# Cd's... **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [March 4, 2000, 2:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cds/8096 "2000-03-04T02:15:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Mikor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/fbc32d/32.png) [@Mikor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mikor)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2000, 2:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cds/8096/1 "2000-03-04T02:15:00Z")
I’ve wondered about this for a while… who invented cd’s!!!.. it just doesn’t make sense… how can we go from tapes that use magnets, to CD’s that use lasers!?.. i’ve heard everthing from the worlds top scientists to Aliens… please somebody help me! =] ---
**Author:** ![Andy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/aeb1de/32.png) [@Andy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andy)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2000, 2:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cds/8096/2 "2000-03-04T02:56:00Z")
> [@](#): > > Originally posted by Mikor: > …it just doesn’t make sense… how can we go from tapes that use magnets, to CD’s that use lasers!?.. Yeah man, it’s like so weird how things change and we make progress, totally bizarre. ---
**Author:** ![Arjuna34](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/eb8c5e/32.png) [@Arjuna34](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arjuna34)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2000, 3:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cds/8096/3 "2000-03-04T03:04:00Z")
That’s nothing- who invented magnetic tape?!?!?! We went from a simple needle vibrating in a groove (which doesn’t even need eletricity to work) to magnetic tape - it must have been stolen alien technology! Arjuna34 ---
**Author:** ![WallyM7](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/b5e925/32.png) [@WallyM7](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WallyM7)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2000, 3:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cds/8096/4 "2000-03-04T03:04:00Z")
I don’t think CDs will ever replace the 8 track. * * * Voted as: **The poster you’d most like to meet.** I demand a recount. ---
**Author:** ![SingleDad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9e8a1a/32.png) [@SingleDad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SingleDad)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2000, 6:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cds/8096/5 "2000-03-04T06:55:00Z")
To actually answer the question… The compact disk was invented by James T. Russel in the late 1960’s. For more information, see [James T. Russel](http://web.mit.edu/invent/www/inventorsR-Z/russell.html) * * * He’s the sort to stand on a hilltop in a thunderstorm wearing wet copper armor, shouting ‘All Gods are Bastards!’ ---
**Author:** ![neutron\_star](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/51bf81/32.png) [@neutron\_star](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/neutron_star)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2000, 9:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cds/8096/6 "2000-03-04T09:00:00Z")
An interesting article called How CD’s Work can be found [here](http://www.howstuffworks.com/cd1.htm) * * * I am the user formerly known as puffington. ---
**Author:** ![SavageNarce](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5e925/32.png) [@SavageNarce](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SavageNarce)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2000, 5:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cds/8096/7 "2000-03-04T17:41:00Z")
Arjuna said:[q]We went from a simple needle vibrating in a groove (which doesn’t even need eletricity to work) to magnetic tape[/q] The big leap was from Edison’s original recording device, which was entirely sound-powered recording, to recording that was captured on microphones and then amplified before being put on a disk/cylinder. This meant that you didn’t need to shout into the “horn” on the recorder, and you could mike a whole room full of people as easily as a single person. Once you had the sound “captured” in electrical form, it was no big deal to translate that to a vibrating needle - and we had known for a long time that a fluctuating current could move a magnetized needle. The transfer to magnetic media came not with tape, but with wire recorders that used a spool of steel wire moving past an electromagnet. Vary the current in the electromagnet by hooking it to your amplifier output, and you record the signal on the wire. Reverse the process to play back. The movement from wire to tape was a further refinement, but not really that big of a leap. * * * Artificial Intelligence is no match for Natural Stupidity! ---
**Author:** ![Arjuna34](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/eb8c5e/32.png) [@Arjuna34](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arjuna34)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2000, 6:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cds/8096/8 "2000-03-05T06:58:00Z")
SavageNarce, you forgot to mention where the alien technology fits in! Arjuna34