# Compact Discs: The next big thing (1984 TV news story) **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [January 3, 2012, 3:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/compact-discs-the-next-big-thing-1984-tv-news-story/608224 "2012-01-03T03:39:29Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![kirk1168](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/45deac/32.png) [@kirk1168](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kirk1168)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2012, 10:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/compact-discs-the-next-big-thing-1984-tv-news-story/608224/21 "2012-01-03T22:09:39Z")
> [@Mean\_Mr.Mustard](#): > > I’ve never felt so goddamned old in my life. > mmm You’re not alone. ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Mudd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f14d63/32.png) [@Larry\_Mudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Mudd)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2012, 10:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/compact-discs-the-next-big-thing-1984-tv-news-story/608224/22 "2012-01-03T22:34:52Z")
> [@Omega\_Glory](#): > > Small hijack - the guy talking about CDs said you could just “pop it in and play it.” Did records basically work the same way? Also feeling old, and would like to (redundantly) mention that in addition to having to cue up a single disc twice to hear the whole thing, the “just pop it in” factor also seemed pretty nifty when you were used to delicately placing the tone arm down right at the beginning of the record - a feat which could get a bit iffy if you were in a party situation and liable to drunkenly skate it across the surface of the disc. 🙂 …and I remember the first time I heard about CDs - in _1980_, on a Canadian “What’s new in technology” show called “[What Will They Think Of Next](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fF8vLUEp29E)?” (Can’t find the actual episode, but just to give you the basic idea.) This program touted the virtual indestructibility of the media being developed, which they illustrated with an animation of a baby chewing on the disc with no ill effects. The actual product came with a little bit of a disillusionment. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2012, 10:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/compact-discs-the-next-big-thing-1984-tv-news-story/608224/23 "2012-01-03T22:57:25Z")
> [@Skammer](#): > > I can’t believe I’ve reached the age where it’s necessary to explain how LPs work. :smack: > > ETA: Now excuse me, I have to catch the 1:30 auto-gyro to Siam. Will you be listening to some music on your Edison cylinder player during your flight, Mr. Skammer? 😃 ---
**Author:** ![suranyi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e36b37/32.png) [@suranyi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/suranyi)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2012, 11:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/compact-discs-the-next-big-thing-1984-tv-news-story/608224/24 "2012-01-03T23:18:40Z")
Man oh man – It was in 1984 that a friend of mine was advising me not to buy a new turntable, because digital audio recordings and players were just around the corner. I dismissed him by saying I hadn’t heard of such a thing, so LPs were probably going to be around for many more years. Not one of my better predictions. ---
**Author:** ![TBG](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c89c15/32.png) [@TBG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TBG)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2012, 11:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/compact-discs-the-next-big-thing-1984-tv-news-story/608224/25 "2012-01-03T23:41:06Z")
> [@jz78817](#): > > holy crap it’s Mort Crim. Wow, he looks so young! > [@Lamar\_Mundane](#): > > What is up with that dude’s hair at the 1:50 mark? That ain’t right. Not to mention his jacket. > [@Larry\_Mudd](#): > > …and I remember the first time I heard about CDs - in _1980_, on a Canadian “What’s new in technology” show called “[What Will They Think Of Next](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fF8vLUEp29E)?” (Can’t find the actual episode, but just to give you the basic idea.) Oh wow, I used to watch that show on Nickelodeon back when we first got cable. I hadn’t thought of that show in decades. ---
**Author:** ![beowulff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beowulff/32/542_2.png) [@beowulff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beowulff)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2012, 12:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/compact-discs-the-next-big-thing-1984-tv-news-story/608224/26 "2012-01-04T00:07:38Z")
> [@kenobi\_65](#): > > Not really; a vinyl LP will (nearly always) have one single groove on a side, and will play the entire side all the way through without human intervention. However, an album has two sides; when Side 1 of a vinyl album ends, you need to get up, flip the record over, and restart it on Side 2 – whereas a CD of that same album would have the contents of both “sides” on one CD. Anyone remember **Monty Python’s** \* Matching Tie and Handkerchief\*? It had \*\*\*three sides \*\*\*(!) ---
