The History of CDs

CDs, or compact discs, dominated the music market for many years. The first prototype was revealed in 1979, and in 1982, CDs were made available to the public. They could hold about 80 minutes of music and were more durable than vinyl records and more convenient than cassette tapes, since they allowed you to skip directly to the song you wanted to listen to. They quickly became popular; in fact, over 200 billion CDs had been bought and sold worldwide by 2007. However, since 2008, CD sales have fallen sharply each year as digital downloads and music streaming have taken over. Wondering what the first ever CD was? It was a 1982 album called The Visitors recorded by the Swedish pop group Abba.