Stacy Conradt
The Quick 10: The Scoop on CDs
by Stacy Conradt - March 8, 2010 - 5:27 PM

q10

It was 31 years ago today that the compact disc was first introduced to the public. It took a few years to get that technology out to the public, but on March 8, 1979, the Philips company held a press conference called “Philips Introduce Compact Disc” to tell the world what was going on. Although CDs seem like they might be headed the way of the 8-Track, they definitely have their place in pop culture history. For old times’ sake, break out your favorite disc and give it a listen while you enjoy these facts.

1. The first mass-produced CD manufactured was ABBA’s The Visitors. However, the first album to actually be released to the public on CD was Billy Joel’s 52nd Street. It came out on October 1, 1982.

cd player2. Coinciding with that Billy Joel CD was the first-ever CD player: Sony’s CDP-101, a sleek, streamlined device (pictured… ain’t she a beaut?) for the bargain-basement price of just $900.

3. The first CD to sell a million copies was Dire Straits’ Brothers in Arms, released in 1985.

4. Can you imagine having a collection of Mini Racks? That was just one of the many names considered for the format when it was still in early development stages. Other possibilities included MiniDisc and CompactRack. The developers decided to go with “compact disc” because they figured it would make people think of the success of the compact cassette.

beethoven5. We have Beethoven to thank for how much data a CD could hold when it was first released. The CD was intended to be just 11.5 centimeters in diameter, but when Philips teamed up with Sony to release the CD and CD player, Sony was adamant that a compact disc had to have enough space to hold Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony (about 74 minutes). In order to do so, the size of the disc had to be increased to 12 centimeters in diameter instead.

6. If you could take all of the data a CD holds and place it end-to-end, it would stretch out for more than four miles.

7. David Bowie was the first artist to have his entire catalog converted to the CD format. Although CDs were commercially available since 1982, the Bowie conversion (if you’re looking for a band name, feel free to steal that: The Bowie Conversion) didn’t take place until 1985.

8. CDs are made up of pits and lands. The data on the discs is stored as little tiny indentations called “pits,” and the area between the pits are the “lands.” In case you’re wondering why you’ve never seen little holes all over the back of your old Jagged Little Pill or In Utero disc, that’s because they’re virtually invisible to the naked eye: each pit is about 100 nanometers deep by 500 nanometers wide (one nanometer is a billionth of a meter). Plus, this is all embedded in one of the layers of the CD, and the pits and lands are actually closer to the label side than the back side.

9. The data on a CD starts on the inside and spirals outward.

expensive10. Do you hate how easily CDs seem to scratch and warp and totally mess up the sound of your tunes? Well, there’s a solution to that… if you’re willing to pay about $883 for a single disc. The glass CD was invented in 2007 by a Japanese recording engineer and provides the highest quality sound out there. It’s expensive, but there’s probably another deterrent to buying CDs in glass format – can you imagine cramming them all into a portable CD case and casually tossing them into the backseat of your car? Yeah… probably not the best idea.

My first CD ever was Ace of Base’s The Sign. It came with my first CD player – they were both presents for my 12th birthday (I think). At the requisite birthday sleepover that night, we accidentally hit the shuffle button without realizing that the shuffle button even existed and were temporarily convinced that a ghost in the house really loved the song “All That She Wants.” Do you remember your first CD?

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Comments (126)

  1. Green Day Dookie! I still have it, and it still plays!

    posted by Leslie on 3-8-2010 at 5:33 pm

  2. The Gun Club’s “Fire of Love”. Bought it back in 1985. Still have it.

    posted by Stuart Ellis on 3-8-2010 at 5:36 pm

  3. Whoo! Bowie has always been a trendsetter!

    posted by Nick on 3-8-2010 at 5:40 pm

  4. I ended up with Pearl Jam’s Ten and Nirvana’s Nevermind on the same day. Core by Stone Temple Pilots and August and Everything After by Counting Crows followed very shortly.

    posted by Steve on 3-8-2010 at 5:42 pm

  5. The Last Action Hero soundtrack featuring super hits by AC/DC, Megadeth and Tesla. Unbelievably I still have it and still listen to it from time to time. I still haven’t seen the movie.

