424 00:24:55,040 --> 00:24:57,879 Speaker 1: just watch any comedy from the nineteen eighties or set 425 00:24:57,960 --> 00:25:00,600 Speaker 1: in the nineteen eighties, and you'll likely see one you know, 426 00:25:00,640 --> 00:25:03,480 Speaker 1: like Back to the Future. It factors into the plot 427 00:25:03,680 --> 00:25:06,560 Speaker 1: in the original Back to the Future. Anyway. By the 428 00:25:06,600 --> 00:25:10,760 Speaker 1: mid nineties, Sony was trying to replicate the success of 429 00:25:10,800 --> 00:25:13,879 Speaker 1: the Walkman with a CD player, and the result was 430 00:25:13,920 --> 00:25:18,240 Speaker 1: the Discman D fifty, the world's first portable CD player. 431 00:25:18,640 --> 00:25:21,760 Speaker 1: And while the D fifty had some shortcomings, it truly 432 00:25:21,960 --> 00:25:27,119 Speaker 1: was an amazing technological achievement. See, the D fifty was small. 433 00:25:27,400 --> 00:25:30,119 Speaker 1: It was about the size of maybe five or six 434 00:25:30,280 --> 00:25:33,320 Speaker 1: c D cases stacked on top of each other, so 435 00:25:33,840 --> 00:25:37,159 Speaker 1: that meant all the circuitry and all the components of 436 00:25:37,200 --> 00:25:40,320 Speaker 1: a full size c D player needed to be shrunk 437 00:25:40,440 --> 00:25:44,240 Speaker 1: down to fit this tiny form factor. And this was 438 00:25:44,320 --> 00:25:47,600 Speaker 1: just a couple of years after the full sized version 439 00:25:47,680 --> 00:25:50,040 Speaker 1: of a CD player had come out. So it's hard 440 00:25:50,080 --> 00:25:54,280 Speaker 1: to explain exactly how challenging this was, but here's an example. 441 00:25:54,320 --> 00:25:58,240 Speaker 1: The optical path for the laser was a huge obstacle. 442 00:25:58,320 --> 00:26:01,240 Speaker 1: To work around the size constraints, Sony engineers had to 443 00:26:01,240 --> 00:26:04,880 Speaker 1: figure out how to fold the optical path to make 444 00:26:05,000 --> 00:26:08,560 Speaker 1: enough space for it. To have the laser position in 445 00:26:08,600 --> 00:26:11,240 Speaker 1: the right way for the disc. On top of that, 446 00:26:11,800 --> 00:26:14,960 Speaker 1: the engineers had to custom build all the circuits for 447 00:26:15,040 --> 00:26:18,000 Speaker 1: the D fifty to both fit inside this small case 448 00:26:18,000 --> 00:26:21,159 Speaker 1: and not immediately drain the batteries of all their juice. 449 00:26:21,560 --> 00:26:25,200 Speaker 1: Even so, the D fifty was a pretty power thirsty gadget. 450 00:26:25,640 --> 00:26:29,400 Speaker 1: As Walkman Central, a fun website, has explained, you could 451 00:26:29,720 --> 00:26:32,520 Speaker 1: buy a battery holder that would plug into the D 452 00:26:32,680 --> 00:26:35,320 Speaker 1: fifty to supply the electricity you would need to jam 453 00:26:35,359 --> 00:26:38,480 Speaker 1: out to your tunes. And one version was called the 454 00:26:38,560 --> 00:26:42,560 Speaker 1: e P B nine C battery pack and it would 455 00:26:42,600 --> 00:26:47,000 Speaker 1: hold either six C cell batteries sometimes called U eleven 456 00:26:47,040 --> 00:26:50,000 Speaker 1: batteries in Britain at that time. They are about two 457 00:26:50,000 --> 00:26:52,679 Speaker 1: inches in length and about an inch in diameter. And 458 00:26:52,760 --> 00:26:57,280 Speaker 1: another option was a big bulky rechargeable battery that would 459 00:26:57,280 --> 00:27:00,320 Speaker 1: plug into the e P B nine C and you 460 00:27:00,320 --> 00:27:03,280 Speaker 1: would put the D fifty inside this battery packets sort 461 00:27:03,280 --> 00:27:06,040 Speaker 1: of acted like a protective case, and then you would 462 00:27:06,040 --> 00:27:09,440 Speaker 1: wear the whole thing with a shoulder strap. So technically 463 00:27:09,720 --> 00:27:12,680 Speaker 1: the system was portable, but it was kind of portable 464 00:27:12,720 --> 00:27:15,440 Speaker 1: in the same way that the earliest portable phones were 465 00:27:15,480 --> 00:27:18,600 Speaker 1: portable you wouldn't want to go jogging with one. On 466 00:27:18,680 --> 00:27:21,360 Speaker 1: top of that, this was before companies had developed anti 467 00:27:21,520 --> 00:27:25,320 Speaker 1: skip software technologies that could keep a CD player on 468 00:27:25,400 --> 00:27:28,160 Speaker 1: track even if the player were jostled by someone jogging 469 00:27:28,359 --> 00:27:30,919 Speaker 1: or a car hitting a bump on the road or something. 470 00:27:31,200 --> 00:27:33,880 Speaker 1: So moving around while listening to music might also mean 471 00:27:33,920 --> 00:27:37,240 Speaker 1: hearing some skipping as you did. So it wouldn't be 472 00:27:37,320 --> 00:27:40,800 Speaker 1: until the mid to late nineties that that technology would 473 00:27:40,800 --> 00:27:44,800 Speaker 1: start to make these portable systems much more viable, and 474 00:27:44,840 --> 00:27:48,800 Speaker 1: by then the ending of the CD era was already 475 00:27:48,840 --> 00:27:52,800 Speaker 1: on the horizon. The D fifty also was marketed as 476 00:27:52,840 --> 00:27:56,280 Speaker 1: a more affordable compact disc player. It didn't cost nearly 477 00:27:56,320 --> 00:27:58,320 Speaker 1: as much as the c d P one on one, which, 478 00:27:58,680 --> 00:28:01,680 Speaker 1: if you remember, reta for a thousand dollars if you 479 00:28:01,720 --> 00:28:04,359 Speaker 1: wanted the version that came with a remote control. The 480 00:28:04,440 --> 00:28:06,719 Speaker 1: D fifty came in at a budget price of just 481 00:28:06,920 --> 00:28:11,719 Speaker 1: three fifty dollars in nineteen four, which is still admittedly 482 00:28:11,720 --> 00:28:15,720 Speaker 1: pretty expensive. In fact, if we adjusted for inflation into 483 00:28:15,840 --> 00:28:19,399 Speaker 1: two thousand nineteen dollars, that's about eight hundred fifty six 484 00:28:19,480 --> 00:28:23,840 Speaker 1: bucks for a portable CD player. By seven, CDs were 485 00:28:23,840 --> 00:28:27,680 Speaker 1: accounting for more than one point five billion dollars in sales. 