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Description
The Compact Disc Read-Only Memory (CD-ROM) was based on speculative technologies that were initially imagined by David Paul Gregg in 1958, and James Russel in 1965, and both of these men filed patents for the technology during the mentioned timeframes, although the actual technology did not physically exist. During the sixties of the twentieth century, MCA (Music Corporation of America) and Philips purchased Gregg's patents and subsequently developed what is known today as the LaserDisc (1978), and although the technology had many advantages, it also had a host of disadvantages which led to a rethinking of the idea. This eventually led to the invention of the Compact Disc (CD) and subsequently, the CD-ROM which would be used for data storage.

However, considerable work would have to take place before the CD was a viable and stable technology. Much of this work was done by engineers at Sony and Philips, with the CD being announced in 1983-84 (the initial release was industrial, the other commercial). The initial capacity of the 5¼'' disc was a mere 553 megabytes (a 5¼'' floppy disc of that era could only hold 1.44 megabytes) and from there the technology and the means to read/write to it just improved in leaps and bounds. By 1989 the technology had stabilized and was used in gaming cabinets used in video arcades (Data East), and in multimedia and this in turn led to the massive explosion in freeware and shareware of the early nineties as well as the distribution of dial-up internet programs that allowed ordinary home computers with a modem to connect via a phone line to the fledging World Wide Web (WWW), an outgrowth of the existing dial-up Bulletin Board Service (BBS) that had been operating since at least 1986.

It is worth paying close attention to the front of the CD-ROM drive shown here. The image was drawn from memory, and is a duplication of a drive common to home computers of the late eighties. The drive could read music and book CD's and CD-ROM (data discs) and when in music mode, the user could plug their headset or headphones directly into the front of the drive and control the volume of the playback with the slider seen next to the jack. Additionally, the music CD could be manipulated to play, fast-forward, stop or be ejected with the buttons on the front of the drive. When reading/writing the LED lit up and pulsed to show the disc being accessed. It was sadly a very common problem with early CD devices that the disc would not or could not be ejected, so a small 'pin hole' was added to the front of the device that a pin or other small object was inserted into, and this acted to force an ejection. Modern drives also have this feature, but it is seldom used due to improvements in technology.

Artwork produced by JB © Copyright 1980-2022. Unauthorized usage or adaption is strictly forbidden without permission requested in writing.

Description
The Compact Disc Read-Only Memory (CD-ROM) was based on speculative technologies that were initially imagined by David Paul Gregg in 1958, and James Russel in 1965, and both of these men filed patents for the technology during the mentioned timeframes, although the actual technology did not physically exist. During the sixties of the twentieth century, MCA (Music Corporation of America) and Philips purchased Gregg's patents and subsequently developed what is known today as the LaserDisc (1978), and although the technology had many advantages, it also had a host of disadvantages which led to a rethinking of the idea. This eventually led to the invention of the Compact Disc (CD) and subsequently, the CD-ROM which would be used for data storage.

However, considerable work would have to take place before the CD was a viable and stable technology. Much of this work was done by engineers at Sony and Philips, with the CD being announced in 1983-84 (the initial release was industrial, the other commercial). The initial capacity of the 5¼'' disc was a mere 553 megabytes (a 5¼'' floppy disc of that era could only hold 1.44 megabytes) and from there the technology and the means to read/write to it just improved in leaps and bounds. By 1989 the technology had stabilized and was used in gaming cabinets used in video arcades (Data East), and in multimedia and this in turn led to the massive explosion in freeware and shareware of the early nineties as well as the distribution of dial-up internet programs that allowed ordinary home computers with a modem to connect via a phone line to the fledging World Wide Web (WWW), an outgrowth of the existing dial-up Bulletin Board Service (BBS) that had been operating since at least 1986.

It is worth paying close attention to the front of the CD-ROM drive shown here. The image was drawn from memory, and is a duplication of a drive common to home computers of the late eighties. The drive could read music and book CD's and CD-ROM (data discs) and when in music mode, the user could plug their headset or headphones directly into the front of the drive and control the volume of the playback with the slider seen next to the jack. Additionally, the music CD could be manipulated to play, fast-forward, stop or be ejected with the buttons on the front of the drive. When reading/writing the LED lit up and pulsed to show the disc being accessed. It was sadly a very common problem with early CD devices that the disc would not or could not be ejected, so a small 'pin hole' was added to the front of the device that a pin or other small object was inserted into, and this acted to force an ejection. Modern drives also have this feature, but it is seldom used due to improvements in technology.

Artwork produced by JB © Copyright 1980-2022. Unauthorized usage or adaption is strictly forbidden without permission requested in writing.