    posted by Tim on 3-8-2010 at 5:42 pm

  6. No Doubt “Tragic Kingdom” :-) The songs are in my current playlist, just on my iPod, now.

    posted by tambalina on 3-8-2010 at 5:44 pm

  7. First 2 CDs were Vanilla Ice and The Simpsons Sing the Blues.

    posted by John on 3-8-2010 at 5:44 pm

  8. The Offspring: Smash

    posted by Biff N Sully on 3-8-2010 at 5:46 pm

  9. Spin Doctors – Pocket Full of Kryptonite…still have it around somewhere.

    posted by silkijir on 3-8-2010 at 5:53 pm

  10. My first CD was Celine Dion “Falling into You” followed by the Space Jam soundtrack… oh to be 10 again.

    posted by Lauren on 3-8-2010 at 5:54 pm

  11. I remember being so excited when I got my first CD player, so long lousy cassettes! I think the first CD i owned was probably Sixteen Stone by Bush, back in third grade, the following year at the ripe old age of ten they were my first concert!

    posted by Heather on 3-8-2010 at 5:54 pm

  12. First CD was 1989′s ‘No One Can Do It Better’ by The D.O.C. Still have it and it still plays great!

    posted by Mark T. on 3-8-2010 at 6:01 pm

  13. My first CD was Ace of Base too! Got it for my 11th birthday from a boy I had a huge crush on. Ah, memories…

    posted by Katie on 3-8-2010 at 6:17 pm

  14. It was Jagged Little Pill for me.

    I found it again on my 19th birthday when I was packing my stuff up to finally move out of my parents house. I tried to listen to it but it was scratched to all hell and skippy.

    That Alanis could really make an album.

    posted by Tyler on 3-8-2010 at 6:18 pm

  15. Britney Spears’ Hit Me Baby. It broke ages ago.

    posted by Anna on 3-8-2010 at 6:26 pm

  16. First CD was the Pure Country Soundtrack. I am still obsessed with that movie and will listen to the music on my ipod from time to time. I still have my first (and only) CD player. I don’t think I will ever be able to part with it!

    posted by K on 3-8-2010 at 6:28 pm

  17. My first cd was a Bush cd I got it for Christmas it got stolen along with some more of my cds but it was no big deal wasn’t a big fan of the band Bush.

    posted by Kari on 3-8-2010 at 6:28 pm

  18. Billy Idol – Cyberpunk (First CD)
    Dead or Alive – Youthquake (First Cassette)
    Boney M – Night Flight to Venus (First vinyl album)

    Sorry no 8- tracks purchased

    posted by Chris on 3-8-2010 at 6:29 pm

  19. Ah yes, I got Hootie and the Blowfish debut album…”Cracked Rear View”. I got it with my first compatible CD player.

    posted by Scott on 3-8-2010 at 6:34 pm

  20. Nick At Nites Dick Van Dyke’s Dance Party. I was 10, and yes, I picked it out for myself. I included the link to the amazon page so anyone interested can check out that oh-so-cool track list. ;)

    posted by KC on 3-8-2010 at 6:36 pm

  21. Janet – Janet Jackson and Out of Time – R.E.M, both for Christmas that year….

    posted by Mindy on 3-8-2010 at 6:50 pm

  22. Shihad – The General Electric. Local band.

    Tim: That’s the best thing I’ve heard all day. Go Last Action Hero!

    posted by Ant2206 on 3-8-2010 at 6:59 pm

  23. I remember my dad playing the Little Mermaid soundtrack for me. He had Under the Sea on repeat…and I thought my dad had magic powers. It’s not going to the next song??? How does he do that?

    posted by Teresa is amazing on 3-8-2010 at 7:03 pm

  24. My first CD was Ace of Base as well, received with my first CD player for Christmas in 4th grade.

    posted by LT on 3-8-2010 at 7:03 pm

  25. Sony’s insistence of the CD being large enough to have the complete Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony goes back to Mrs. Sony (The wife of Sony’s founder and president.) The Ninth was her favorite and she hated having to get up and change records to hear the complete symphony. So, Mr. Sony, like all good husbands, said yes dear and the CD is 12 Centimeters wide. BTW, CD’s use red laser light to make the pits that carry the infomation. By changing to a blue laser, the pits become even smaller which allows even more data to be stored in the same space. Thus Blue Ray 1080P DVD vs red laser 480P DVD. Or, for Mrs. Sony, the complete works of Beethoven on one disc.

    posted by Prism on 3-8-2010 at 7:03 pm

  26. I won Tonic – Lemon Parade from a radio call in contest. I had to go get a CD player after that.

    posted by Vlachen on 3-8-2010 at 7:04 pm

  27. Shania Twain’s Come on Over was my first CD.

    posted by jennifer on 3-8-2010 at 7:26 pm

  28. Madonna – Immaculate Collection – Still about the best CD I own.

    posted by mike on 3-8-2010 at 7:34 pm

  29. “The glass CD was invented in 2007 by a Japanese recording engineer and provides the highest quality sound out there.”

