Wired has a nice item about the commercial introduction of the CD player in October 1982.
The CDP-101 did not come cheap nor did it come svelte. Early adopters had to part ways with the equivalent of $2,200 in today’s ducats for a single 14 x 5 x 12½-inch unit. Worse yet, the CD player’s media library was pathetic. At launch a mere 113 albums were available for purchase.
Compact discs themselves were not exactly inexpensive either. A single album sold for around $33 to $45 in today’s currency.
I was definitely not an early adopter here. I think the first compact disc I ever bought was XTC’s Oranges and Lemons, which was released in 1989.
blissbait
/ October 1, 2009I was also slow to buy. It took me ’til 89 to hop on board as well. And then only because I was tired of my cassette player gobbling all my music up!
Thank You and Cheers!
mpomy
/ October 2, 2009I remember Brothers in Arms – 1986. That sax on ‘Your Latest Trick’ was soooo smooooth!
fretbuzzdotnet
/ October 2, 2009Dire Straits was humongous back in those days.
Kim
/ October 4, 2009I think my first was The Damned – The Black Album in about 1991. I waited a long time, being very young and not really able to afford CDs back then.
I didn’t really start buying CDs in earnest until 5 years later!
fretbuzzdotnet
/ October 5, 2009I can’t say I ever heard the Damned before, but their website describes them as the “legendary psychedelic punk group.” Psychedelic punk – sounds like a winning combination to me!
Kim
/ October 5, 2009I don’t even know if I could describe the depth and breadth of the Damned’s catalog, but most people know them as a pioneering punk band of the 70s. They evolved during the 80s and made some albums that people think are “embarassing” but I personally like, but the kicker is that they are still going strong. And I think that that’s when you can say the psych part came in. Give “Curtain Call” a listen. And not some live version with poor sound on Youtube, the album cut.