**Author:** ![Maserschmidt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/maserschmidt/32/18829_2.png) [@Maserschmidt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maserschmidt)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2012, 12:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/compact-discs-the-next-big-thing-1984-tv-news-story/608224/27 "2012-01-04T00:08:44Z")
Wow, Frank had “six to seven hundred” albums! Amateur. ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Mudd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f14d63/32.png) [@Larry\_Mudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Mudd)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2012, 12:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/compact-discs-the-next-big-thing-1984-tv-news-story/608224/28 "2012-01-04T00:30:26Z")
“What now contains music may one day contain words - a book, maybe - or even _an entire dictionary._” Ha! ---
**Author:** ![KarlGauss](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/karlgauss/32/3713_2.png) [@KarlGauss](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KarlGauss)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2012, 12:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/compact-discs-the-next-big-thing-1984-tv-news-story/608224/29 "2012-01-04T00:33:57Z")
> [@Thudlow\_Boink](#): > > But what if the album wasn’t by The Who? Well then you had to settle for plain old stereo instead of quadrophenic sound. Of course, it also depend on who’s next on your play list. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![iamthewalrus\_3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/258eb7/32.png) [@iamthewalrus\_3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iamthewalrus_3)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2012, 12:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/compact-discs-the-next-big-thing-1984-tv-news-story/608224/30 "2012-01-04T00:55:08Z")
> [@beowulff](#): > > Anyone remember **Monty Python’s** \* Matching Tie and Handkerchief\*? > It had \*\*\*three sides \*\*\*(!) I remember my Dad explaining to me why the CD I got of this album was divided into 3 “sides”, and how it was done on the vinyl. Cool idea. Didn’t translate to CD well. I also remember an album by… Tom Petty, maybe, that had a short track in the middle saying hello to those who were listening on CD, and we were going to take this little time to contemplate how the people listening on vinyl had to get up and flip the record. I’m sure I’m going to feel equally as old when I have to explain to my kids that we had to take a physical thing and put it into another physical thing just to listen to some music or watch a movie. Also, that you used to have to call a _building_ and just hope that whoever you wanted to talk to was there. ---
**Author:** ![Oslo\_Ostragoth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/a9a28c/32.png) [@Oslo\_Ostragoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oslo_Ostragoth)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2012, 1:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/compact-discs-the-next-big-thing-1984-tv-news-story/608224/31 "2012-01-04T01:38:30Z")
> [@Mean\_Mr.Mustard](#): > > I’ve never felt so goddamned old in my life. > mmm Ditto. May as well drag my broken down carcass out to the back 40 and shoot me. ---
**Author:** ![ZenBeam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/3ab097/32.png) [@ZenBeam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZenBeam)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2012, 1:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/compact-discs-the-next-big-thing-1984-tv-news-story/608224/32 "2012-01-04T01:50:12Z")
> [@Omega\_Glory](#): > > Small hijack - the guy talking about CDs said you could just “pop it in and play it.” Did records basically work the same way? To clarify, once you started a record at song 1, would it just play the whole album without you having to move the needle around? LPs would gather dust, even when stored in their dust sleeves. I, and presumably an audiophile like in the video, would clean the disk before each play. The simplest cleaner is a cloth, but better would be something like a [DiskWasher](http://www.amazon.com/RCA-RD-1006-Discwasher-Record-System/dp/B000KMZKTO/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1325641866&sr=8-2), which has fibers pointed in one direction to better collect the dust. With both, you’d have a small bottle of cleaner solution, and you’d put a couple drops on the DiskWasher to better hold the dust so it didn’t get redeposited on the disk. It would take a minute or maybe two. Then you have to do it again when you flip sides. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2012, 1:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/compact-discs-the-next-big-thing-1984-tv-news-story/608224/33 "2012-01-04T01:51:44Z")
> [@Lamar\_Mundane](#): > > What is up with that dude’s hair at the 1:50 mark? That ain’t right. I think he might have been wearing a hairnet - understandable enough for someone working in precision-electronics manufacturing. And who has a 22.4 liters of hair. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2012, 2:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/compact-discs-the-next-big-thing-1984-tv-news-story/608224/34 "2012-01-04T02:44:41Z")