    Umm. . .CD’s are digital. Every copy of a CD will sound exactly the same, unless the disc is scratched. Being glass does not make a CD sound better.

    Another cool fact is that CDs use two error-correcting schemes: one to handle small batches of errors that radial scratches cause (from center to outside) and another to correct longer strings of errors.

    posted by teaburger on 3-8-2010 at 7:35 pm

  30. Nirvana’s Nevermind, still have it, still plays, though now it’s loaded into my iPod

    posted by nihil on 3-8-2010 at 7:39 pm

  31. Rage Against the Machine’s debut was one of my firsts. I know that because I’ve also replaced it more times than any other album I’ve ever owned.

    posted by Joscel on 3-8-2010 at 7:43 pm

  32. The Rage album also originally came from a store with a “LIFETIME MUSIC GUARANTEE”. Does anyone else remember swapping cd cases with a different cd/cover/art inserts to “return” the scratched one? I know I do…

    posted by Joscel on 3-8-2010 at 7:49 pm

  33. Queen’s “Made in Heaven”, Pearl Jam’s “Ten” and, for some reason, Yanni, were all given to me with a new stereo for my birthday.

    posted by Mary Kroll on 3-8-2010 at 7:59 pm

  34. Ace of Base was my first CD as well…but I had to play it on the family CD player in the living room until I got my own for my next birthday.

    posted by C on 3-8-2010 at 8:04 pm

  35. Dark Side of the Moon. I liked that I didn’t have to flip the record over after side one. That always killed the buzz.

    posted by Walter on 3-8-2010 at 8:10 pm

  36. The first CD that was bought with my own money was Celine Dion “falling into you,” and was bought in Japan when I lived there in 6th Grade. Still plays, although I don’t really listen to it anymore.

    posted by Kate on 3-8-2010 at 8:10 pm

  37. My parents bought me a Discman for xmas when I was 11, and they gave me the soundtracks to “Twister” and “Days of Thunder” with it. Not having established a sense of music of my own, they thought it’d be a safe bet to go with soundtracks of movies I liked at the time. “Twister” was actually pretty good. As for CDs I picked out and bought myself, Silverchair’s “Freak Show” was first, quickly followed by Green Day’s “Dookie” and then Reel Big Fish’s “Turn the Radio Off”.

    posted by Steve on 3-8-2010 at 8:11 pm

  38. Bought my first CD in 1989 (late bloomer, I know) along with my first CD player, Journey’s Greatest Hits.

    reCap: brings meager

    posted by Kevin on 3-8-2010 at 8:13 pm

  39. Kris Kross (don’t judge me)

    posted by Amanda on 3-8-2010 at 8:23 pm

  40. The soundtrack to “Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves.” Jealous, aren’t you?

    posted by Lynley on 3-8-2010 at 8:53 pm

  41. Janet Jackson – Rhythm Nation

    posted by Allie on 3-8-2010 at 9:08 pm

  42. Huey Lewis and the News’ “Fore!”

    Yeah, I’m old. So what?

    posted by SpaceMonkeyX on 3-8-2010 at 9:16 pm

  43. First CD player had a 6 CD Carousel, bought 6 CD’s to go into it… Genesis:Genesis;
    Bruce:Born to Run;
    Jackson Browne:Running on Empty; Eagles:Greatest Hits [the first one]; James Taylor:Sweet Baby James;
    Jim Croce: Photographs and Memories

    Still have them all, and listen to them every now and again…

    posted by Chris on 3-8-2010 at 9:30 pm

  44. green jello – cereal killer! oh yeah!

    posted by Matt on 3-8-2010 at 9:31 pm

  45. Michael Jackson “Dangerous”

    and

    Crash Test Dummies “Ghosts That Haunt Me”

    posted by Martin on 3-8-2010 at 9:37 pm

  46. 1st cd..talking heads- stop making sense
    1st lp…supertramp-crime of the century
    1st 7″…blondie-heart of glass
    still have all of them.