486 00:28:28,040 --> 00:28:31,520 Speaker 1: Cassettes were still leading the pack, but CDs were now 487 00:28:31,600 --> 00:28:36,120 Speaker 1: outperforming vinyl records at that time, so compact discs ended 488 00:28:36,160 --> 00:28:39,280 Speaker 1: up catching up too, and then passing vinyl records sales, 489 00:28:39,640 --> 00:28:42,080 Speaker 1: although you could argue that the final record sales were 490 00:28:42,120 --> 00:28:45,240 Speaker 1: on the decline not from compact discs but rather from 491 00:28:45,320 --> 00:28:49,440 Speaker 1: the domination of cassette tapes. In nine nine, the last 492 00:28:49,520 --> 00:28:53,200 Speaker 1: year that cassettes would outperform compact discs, the two formats 493 00:28:53,240 --> 00:28:56,320 Speaker 1: were nearly neck and neck. Cassettes made up about three 494 00:28:56,360 --> 00:29:00,000 Speaker 1: point six three billion dollars in sales revenue and see 495 00:29:00,040 --> 00:29:02,760 Speaker 1: d s were at three point three six billions, so 496 00:29:03,200 --> 00:29:08,240 Speaker 1: right behind, and in nine CD sales would outperform cassette sales, 497 00:29:08,560 --> 00:29:10,560 Speaker 1: and it seemed like the compact disc would become the 498 00:29:10,640 --> 00:29:14,800 Speaker 1: definitive medium for recorded music, but in truth it would 499 00:29:14,840 --> 00:29:17,680 Speaker 1: rain for less than a decade. Sales would peak in 500 00:29:17,800 --> 00:29:22,680 Speaker 1: nineteen ninety nine and around fifteen billion dollars, and those 501 00:29:22,680 --> 00:29:25,360 Speaker 1: figures would take a very slight dip in two thousand 502 00:29:25,680 --> 00:29:29,000 Speaker 1: and then every year after that, CD sales figures were 503 00:29:29,080 --> 00:29:31,800 Speaker 1: on the decline. We'll go more into that in just 504 00:29:32,080 --> 00:29:35,840 Speaker 1: a second, so Japan was going nuts for compact discs 505 00:29:35,920 --> 00:29:39,400 Speaker 1: shortly after their introduction, as well as a related technology, 506 00:29:39,440 --> 00:29:42,240 Speaker 1: the mini disc, which failed to get very much support 507 00:29:42,280 --> 00:29:45,600 Speaker 1: in the United States. In Europe, compact disc sales began 508 00:29:45,640 --> 00:29:50,240 Speaker 1: to pick up. Starting in nineteen five. PolyGram Phillips's music 509 00:29:50,280 --> 00:29:53,239 Speaker 1: branch was leading the pack in CD production, with the 510 00:29:53,320 --> 00:29:57,440 Speaker 1: partnership of CBS and Sony taking second place. Cassettes were 511 00:29:57,440 --> 00:30:01,360 Speaker 1: still doing really well. Unlike the early as with compact discs, 512 00:30:01,680 --> 00:30:05,560 Speaker 1: cassettes worked pretty well for car stereo systems and portable systems. 513 00:30:05,600 --> 00:30:08,080 Speaker 1: You didn't have to worry about all that skipping. Plus, 514 00:30:08,120 --> 00:30:10,440 Speaker 1: you could buy a blank cassette and you could record 515 00:30:10,440 --> 00:30:13,360 Speaker 1: to them, and initially you could not do that with 516 00:30:13,480 --> 00:30:18,400 Speaker 1: compact discs. It wasn't until nine when companies started to 517 00:30:18,480 --> 00:30:22,000 Speaker 1: develop the Compact Disc Recordable or c d R format, 518 00:30:22,720 --> 00:30:26,800 Speaker 1: and even then it wasn't available on the consumer market. 519 00:30:27,200 --> 00:30:28,920 Speaker 1: It took a few years for the tech to make 520 00:30:28,960 --> 00:30:31,720 Speaker 1: its way to that market. It was available for professional 521 00:30:31,840 --> 00:30:35,880 Speaker 1: use as early as nineteen uh Pioneer would go on 522 00:30:35,960 --> 00:30:38,840 Speaker 1: to introduce a c d R for the consumer market 523 00:30:38,920 --> 00:30:44,400 Speaker 1: in nineteen six. The earliest CDR drives were slow. It 524 00:30:44,400 --> 00:30:48,560 Speaker 1: took sometimes hours to burn data to a CDR, whether 525 00:30:48,600 --> 00:30:51,840 Speaker 1: it was music or anything else, and because of other 526 00:30:51,840 --> 00:30:55,440 Speaker 1: technological limitations, primarily how computers at the time we're not 527 00:30:56,080 --> 00:30:59,240 Speaker 1: super well suited for dealing with really large file sizes, 528 00:30:59,600 --> 00:31:02,120 Speaker 1: the qual do you burned music in the early days, 529 00:31:02,160 --> 00:31:05,600 Speaker 1: if you were using a consumer c DR typically was 530 00:31:05,680 --> 00:31:08,200 Speaker 1: lower than what you would get from a pre recorded 531 00:31:08,280 --> 00:31:11,120 Speaker 1: c D from a store. Still, the introduction of a 532 00:31:11,120 --> 00:31:13,920 Speaker 1: writable disc meant that the CD was starting to catch 533 00:31:14,040 --> 00:31:17,920 Speaker 1: up to all the benefits of having a cassette, and 534 00:31:18,040 --> 00:31:21,960 Speaker 1: it also set the stage for the introduction of the 535 00:31:22,160 --> 00:31:25,880 Speaker 1: c D r W or rewriteable compact disc, in which 536 00:31:25,880 --> 00:31:27,600 Speaker 1: you can only record to c D but you can 537 00:31:27,640 --> 00:31:30,880 Speaker 1: also a race and re record to it. Phillips introduced 538 00:31:30,880 --> 00:31:32,880 Speaker 1: a CD recorder for c D R and c D 539 00:31:33,120 --> 00:31:37,840 Speaker 1: r W formats in ninete, and you could say that 540 00:31:37,920 --> 00:31:40,720 Speaker 1: this also helped set up the c D for its 541 00:31:40,720 --> 00:31:45,160 Speaker 1: eventual decline, as c ds became more popular, displacing cassettes, 542 00:31:45,160 --> 00:31:48,880 Speaker 1: which in turn had displaced vinyl records. The music industry 543 00:31:49,040 --> 00:31:52,640 Speaker 1: was I was dancing in the streets, I guess so speak. 544 00:31:52,960 --> 00:31:55,960 Speaker 1: Sales were great. The industry was making more money than 545 00:31:55,960 --> 00:32:02,120 Speaker 1: ever before, fifteen billion dollars in an enormous amount of money. 546 00:32:02,160 --> 00:32:04,080 Speaker 1: But part of that was due to what some other 547 00:32:04,080 --> 00:32:08,160 Speaker 1: people would call false flags. People weren't just buying new albums. 548 00:32:08,480 --> 00:32:11,960 Speaker 1: They were also repurchasing albums that they had already owned 549 00:32:11,960 --> 00:32:15,960 Speaker 1: in other formats, like on cassette or vinyl, than they 550 00:32:15,960 --> 00:32:18,440 Speaker 1: would go out and buy the CD version. And so 551 00:32:18,480 --> 00:32:21,959 Speaker 1: while sales were great, it wasn't necessarily an indicator that 552 00:32:22,120 --> 00:32:26,600 Speaker 1: newer work was doing better than any preceding medium. It's 553 00:32:26,640 --> 00:32:29,160 Speaker 1: not saying that, oh, we're selling more new albums now 554 00:32:29,280 --> 00:32:32,600 Speaker 1: than we were when we were selling cassettes or vinyl records. 555 00:32:33,000 --> 00:32:36,080 Speaker 1: It was more that a lot of people were backfilling 556 00:32:36,280 --> 00:32:39,200 Speaker 1: their music libraries by going through the catalogs of these 557 00:32:39,240 --> 00:32:42,840 Speaker 1: record labels and repurchasing these albums. I've seen the same 558 00:32:42,880 --> 00:32:46,400 Speaker 1: thing happen with tech stuff. Actually, as new listeners discover 559 00:32:46,480 --> 00:32:49,040 Speaker 1: the show, they tend to dip into the back catalog 560 00:32:49,080 --> 00:32:52,600 Speaker 1: of episodes, and so my numbers will bump up a 561 00:32:52,600 --> 00:32:55,760 Speaker 1: bit whenever that happens, but you can't count on that 562 00:32:55,800 --> 00:33:00,160 Speaker 1: going on indefinitely. Eventually those higher numbers will peak and 563 00:33:00,200 --> 00:33:03,200 Speaker 1: then they'll decline. Now, if you're lucky, you can still 564 00:33:03,240 --> 00:33:07,800 Speaker 1: see steady but probably less dramatic growth once things settled down. 565 00:33:08,280 --> 00:33:11,760 Speaker 1: If you're not lucky, you'll see sales continue to diminish 566 00:33:11,760 --> 00:33:15,520 Speaker 1: over time, and c d s would be not lucky. 567 00:33:15,800 --> 00:33:17,840 Speaker 1: I'll explain more in just a second, but first let's 568 00:33:17,840 --> 00:33:28,440 Speaker 1: take another quick break. One of the big reasons, or 569 00:33:28,560 --> 00:33:30,720 Speaker 1: actually two of the big reasons why c d s 570 00:33:30,720 --> 00:33:33,120 Speaker 1: weren't lucky. It was a double ammy. It was in 571 00:33:33,120 --> 00:33:36,440 Speaker 1: the form of computer advances and the development of audio 572 00:33:36,520 --> 00:33:40,680 Speaker 1: compression file formats, primarily the MP three. We'll go into 573 00:33:41,000 --> 00:33:43,720 Speaker 1: more detail about m P three's and other foul formats 574 00:33:43,960 --> 00:33:47,880 Speaker 1: in our next episode, but they definitely hurt CD sales 575 00:33:47,960 --> 00:33:51,120 Speaker 1: as time went on. In two thousand, the music industry 576 00:33:51,160 --> 00:33:54,520 Speaker 1: saw a decline in CD sales, and every year after that, 577 00:33:54,520 --> 00:33:57,800 Speaker 1: that decline continued and it got more dramatic. In an 578 00:33:57,800 --> 00:34:01,560 Speaker 1: effort to fight off the inevitable and also to combat piracy, 579 00:34:01,960 --> 00:34:05,360 Speaker 1: as computers were getting better at ripping music from c 580 00:34:05,520 --> 00:34:08,800 Speaker 1: d s and writing it to a different disc, companies 581 00:34:08,840 --> 00:34:13,080 Speaker 1: began to incorporate digital rights management, or DRM on their 582 00:34:13,160 --> 00:34:16,120 Speaker 1: c d s. The idea was that this DRM would 583 00:34:16,200 --> 00:34:20,759 Speaker 1: limit how you could actually use the compact disc. Sony's 584 00:34:20,800 --> 00:34:25,319 Speaker 1: BMG music label did this to disastrous results. It's one 585 00:34:25,320 --> 00:34:31,120 Speaker 1: of the the big warning signs warning stories of DRM 586 00:34:31,160 --> 00:34:35,080 Speaker 1: and unintended consequences, or potentially unintended. Some argue that they 587 00:34:35,080 --> 00:34:39,680 Speaker 1: were completely intentional consequences, which makes it even worse. So 588 00:34:39,719 --> 00:34:42,000 Speaker 1: what was this all about. Well, let's say you go 589 00:34:42,040 --> 00:34:45,160 Speaker 1: out and you buy an album that was from Sony's 590 00:34:45,200 --> 00:34:48,719 Speaker 1: BMG label, and this is around two thousand five or 591 00:34:48,719 --> 00:34:51,400 Speaker 1: two thousand six. You buy this c D and you 592 00:34:51,440 --> 00:34:54,279 Speaker 1: put in a normal CD player, Well, it would work 593 00:34:54,480 --> 00:34:57,200 Speaker 1: just the way it was supposed to, no problems there. 