> [@Mean\_Mr.Mustard](#): > > [Check out this story predicting the future of audio recordings.](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vwrU8s-M-gc&feature=related) > > I distinctly remember first hearing about CDs in 1984. Wasn’t that just a couple of years ago? > > Bonus question: What the hell is that device the mullet-headed audiophile is placing on his vinyl album at 4:20? I’ve never seen such a thing. I assume it secures the record to the turntable. Anyone know what it is called? > mmm I recall going to a lecture in the physics department in the early 1980s where the lecturer was practically frothing at the mouth about the fact that this new CD technology wasn’t yet on the market. A couple of years later I saw my first CD store, only a couple of blocks from where that lecture was given. It was a big deal – the only CD store in the city. One of the sales clerks wore the ultimate fashion accessory on a chain around her neck – a CD broken in two. It was partly the allure of that rainbow-colored diffraction grating of a disk, but partly the Conspicuous Consumption that said “I either have had a CD player so long that I broke a disk already, or can afford to break ne of my disks to make a fashion statement.” I didn’t get a CD player myself until a decade later, as vinyl LPs were disappearing from stores. ---
**Author:** ![JRDelirious](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jrdelirious/32/9531_2.png) [@JRDelirious](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JRDelirious)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2012, 3:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/compact-discs-the-next-big-thing-1984-tv-news-story/608224/35 "2012-01-04T03:02:45Z")
Excuse me but I gotta go chase some kids off my lawn… > [@kenobi\_65](#): > > It’d still play an album by The Who. This represented part of the tremendous advance when CDs were introduced; they would, instead, play an album by The Police. 😉 :D:D:D Love it :D:D:D Thanks for the laugh. Couldn’t help but notice the quietly implied 80s hipness in what I saw of the first guy’s CD collection - Nina Hagen, Bryan Ferry - except of course the first thing he pulls out is the mandatory Holst’s _The Planets_ (really… it almost seemed like they were issuing it with every purchase of a player that first year…). Was a huge deal when we mounted the first player on the rack at the station. And dear me, Porn Spock is disturbing… ---
**Author:** ![D18](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/c57346/32.png) [@D18](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/D18)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2012, 3:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/compact-discs-the-next-big-thing-1984-tv-news-story/608224/36 "2012-01-04T03:07:55Z")
Just think - there will soon be kids born who someday will have to ask how those old CD things worked! ---
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2012, 4:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/compact-discs-the-next-big-thing-1984-tv-news-story/608224/37 "2012-01-04T04:13:02Z")
> [@JohnT](#): > > I even had a fancy record player that would _flip the disk_, for the ultimate in no-hassle stereophonic entertainment! 😉 Ooh, look at you and your fancy record player. [This one](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RHIAa_J0Rqc) didn’t need to flip the record over. It had a _second_ needle that came up and played the other side from below. ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2012, 5:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/compact-discs-the-next-big-thing-1984-tv-news-story/608224/38 "2012-01-04T05:07:34Z")
> [@iamthewalrus\_3](#): > > I also remember an album by… Tom Petty, maybe, that had a short track in the middle saying hello to those who were listening on CD, and we were going to take this little time to contemplate how the people listening on vinyl had to get up and flip the record. Good memory – it’s on “Full Moon Fever”. The “Hello CD Listeners” track appeared just after “Running Down a Dream”. It featured Jeff Lynne and Del Shannon making animal noises in the background, while Tom delivered his monologue about LP listeners flipping over the album. ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2012, 5:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/compact-discs-the-next-big-thing-1984-tv-news-story/608224/39 "2012-01-04T05:09:28Z")
> [@beowulff](#): > > Anyone remember **Monty Python’s** \* Matching Tie and Handkerchief\*? > It had \*\*\*three sides \*\*\*(!) Exactly! It’s the primary reason why I said “a vinyl LP will ( **nearly always** ) have one single groove on a side”. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Mean\_Mr.Mustard](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mean_mr.mustard/32/3865_2.png) [@Mean\_Mr.Mustard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mean_Mr.Mustard)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2012, 10:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/compact-discs-the-next-big-thing-1984-tv-news-story/608224/40 "2012-01-04T10:34:43Z")
> [@ZenBeam](#): > > LPs would gather dust, even when stored in their dust sleeves. I, and presumably an audiophile like in the video, would clean the disk before each play. The simplest cleaner is a cloth, but better would be something like a [DiskWasher](http://www.amazon.com/RCA-RD-1006-Discwasher-Record-System/dp/B000KMZKTO/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1325641866&sr=8-2), which has fibers pointed in one direction to better collect the dust. With both, you’d have a small bottle of cleaner solution, and you’d put a couple drops on the DiskWasher to better hold the dust so it didn’t get redeposited on the disk. > > It would take a minute or maybe two. > > Then you have to do it again when you flip sides. I still have my DiscWasher. And the little bottle that fits inside it. 😃 mmm [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/compact-discs-the-next-big-thing-1984-tv-news-story/608224.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/compact-discs-the-next-big-thing-1984-tv-news-story/608224.md?page=3)