    posted by squ1nt on 3-8-2010 at 9:45 pm

  47. My first CD was the Powerpuff Girls CD. Yeah bet you didn’t even know one existed. I still have it too, and I’m sure if I dug it out it would still play remarkably well

    posted by Melissa on 3-8-2010 at 9:47 pm

  48. First CD was Rammstein – Sehnsucht
    Followed shortly by Rob Zombie – Hellbilly Deluxe
    and Slipknot (self titled I believe)

    posted by Paula on 3-8-2010 at 9:54 pm

  49. OMG I thought I was the only one obsessed with The Simpsons Sing the Blues album. I only had it on tape though. My first cd was either Shania Twain, Come on Over, or Faith Hill, This Kiss (the single).

    posted by Moi on 3-8-2010 at 10:21 pm

  50. I was just playing it recently & realized it was The One: West Side Story (Original Broadway cast) :)

    posted by Stephanie on 3-8-2010 at 10:28 pm

  51. Jock Jams.

    What does number six MEAN? If you undid the spirals it would stretch four miles? If you placed the lyrics to the songs printed on A4 paper it would stretch 4 miles? Data by itself is not a concrete object. :/

    posted by Ashley on 3-8-2010 at 10:32 pm

  52. My first CD was the Waiting to Exhale soundtrack & I got it at the same time I got my first CD player. It was pretty awesome.

    It just occurred to me that I don’t think I’ll ever know what the first mp3 file was that I downloaded. That was back in the fantastic time of unregulated Napster and I downloaded so much stuff that I can’t remember most of what I have. Oh, for the good old days…

    posted by Soonersnic on 3-8-2010 at 11:15 pm

  53. my first cd was Billy Joel’s Storm Front. I bought it before I even owned a CD player.

    Also, I read somewhere that the first album ever recorded in digital format was Billy Joel’s Songs in the Attic. Sony wanted to test the new recording format without investing a lot of money. This is a live album, so not a lot of investment. Also, Billy was Columbia’s biggest selling artist at the time.

    posted by mrwaturi on 3-8-2010 at 11:33 pm

  54. Yeah, I don’t get what number 6 means either.

    And I went kicking and screaming from cassettes. I didn’t buy my first CD player until 1997 and that was only because I absolutely could not find Marilyn Manson “Antichrist Superstar” anywhere on cassette.

    posted by Kirk on 3-8-2010 at 11:51 pm

  55. Thanks to Mrs. Sony, my first cd was the two-on-one-disc of Teena Marie’s Irons in the Fire and It Must Be Magic.

    I still listen to it.

    posted by Michael on 3-9-2010 at 12:00 am

  56. REM – Green

    posted by James on 3-9-2010 at 12:38 am

  57. I think it was The Best of Sam Cooke. An odd choice for a white high school junior from the Minneapolis suburbs.

    posted by eric! on 3-9-2010 at 12:46 am

  58. My mom placed a humongous order with Columbia House for our first CDs when I was a kid so I can’t really name one first disc. However, I remember opening the box and the Selena CD was at the top so I’m gonna go with that one.

    Ironically, they were bought several months BEFORE she bought me a CD player which plugged into the stereo, which I thought was soooo freaking cool.

    posted by Barbara on 3-9-2010 at 3:35 am

  59. My first CD was the Dangerous Minds soundtrack.

    posted by Danielle on 3-9-2010 at 3:39 am

  60. My cousin gave me my first CD – a little known rapper named Steady B. The title of the album was “Let the Hustlers Play.”

    The first CD I bought was DJ Jazzy Jeff and the Fresh Prince “Summertime.”

    posted by AHI on 3-9-2010 at 5:21 am

  61. 1993: I was 13, first two CDs as presents: Metallica ..and Justice for All and Stone Temple Pilots – Core.
    Both discs sinced ripped to digital!

    posted by JR on 3-9-2010 at 6:55 am

  62. The Offspring: Smash
    Aerosmith: Big Ones

    posted by Greg on 3-9-2010 at 7:14 am

  63. I got a CD player for my 10th birthday, and the first 2 CDs I bought to play in it were R.E.M.’s Out of Time and the soundtrack to Disney’s Beauty and the Beast. Both of which I still have.