594 00:34:57,239 --> 00:34:59,640 Speaker 1: You're just putting it in a stereo system or maybe 595 00:34:59,640 --> 00:35:02,960 Speaker 1: your are a little portable CD player or whatever. It 596 00:35:03,000 --> 00:35:05,840 Speaker 1: works just fine. However, if you were to put it 597 00:35:05,920 --> 00:35:09,520 Speaker 1: into your computer, either to listen to it, or maybe 598 00:35:09,560 --> 00:35:11,400 Speaker 1: you wanted to rip a copy so that way you 599 00:35:11,440 --> 00:35:15,200 Speaker 1: had to back up something like that, something else happened. 600 00:35:15,600 --> 00:35:18,920 Speaker 1: There was some code on the disks that would prompt 601 00:35:18,960 --> 00:35:23,640 Speaker 1: your computer to automatically install some software on your PC. 602 00:35:24,600 --> 00:35:27,680 Speaker 1: The purpose of the software, at least the stated purpose, 603 00:35:27,960 --> 00:35:31,719 Speaker 1: was to prevent someone from making unauthorized copies of that 604 00:35:31,840 --> 00:35:35,360 Speaker 1: compact disc. In other words, to prevent people from pirating 605 00:35:35,360 --> 00:35:38,400 Speaker 1: the music, but the software also opened up a backdoor 606 00:35:38,520 --> 00:35:42,719 Speaker 1: vulnerability on the person's PC, meaning it was possible for 607 00:35:42,760 --> 00:35:46,320 Speaker 1: a third party to infiltrate that computer and take control 608 00:35:46,400 --> 00:35:49,759 Speaker 1: of it. Uh. In fact, essentially what was happening was 609 00:35:49,880 --> 00:35:54,279 Speaker 1: the CD was prompting the computer to phone home to 610 00:35:54,480 --> 00:35:58,600 Speaker 1: Sony b MGS servers and to give information about how 611 00:35:59,200 --> 00:36:01,880 Speaker 1: the person was using that c D, what was there, 612 00:36:01,880 --> 00:36:05,040 Speaker 1: what were there listening habits. It was kind of spying 613 00:36:05,920 --> 00:36:10,600 Speaker 1: on the consumer, and you could argue that the Sony 614 00:36:10,640 --> 00:36:15,120 Speaker 1: b MG DRM software was behaving like malware, like a 615 00:36:15,160 --> 00:36:19,360 Speaker 1: trojan horse or a backdoor vulnerability. The discovery of the 616 00:36:19,440 --> 00:36:22,480 Speaker 1: DRM lad to class action lawsuits and a lot of 617 00:36:22,480 --> 00:36:26,880 Speaker 1: pressure from the industry, and eventually Sony would stop the 618 00:36:26,920 --> 00:36:31,000 Speaker 1: practice completely by two thousand seven. UM. It was not 619 00:36:31,160 --> 00:36:35,640 Speaker 1: a pretty picture. It was a very ugly story and also, 620 00:36:35,680 --> 00:36:38,160 Speaker 1: like I said, a warning not just two companies, but 621 00:36:38,280 --> 00:36:42,600 Speaker 1: to consumers that be aware that anytime you are introducing 622 00:36:42,600 --> 00:36:46,360 Speaker 1: anything to your computer, there are the there are possible 623 00:36:46,840 --> 00:36:50,160 Speaker 1: vulnerabilities you could be introducing. In some cases it could 624 00:36:50,160 --> 00:36:54,080 Speaker 1: be really really intrusive, so you gotta be careful. Now, 625 00:36:54,160 --> 00:36:56,960 Speaker 1: this is not to say that the decline of the 626 00:36:56,960 --> 00:37:00,719 Speaker 1: compact disc was instantaneous, that the CD form factor and 627 00:37:00,760 --> 00:37:04,520 Speaker 1: went obsolete overnight. It stuck around for a really long time. 628 00:37:04,719 --> 00:37:08,319 Speaker 1: In fact, it's only been fairly recently that some of 629 00:37:08,360 --> 00:37:11,240 Speaker 1: the larger retailers have kind of moved away from selling 630 00:37:11,280 --> 00:37:15,200 Speaker 1: c d s. In the winter of retailer best Buy 631 00:37:15,239 --> 00:37:18,080 Speaker 1: announced that it was going to stop carrying compact discs 632 00:37:18,080 --> 00:37:22,360 Speaker 1: and its stores starting on July one, two thousen. Target 633 00:37:22,440 --> 00:37:25,799 Speaker 1: meanwhile went a slightly different route. They said they would 634 00:37:25,800 --> 00:37:28,000 Speaker 1: continue to sell compact discs, but they would do it 635 00:37:28,120 --> 00:37:32,000 Speaker 1: on consignment. So, in other words, instead of ordering a 636 00:37:32,120 --> 00:37:36,160 Speaker 1: large inventory of c ds and trying to sell them, 637 00:37:36,719 --> 00:37:38,840 Speaker 1: you know, paying for that inventory, trying to sell the 638 00:37:38,920 --> 00:37:42,040 Speaker 1: CDs and then if they didn't sell stock, they would 639 00:37:42,080 --> 00:37:47,920 Speaker 1: send it back to the studio for credit for future stock. 