Key dates in CD history
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April 1981
- Europe's first public presentation of the CD format, made by Sony, Philips and PolyGram at the Salzburg Festival, at the invitation of the Herbert von Karajan Foundation[1].
- Sony/Philips "Red Book" format approved as standard in Japan[2].
October 1981
- Sony demonstrates the CD at the 70th Audio Engineering Society (AES) convention, October 30-November 2 at New York's Waldorf-Astoria hotel, featuring a version of the then-current Bee Gees album Living Eyes manufactured especially for the event[3].
March 1982
- Album Graphics Incorporated (AGI), later to become inventors of the Digipak, get their cardboard on early by proposing a first-cut version of the dreaded longbox [4]. The design features a 5"x10" gatefold sleeve that opens to 10"x15".
Late Spring/Early Summer 1982
- PolyGram presents Herbert von Karajan with a copy of the first "industrially produced" CD[5], presumably manufactured at PolyGram's Hanover plant. The recording, Richard Strauss' Eine Alpensinfonie, Op. 64, performed by the Berliner Philharmoniker with Karajan conducting, was publicly released as Deutsche Grammophon 400 039-2[6] in the initial European launch of the format.
1 October 1982
- First fifty CD titles released in Japan.
References
- ^ "Karajan honored with CD"", Billboard, 10 July 1982
- ^ "High tech poised for digital replay", Billboard, 29 Aug 1981
- ^ "Digital hot topic at AES", Billboard, 31 Oct 1981
- ^ "Pilfer-proof compact disc jacket proposed by AGI", Billboard, 20 Mar 1982
- ^ "Karajan honored with CD"", Billboard, 10 July 1982
- ^ "Richard Strauss - Eine Alpensinfonie. H. v Karajan, 1982 DG original?" (Steve Hoffman Forums thread)