    posted by Vera on 3-9-2010 at 7:20 am

  64. David Bowie side project TIN MACHINE along with a rocking YORK AM/FM radio/record player/cassette/CD stereo back in 1988

    posted by Gwendy on 3-9-2010 at 7:35 am

  65. @ John
    Very wierd. My first CD was the Simpson’s Sing The Blues as well.
    We both had very poor taste in music!

    posted by Don on 3-9-2010 at 7:36 am

  66. I bought my first CDs in 1990 (kind of a late adopter).
    Stevie Ray Vaughan & Double Trouble – “Texas Flood”
    The Black Crows – “Shake Your Moneymaker”
    Holst – “The Planets”
    Beethoven – “9th Symphony”
    And I didn’t even know about the 9th being the “standard” for CD length.

    posted by TBV on 3-9-2010 at 8:03 am

  67. I bought my first CD player, if I recall, in 1985. Maybe ’84. The first CD I bought was an Elektra pressing of “Queen – Greatest Hits” with the original black photo cover and U.S. track listing from its initial release in ’81. It’s a rare disc today, so I don’t play it.

    posted by Sandy Wood on 3-9-2010 at 8:09 am

  68. Weird Al – Dare to be Stupid :)

    posted by Michelle on 3-9-2010 at 8:10 am

  69. Not sure what my first one was, but I know for a fact that it came from Columbia House!

    posted by Gordon Daily on 3-9-2010 at 8:35 am

  70. Anson Funderburghe and the Rockets featuring Sam Myers – Rack ‘Em Up for me and Randy Travis – Storms of Life for my wife.

    posted by bob on 3-9-2010 at 8:57 am

  71. in 1986 for my birthday, I got a portable cd player and the 3 disc box set of Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band Live.

    posted by fanniefarkle on 3-9-2010 at 9:08 am

  72. U2′s Rattle and Hum

    posted by Jenny on 3-9-2010 at 9:29 am

  73. I honestly can’t remember what my first CD was… but I *do* remember the last cassette I bought brand-new at full price: the soundtrack to Friends.

    posted by Roger on 3-9-2010 at 9:38 am

  74. Batman & Robin; The Soundtrack. Definitely don’t have it anymore!

    posted by Caden on 3-9-2010 at 9:40 am

  75. @ Steve: How weird, my 2 first CDs were Pearl Jam’s “Ten” and Counting Crows’ “August and Everything After”!

    The first album I ever bought was “The Sign”, although I bought it on cassette, not CD. Still listened to the crap out of that thing, though!

    posted by Krie on 3-9-2010 at 9:41 am

  76. My boyfriend in 8th grade bought me my first CDs for Christmas that year – The Cure’s Kiss Me, Kiss Me, Kiss Me and Motley Crue’s Dr. Feelgood.

    Still have them, and actually still listen to them. =)

    posted by Jen on 3-9-2010 at 9:41 am

  77. My First was “Even Worse” by Weird Al Yankovic

    posted by Chris on 3-9-2010 at 9:50 am

  78. First few CDs I bought were:

    Mother Love Bone – “Apple”
    Pearl Jam – “Ten”
    RHCP – “Blood Sugar Sex Magic”
    Faith No More – “Angel Dust”

    Still have, and love, them all.

    posted by Renis on 3-9-2010 at 10:18 am

  79. I am delighted, just delighted, by the number of people who also got Ace of Base for their first CD. :)

    posted by stacy on 3-9-2010 at 10:28 am

  80. John Mayall’s Bluesbreakers with Eric Clapton, and yes, I still listen to it. It must have been ’83 or ’84.

    posted by Henry on 3-9-2010 at 10:39 am

  81. The cranberries

    posted by T on 3-9-2010 at 11:04 am

  82. Depeche Mode – A Broken Frame. Which made me really mad because my older brother gave it to me and he was the only one in the house(at the time) that had a CD player or that even liked them (I was 8, he was 17). I have my DM favourites now but I think he kept that CD…

    posted by fifty-percent on 3-9-2010 at 11:11 am

  83. I was given a CD player as a gift for my 11th birthday & the discs I got with it were Weird Al’s Bad Hair Day & the Spice Girls self-titled. Both discs have since disappeared, and lets just say I’m not exactly heartbroken about it…

    posted by sammylee on 3-9-2010 at 11:17 am

  84. I can’t remember what I had for lunch yesterday! How do you guys remember what CDs you own, let alone when you got them? Wow!
    (And, yes, that means I sometimes buy music again because I forget I already have it.)