640 00:37:48,200 --> 00:37:50,719 Speaker 1: Instead of doing that now, Target says, no, here's how 641 00:37:50,719 --> 00:37:54,440 Speaker 1: we're gonna do it. We will sell copies of CDs 642 00:37:54,600 --> 00:37:57,239 Speaker 1: and for every copy we sell will send a little 643 00:37:57,280 --> 00:38:00,320 Speaker 1: bit of money back to the studio. But other eyes, 644 00:38:00,719 --> 00:38:02,440 Speaker 1: we're not doing it. So if you don't want to 645 00:38:02,440 --> 00:38:03,840 Speaker 1: work with us on that, you're not going to have 646 00:38:03,920 --> 00:38:08,399 Speaker 1: your CDs held carried in our stores because people were 647 00:38:08,400 --> 00:38:10,600 Speaker 1: buying so few of them now, and it puts the 648 00:38:10,719 --> 00:38:13,799 Speaker 1: risk of inventory on the music studios rather than on 649 00:38:14,080 --> 00:38:19,359 Speaker 1: targets stores, and it just changes where the risk ends 650 00:38:19,440 --> 00:38:24,920 Speaker 1: up falling. That change has continued, right, Uh, And really 651 00:38:25,080 --> 00:38:26,800 Speaker 1: you could say that the writing was on the wall 652 00:38:27,520 --> 00:38:30,480 Speaker 1: by two thousand fourteen, when digital music sales over the 653 00:38:30,520 --> 00:38:34,799 Speaker 1: Internet were eclipsing CD revenue, and even then digital was 654 00:38:34,840 --> 00:38:38,400 Speaker 1: on the decline. It was it was already on the 655 00:38:38,440 --> 00:38:43,040 Speaker 1: downward slope. It had peaked at that point and was 656 00:38:43,200 --> 00:38:46,480 Speaker 1: it was outperforming CDs, but both CDs and digital sales 657 00:38:46,920 --> 00:38:50,919 Speaker 1: were starting to lag behind. Like I said a moment ago, 658 00:38:50,920 --> 00:38:53,439 Speaker 1: in our next episode, we're going to explore the rise 659 00:38:53,480 --> 00:38:56,160 Speaker 1: of the digital file era, which leads into what we're 660 00:38:56,160 --> 00:39:00,279 Speaker 1: seeing today with consumption moving more towards streaming services rather 661 00:39:00,320 --> 00:39:06,200 Speaker 1: than downloading tracks or buying physical media. One thing I 662 00:39:06,200 --> 00:39:08,600 Speaker 1: want to shift to before I end this episode would 663 00:39:08,600 --> 00:39:12,120 Speaker 1: be the evolution of video media in the wake of 664 00:39:12,160 --> 00:39:17,560 Speaker 1: the c D. The digital versatile disc or DVD evolved 665 00:39:17,680 --> 00:39:22,040 Speaker 1: from the compact disc. It was effectively the second generation 666 00:39:22,480 --> 00:39:26,560 Speaker 1: of the c D technology. Even as companies like Sony 667 00:39:26,600 --> 00:39:29,000 Speaker 1: and Phillips were trying to get the c D into 668 00:39:29,040 --> 00:39:33,120 Speaker 1: the consumer market. They were simultaneously researching how to improve 669 00:39:33,200 --> 00:39:36,239 Speaker 1: that technology in order to store even more data on it, 670 00:39:36,280 --> 00:39:40,439 Speaker 1: including video with sound. That development would mostly happen behind 671 00:39:40,520 --> 00:39:43,320 Speaker 1: closed doors for a little more than a decade among 672 00:39:43,440 --> 00:39:46,920 Speaker 1: various companies. By the mid nine nineties, there were two 673 00:39:46,960 --> 00:39:49,719 Speaker 1: formats that had emerged from R and D departments. They 674 00:39:49,719 --> 00:39:53,920 Speaker 1: weren't on the market yet, but they were almost ready, 675 00:39:54,040 --> 00:39:57,280 Speaker 1: and one was with Sony and Phillips. They had developed 676 00:39:57,280 --> 00:40:00,759 Speaker 1: a technology that they called the Multimedia c D or 677 00:40:01,120 --> 00:40:04,759 Speaker 1: m M c D. Meanwhile, you had another group that 678 00:40:04,880 --> 00:40:08,719 Speaker 1: was including the Time Warner Group and Toshiba, and they 679 00:40:08,719 --> 00:40:11,840 Speaker 1: had developed a different approach called the Super Density or 680 00:40:12,080 --> 00:40:15,680 Speaker 1: s D disc. Neither side was eager to engage in 681 00:40:15,719 --> 00:40:18,640 Speaker 1: an all out format war like the one that pitted 682 00:40:18,640 --> 00:40:23,240 Speaker 1: Beta Max versus VHS and fractured the market, so instead 683 00:40:23,320 --> 00:40:25,640 Speaker 1: they decided that they were going to work together to 684 00:40:25,760 --> 00:40:28,960 Speaker 1: develop a common standard between them, and it was mostly 685 00:40:29,000 --> 00:40:32,680 Speaker 1: based off the s D format from Tashiba. This became 686 00:40:32,880 --> 00:40:37,960 Speaker 1: the DVD and by companies were starting to produce DVD players, 687 00:40:38,440 --> 00:40:41,480 Speaker 1: which originally went on sale in Japan and then expanded 688 00:40:41,520 --> 00:40:44,319 Speaker 1: from there, and like CD players when they first came out, 689 00:40:44,400 --> 00:40:48,479 Speaker 1: they were pretty darn expensive, but it actually the path 690 00:40:48,600 --> 00:40:53,600 Speaker 1: for DVD to hit widespread adoption. It happened much more 691 00:40:53,760 --> 00:40:57,840 Speaker 1: quickly than CD players did. Like a CD player, a 692 00:40:57,920 --> 00:41:01,400 Speaker 1: DVD uses a laser to read pits on the reflective 693 00:41:01,560 --> 00:41:05,160 Speaker 1: surface of a disc, but the lasers in DVD players 694 00:41:05,280 --> 00:41:08,360 Speaker 1: use a shorter wavelength of light than the lasers and 695 00:41:08,520 --> 00:41:12,120 Speaker 1: CD players. A laser in a compact disc player emitst 696 00:41:12,160 --> 00:41:15,560 Speaker 1: red light at a wavelength of around seven eighty nanometers, 697 00:41:16,120 --> 00:41:19,520 Speaker 1: DVD players were in the sixty five and six hundred 698 00:41:19,600 --> 00:41:23,240 Speaker 1: fifty nanometer range. The shorter wavelength meant that the pits 699 00:41:23,320 --> 00:41:26,719 Speaker 1: on a DVD can be smaller than those you would 700 00:41:26,760 --> 00:41:29,480 Speaker 1: have on a c D. So smaller pits means you 701 00:41:29,480 --> 00:41:31,960 Speaker 1: can pack more pits in the same amount of space, 702 00:41:32,640 --> 00:41:35,360 Speaker 1: meaning you can put more data on the disc. And 703 00:41:35,400 --> 00:41:38,040 Speaker 1: that's why you can fit a full length film on 704 00:41:38,080 --> 00:41:42,640 Speaker 1: a DVD with audio using a compression format like IMPEG 705 00:41:42,680 --> 00:41:46,640 Speaker 1: two and a c D can't hold that much information. 706 00:41:47,080 --> 00:41:49,840 Speaker 1: The DVD format brought with it improvements in picture and 707 00:41:49,920 --> 00:41:53,759 Speaker 1: sound quality, and it also allowed for interactive features such 708 00:41:53,760 --> 00:41:58,000 Speaker 1: as menus chapter selection, commentary tracks, bonus footage, that kind 709 00:41:58,040 --> 00:42:00,920 Speaker 1: of stuff, So it really helped set it self apart 710 00:42:01,239 --> 00:42:05,400 Speaker 1: from the VHS form factor the video tape, so the 711 00:42:05,480 --> 00:42:09,839 Speaker 1: DVD format allowed consumers to navigate films more easily, So 712 00:42:10,000 --> 00:42:14,320 Speaker 1: it kind of comparison between compact discs and audio cassettes. 713 00:42:14,680 --> 00:42:19,640 Speaker 1: DVDs had the same advantages over video cassettes even when 714 00:42:19,680 --> 00:42:23,000 Speaker 1: they were first introduced. DVDs could hold more information than 715 00:42:23,040 --> 00:42:26,239 Speaker 1: a typical VHS tape unless you were, you know, using 716 00:42:26,280 --> 00:42:30,399 Speaker 1: like a consumer video tape and you were recording at 717 00:42:30,440 --> 00:42:33,480 Speaker 1: the slowest possible setting, meaning that you were using the 718 00:42:33,600 --> 00:42:39,520 Speaker 1: least amount of tape to capture video. It would result 719 00:42:39,520 --> 00:42:41,919 Speaker 1: in the lowest quality video, but you would be able 720 00:42:41,920 --> 00:42:44,400 Speaker 1: to put a lot of it onto a single tape. Well, 721 00:42:44,480 --> 00:42:48,320 Speaker 1: DVDs could hold way more information than your your standard, 722 00:42:48,880 --> 00:42:53,720 Speaker 1: uh good VHS tape. These DVDs were single side, single 723 00:42:53,800 --> 00:42:57,000 Speaker 1: layer discs, but the format allowed for up to two 724 00:42:57,040 --> 00:43:01,000 Speaker 1: recordable layers per side, so you would get a double 725 00:43:01,120 --> 00:43:04,279 Speaker 1: layer disc or even a double sided double layer disc. 726 00:43:04,880 --> 00:43:07,800 Speaker 1: With a double layer disc, the reading laser can actually 727 00:43:07,800 --> 00:43:11,560 Speaker 1: focus through one layer of data on a disk to 728 00:43:11,600 --> 00:43:14,520 Speaker 1: see a second layer written underneath it. You can think 729 00:43:14,520 --> 00:43:16,840 Speaker 1: of it almost like imagine you've got two sheets of 730 00:43:16,840 --> 00:43:19,920 Speaker 1: paper and you've used a very dark ink, and the 731 00:43:19,960 --> 00:43:24,200 Speaker 1: paper itself is almost translucent, and you can read what's 732 00:43:24,200 --> 00:43:25,960 Speaker 1: written on the top sheet, and you can look through 733 00:43:26,000 --> 00:43:28,759 Speaker 1: the top sheet and see what's written on the bottom sheet. Well, 734 00:43:28,800 --> 00:43:31,080 Speaker 1: imagine you've got like some sort of magic X ray 735 00:43:31,080 --> 00:43:34,640 Speaker 1: glasses that let you read the bottom sheet as if 736 00:43:34,680 --> 00:43:37,759 Speaker 1: there was nothing, you know, obscuring your view. That's kind 737 00:43:37,760 --> 00:43:42,040 Speaker 1: of how a double layer DVD works. The single layer 738 00:43:42,120 --> 00:43:45,080 Speaker 1: DVD can hold up to four point thirty eight gigabytes 739 00:43:45,080 --> 00:43:49,040 Speaker 1: worth of information. A single sided double layer DVD can 740 00:43:49,080 --> 00:43:53,400 Speaker 1: hold seven point nine five gigabytes, not quite twice as 741 00:43:53,480 --> 00:43:56,880 Speaker 1: much as a single layer DVD. So why is that? 742 00:43:57,000 --> 00:44:00,399 Speaker 1: Why can a double layer DVD only hold a little 743 00:44:00,480 --> 00:44:03,880 Speaker 1: less than twice as much while it's because, in order 744 00:44:03,920 --> 00:44:09,160 Speaker 1: to avoid interference between layers, the pits on a double 745 00:44:09,239 --> 00:44:13,040 Speaker 1: layer DVD have to be slightly longer than they would 746 00:44:13,080 --> 00:44:17,040 Speaker 1: first single layer, so you can pack slightly less information 747 00:44:17,280 --> 00:44:22,040 Speaker 1: per layer. Thus it's not quite twice as much. If 748 00:44:22,080 --> 00:44:24,799 Speaker 1: you have a double sided, double layered DVD, you could 749 00:44:24,800 --> 00:44:28,520 Speaker 1: store whopping fifteen point nine gigabytes of information on it 750 00:44:28,960 --> 00:44:31,080 Speaker 1: then That would end up being dwarfed by Blu Ray 751 00:44:31,160 --> 00:44:34,319 Speaker 1: later on, but at the time it was incredibly impressive. 