    posted by Hyacinth on 3-9-2010 at 11:20 am

  85. First CD I received was also Ace of Base. But I am very proud to say the first CD I bought for myself was St. Pepper by the Beatles.

    posted by Laura on 3-9-2010 at 11:23 am

  86. I bought Public Enemy’s Fear of a Black Planet, in the old long cardboard boxes. Then my mom made me take it back because it had the Parental Advisory sticker on it. I got Midnight Oil’s Diesel and Dust instead. I eventually bought all of PE’s stuff. I still like Midnight Oil, too.

    posted by jimmywags on 3-9-2010 at 11:33 am

  87. I don’t recall whatt my first CD was I think I got a bunch from Columbia House. Might have been Public Enemy though.

    One of my favorite memories is my friend getting his first job and being so excited because he made $/hr and he’d be able to afford 5-8 CD’s EVERY PAYCHECK. He has by far the largest CD collection of anyone I know. Plus a huge mp3 collection too.

    posted by hockey zombie on 3-9-2010 at 11:35 am

  88. First CD: Golden Throats II
    First Cassette (two, actually): Billy Joel’s An Innocent Man, and the Rocky IV soundtrack
    First Album: Barry Manilow Live

    posted by Jeff W. on 3-9-2010 at 12:04 pm

  89. First CD player was a five-spinner. 1987, maybe?

    I got Bangles: Different light.

    Mom got 4 CDs, but I don’t remember which ones. they were all groups from her teen years tho. I know Simon & Garfunkel’s concert in Central Park was one, but I don’t know if the others were more Simon & Garfunkel or Mamas & Papas. Not sure when those got transferred to CD.

    posted by Stormy on 3-9-2010 at 12:11 pm

  90. DuranDuran-Thank you. I played that CD so much, it started humming and I had to give it a month’s break! I’m having trouble with Rick Nelson’s Legacy boxed set. When I play the fourth disc, track twenty, it stops halfway through the song, when I play it in the bathroom. I thought it was just vibrations, but last time, I didn’t move a lot, and it still did it.

    posted by Sara in AL on 3-9-2010 at 12:17 pm

  91. My first cd was the Wayne’s World soundtrack, and I still have it…

    posted by ShuggaMagnolia on 3-9-2010 at 12:29 pm

  92. First CD: Robert Plant Shaken and Stirred
    First Album: The Clash, Combat Rock

    Never bought any Cassette, I just waited until a friend bought the album and copied it.

    CAPTCHA; St Pats day Irish Bonnie

    posted by Allen in WI on 3-9-2010 at 12:35 pm

  93. I’m laughing at the comments that say late bloomer because they got their first CD player around 1990…I got my first CD player in ’94 as a HS graduation present! Although we were always a little late to the technology bandwagon in my house, my husband likes to tease me and say I grew up under a rock. First CD was Temple of the Dog, which I still have and is probably loaded on to my iPod now with everything else.

    posted by Kelly on 3-9-2010 at 12:42 pm

  94. my first cd was Ace of Base as well, although at the time we only had a “family” cd player so i converted it to a cassette tape anyway :(

    posted by Laura in MI on 3-9-2010 at 12:44 pm

  95. U2 – The Unforgettable Fire. I bought it before I owned a CD player. I recorded it onto tape using my dad’s cd player. I still have it. I also still have my original cd player; a 6 disc Pioneer that is still connected to my stereo system.

    posted by Steve M on 3-9-2010 at 12:58 pm

  96. Telarc’s Beethoven or Bust, an electronic version of a lot of Beethoven’s works. Followed closely by the Best of the Art of Noise.

    posted by John Bejarano on 3-9-2010 at 1:17 pm

  97. Van Halen – OU812.

    Why? I have no idea.

    posted by Wasabi Shiba on 3-9-2010 at 1:17 pm

  98. First CD – U2 Joshua Tree (I couldn’t afford a CD player in college. I had tons of cassette tapes to be played in my trusty Sony Walkman)
    First LP – One that I actually bought on my own, not stolen from an older sibling, Grease Soundtrack
    First 45 – Brand New Key by Melanie. I was 7 and loved the song. Made my older sister buy it for me. I don’t know if I paid her back but it was mine.

    posted by Annie on 3-9-2010 at 1:20 pm

  99. I bought my first three CD’s simultaneously:

    Pearl Jam: 10
    Primus: Sailing the Seas of Cheese
    Jimi Hendrix: Electric Ladyland