752 00:44:35,040 --> 00:44:37,160 Speaker 1: The DVD caught on faster in the market than the 753 00:44:37,239 --> 00:44:39,760 Speaker 1: contact disc did. It only took a few years before 754 00:44:39,840 --> 00:44:44,480 Speaker 1: DVD sales were outperforming VHS. It was early two two 755 00:44:44,560 --> 00:44:48,120 Speaker 1: when the DVD Entertainment Group broke that news video rental 756 00:44:48,160 --> 00:44:50,919 Speaker 1: stores were starting to phase out VHS copies of the film. 757 00:44:51,080 --> 00:44:54,360 Speaker 1: They were leaning harder on the DVD format themselves, and 758 00:44:54,400 --> 00:44:56,560 Speaker 1: the writing was on the wall, despite the fact that 759 00:44:56,640 --> 00:44:59,400 Speaker 1: even in two thousand two, there were more than twice 760 00:44:59,400 --> 00:45:02,440 Speaker 1: as many, how useholds that had VCRs as those that 761 00:45:02,520 --> 00:45:05,560 Speaker 1: had DVD players. There were ninety six million households the 762 00:45:05,560 --> 00:45:08,800 Speaker 1: head of VCR, and twenty five million had a DVD player. 763 00:45:09,400 --> 00:45:13,040 Speaker 1: But people with DVD players were spending more buying more films, 764 00:45:13,239 --> 00:45:15,520 Speaker 1: so it was pretty much a sign of what was 765 00:45:15,560 --> 00:45:17,880 Speaker 1: to come. This was also really good news to the 766 00:45:17,920 --> 00:45:21,960 Speaker 1: movie and TV studios out there. And unlike VCRs, your 767 00:45:22,000 --> 00:45:26,440 Speaker 1: standard consumer DVD player had no way of writing two disks, 768 00:45:26,480 --> 00:45:29,720 Speaker 1: so there was no way to copy discs, at least 769 00:45:30,080 --> 00:45:34,840 Speaker 1: not initially. There were computers that would get DVD R drives, 770 00:45:34,880 --> 00:45:38,640 Speaker 1: and you could invest in some specialized equipment to copy disks, 771 00:45:38,960 --> 00:45:41,239 Speaker 1: but most people didn't have access to that, and in 772 00:45:41,280 --> 00:45:43,600 Speaker 1: the early days, it took a long time to write 773 00:45:43,800 --> 00:45:47,080 Speaker 1: a significant amount of data to a DVD, So studios 774 00:45:47,120 --> 00:45:50,160 Speaker 1: had less of an adverse reaction to the DVD format 775 00:45:50,239 --> 00:45:52,439 Speaker 1: compared to the VHS tape. They didn't see it as 776 00:45:52,840 --> 00:45:55,560 Speaker 1: a threat to their business. On top of that, the 777 00:45:55,600 --> 00:46:00,000 Speaker 1: industry's experience with VCRs had taught it the incredible value 778 00:46:00,239 --> 00:46:03,759 Speaker 1: of the home market. They knew there's this market of 779 00:46:03,800 --> 00:46:08,319 Speaker 1: consumers eager to buy up a catalog of movies, so 780 00:46:08,360 --> 00:46:10,839 Speaker 1: they had already established that with VCRs, and they were 781 00:46:10,840 --> 00:46:13,560 Speaker 1: able to apply that with DVDs. It gave these companies 782 00:46:13,800 --> 00:46:18,360 Speaker 1: ways to monetize their back catalogs of films and television shows. 783 00:46:18,360 --> 00:46:21,319 Speaker 1: So they leverage that knowledge with the DVD format. And 784 00:46:21,440 --> 00:46:25,279 Speaker 1: unlike the prerecorded VHS tapes when they first came out, 785 00:46:26,000 --> 00:46:29,000 Speaker 1: you know, those those cost eight dollars apiece when they 786 00:46:29,040 --> 00:46:32,960 Speaker 1: first debuted in the early eighties, DVDs were much more 787 00:46:33,000 --> 00:46:36,200 Speaker 1: reasonably priced. They typically fell around the twenty dollar range 788 00:46:36,239 --> 00:46:39,319 Speaker 1: for a single film. The extras really helped too. They 789 00:46:39,320 --> 00:46:42,479 Speaker 1: gave creators the chance to provide more insight into their work. 790 00:46:42,960 --> 00:46:45,600 Speaker 1: Fans got way more material. They could watch a show 791 00:46:45,719 --> 00:46:48,000 Speaker 1: or a movie with commentary to learn about what went 792 00:46:48,040 --> 00:46:50,800 Speaker 1: into making it. They could hear about behind the scenes 793 00:46:50,880 --> 00:46:54,160 Speaker 1: drama or challengers the makers faced when they were making 794 00:46:54,160 --> 00:46:57,360 Speaker 1: their productions. Not every DVD contained that kind of extra, 795 00:46:57,800 --> 00:46:59,759 Speaker 1: but enough of them did to create sort of an 796 00:46:59,760 --> 00:47:04,520 Speaker 1: expectation among collectors. Uh. It also meant that sometimes a 797 00:47:04,680 --> 00:47:07,480 Speaker 1: show that had gone off the air would come back 798 00:47:07,680 --> 00:47:12,920 Speaker 1: because there'd be a demonstrable demand for that show. A 799 00:47:13,000 --> 00:47:15,880 Speaker 1: big example of that is Family Guy. It was on Fox, 800 00:47:15,960 --> 00:47:19,720 Speaker 1: it got canceled, the DVDs went on sale, the sales 801 00:47:19,760 --> 00:47:22,840 Speaker 1: were really good, and it convinced Fox to bring the 802 00:47:22,880 --> 00:47:26,800 Speaker 1: program back. The DVD also opened up opportunities for different 803 00:47:26,920 --> 00:47:30,560 Speaker 1: versions of the same work. Ask any fan of a 804 00:47:30,600 --> 00:47:35,000 Speaker 1: movie like Brazil or Blade Runner or Evil Dead about 805 00:47:35,040 --> 00:47:37,600 Speaker 1: their DVD collection, and you'll likely hear that they own 806 00:47:37,800 --> 00:47:41,759 Speaker 1: several different copies of their favorite film. This created yet 807 00:47:41,800 --> 00:47:44,719 Speaker 1: another way for companies to profit from their catalogs, will 808 00:47:44,760 --> 00:47:50,120 Speaker 1: simultaneously satisfying the insatiable demands of consumers and yep I 809 00:47:50,200 --> 00:47:53,359 Speaker 1: own a few different copies of Evil Dead, so I'm 810 00:47:53,360 --> 00:47:57,120 Speaker 1: one of those suckers anyway. Like the VHS era, the 811 00:47:57,200 --> 00:48:00,600 Speaker 1: DVD also create opportunities for independent makers to burn their 812 00:48:00,600 --> 00:48:03,879 Speaker 1: works directly to disk, by passing the studios and going 813 00:48:03,920 --> 00:48:07,560 Speaker 1: straight to market. So the direct to DVD industry thrived 814 00:48:07,560 --> 00:48:10,600 Speaker 1: as well, and some companies like Circuit City tried to 815 00:48:10,680 --> 00:48:15,000 Speaker 1: launch a competitor to DVD. The Circuit City version was 816 00:48:15,080 --> 00:48:19,680 Speaker 1: called Digital Video Express or DIVIS, not to be confused 817 00:48:19,680 --> 00:48:23,360 Speaker 1: by the codec that's the same name. A DIVIS player 818 00:48:23,440 --> 00:48:27,160 Speaker 1: required a connection to a phone line, so each DIVIS 819 00:48:27,280 --> 00:48:29,879 Speaker 1: disk had a barcode on it that the player would 820 00:48:29,920 --> 00:48:32,520 Speaker 1: be able to read, and it could send information over 821 00:48:32,560 --> 00:48:35,759 Speaker 1: the phone line to a centralized server which kept track 822 00:48:35,800 --> 00:48:38,760 Speaker 1: of all the discs on the network. If you purchased 823 00:48:38,800 --> 00:48:42,120 Speaker 1: a basic disc, you would get essentially a license to 824 00:48:42,280 --> 00:48:45,399 Speaker 1: view the movie within forty eight hours. If you wanted 825 00:48:45,400 --> 00:48:47,640 Speaker 1: to watch it after those forty eight hours were over, 826 00:48:47,880 --> 00:48:49,880 Speaker 1: you would have to pay for an upgrade to watch 827 00:48:50,200 --> 00:48:53,399 Speaker 1: it for some more viewing time, and even then it's 828 00:48:53,560 --> 00:48:56,960 Speaker 1: just another two days. There was a pretty strong negative 829 00:48:57,000 --> 00:49:00,160 Speaker 1: reaction from the home theater enthusiasts out there, and the 830 00:49:00,200 --> 00:49:02,919 Speaker 1: format did not do well, in fact, it only took 831 00:49:02,920 --> 00:49:07,120 Speaker 1: a year by Circuit City pulled the plug on dvics. Now, 832 00:49:07,120 --> 00:49:08,960 Speaker 1: in our next episode, I'm gonna talk a little bit 833 00:49:08,960 --> 00:49:12,200 Speaker 1: more about the DVD industry and the lead into h 834 00:49:12,360 --> 00:49:16,800 Speaker 1: D DVD and Blu Ray, which is really another format 835 00:49:16,840 --> 00:49:19,200 Speaker 1: war we're going to talk about. We won't spend too 836 00:49:19,320 --> 00:49:21,919 Speaker 1: much time on those formats because while they can pack 837 00:49:22,040 --> 00:49:25,520 Speaker 1: more information on a desk than DVD can, they work 838 00:49:25,560 --> 00:49:29,880 Speaker 1: on essentially the same principle. Then we're gonna transition to 839 00:49:29,960 --> 00:49:34,719 Speaker 1: digital files and streaming services to sort of conclude this series. Uh, 840 00:49:34,800 --> 00:49:37,520 Speaker 1: If you guys have suggestions for other topics, whether it's 841 00:49:37,560 --> 00:49:39,560 Speaker 1: something I should do a full series on or maybe 842 00:49:39,560 --> 00:49:42,600 Speaker 1: just a standalone episode, send me an email. The addresses 843 00:49:42,640 --> 00:49:45,680 Speaker 1: tech Stuff at how stuff works dot com. Pop on 844 00:49:45,719 --> 00:49:48,719 Speaker 1: over to our website that's tech stuff podcast dot com. 845 00:49:48,760 --> 00:49:51,400 Speaker 1: You'll find an archive of all of our older episodes, 846 00:49:51,640 --> 00:49:55,279 Speaker 1: plus links to our social media presence on there, so 847 00:49:55,320 --> 00:49:57,840 Speaker 1: you can reach out to me on Facebook or on Twitter. 848 00:49:58,640 --> 00:50:01,520 Speaker 1: You can also check out our online store. We've got 849 00:50:01,560 --> 00:50:04,000 Speaker 1: some fun stuff in there. Go see that stuff and 850 00:50:04,040 --> 00:50:06,000 Speaker 1: maybe about some of it. Don't just look at it, 851 00:50:06,040 --> 00:50:08,240 Speaker 1: but because it goes to help the show and greatly 852 00:50:08,239 --> 00:50:11,160 Speaker 1: appreciate it, and I'll talk to you again. Really said. 853 00:50:15,840 --> 00:50:18,040 Speaker 1: Text Stuff is a production of I heart Radio's How 854 00:50:18,080 --> 00:50:21,479 Speaker 1: Stuff Works. For more podcasts from my heart Radio, visit 855 00:50:21,520 --> 00:50:24,560 Speaker 1: the i heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you 856 00:50:24,680 --> 00:50:26,000 Speaker 1: listen to your favorite shows.