    I still have and listen to all 3 of them, although the cases themselves have seen better days!

    posted by Keith on 3-9-2010 at 1:30 pm

  100. Guess what?? My dad, a lovelable techno-geek who was (and still is)always the first one on the block to own the latest in technology, actually bought that first CD player, as well as the Billy Joel CD. I have very fuzzy, yet vivid memories of my 3-year-old self staring transfixed at the rainbows on the little “silver record.” The first CDs I ever actually owned for myself were “Forever Your Girl” by Paula Abdul, “Rhythm Nation 1814″ by Janet Jackson, “Wilson Philips,” “Please Hammer Don’t Hurt ‘Em” by MC Hammer, and whatever the name of the Vanilla Ice CD with “Ice Ice Baby” on it is called. I got all 5 plus my very own portable CD player as a gift from my uncle for my 10th b-day (1990.)

    posted by FizzyGurrl on 3-9-2010 at 1:48 pm

  101. First CD: “Permanent Vacation”, by Aerosmith. It was Christmas morning, 1988. I was 13. Later that same morning, I also opened up “New Jersey” by Bon Jovi and “Open Up and Say…Aahhh!” by Poison. Gee, guess what kind of music I was into back in the day…

    posted by Anon on 3-9-2010 at 2:04 pm

  102. I think my first CD was Rich Mullins’ “Songs.” I still have that CD, and it’s still in good quality.

    posted by Heather on 3-9-2010 at 2:09 pm

  103. Deep Blue Something – Breakfast at Tiffany’s…

    SpaceMonkeyX – Right on! Love me some Huey.

    posted by Megan on 3-9-2010 at 2:22 pm

  104. My first cd SHOULD HAVE been Eric Clapton’s “Crossroads” compilation. When I was 17, my parents knew my brother and I each wanted that album, so they asked us if we wanted it on cd, cassette, or vinyl. We didn’t have a cd player, so I chose vinyl, figuring I could make cassettes out of those to play in my car. My brother asked for the cd’s. We both got our wishes, but in addition, we both got cd players. Doh!

    posted by eKim on 3-9-2010 at 2:29 pm

  105. Kate Bush- The Dreaming.

    posted by Keith on 3-9-2010 at 2:50 pm

  106. I don’t remember my first CD, but I do remember my first one with explicit lyrics…Coolio – Gangsta’s Paradise. Ahhh…good times. Now, I take a look at my life and realize there’s nothin left.

    posted by Bunk on 3-9-2010 at 2:54 pm

  107. INXS – Kick. Along with my first CD player, which was actually a CD Walkman. I didn’t have a lot of money, and couldn’t afford a really good stereo, so figured having a Walkman plus some speakers to plug into it would have me covered for all situations, in home and on the road.

    posted by Kelly on 3-9-2010 at 3:00 pm

  108. Wow, Ace of Base was my first CD too! I remember getting it and listening through a bunch of unfamiliar songs to get to the ones I liked because I didn’t know how to use the “skip” feature. I was about 8 or 9 at the time.

    posted by bananacat on 3-9-2010 at 3:15 pm

  109. Funny you should mention it Stacy – my first CD was Alanis Morissette’s Jagged Little Pill. I was a little late to the party!

    reCaptcha: taxes asylums…i think they’re trying to say something here…

    posted by Steph on 3-9-2010 at 3:29 pm

  110. “6. If you could take all of the data a CD holds and place it end-to-end, it would stretch out for more than four miles.”

    That doesn’t make any sense whatsoever. Data isn’t a physical object that can be placed “end-to-end”.

    posted by Patten on 3-9-2010 at 3:34 pm

  111. Hey I got the exact same present for my 12th birthday, CD player and Ace of Base. I think that the next one I got was Gin Blossoms.

    posted by Kate on 3-9-2010 at 4:21 pm

  112. First CD I ever bought: Beatles For Sale.

    posted by Sheila on 3-9-2010 at 4:35 pm

  113. speaking of ace of bass and “all that she wants”

    click on my name for a link to another mental floss page. it’s a video but before clicking play turn on that song, All that she wants by Ace of Bass.

    Seriously.it’s creepy….

    posted by xanderjones on 3-9-2010 at 4:40 pm

  114. I just switched to CD’s 10 years ago. My first was “All Things Must Pass” by George Harrison, which was also one of my first LP’s.

    posted by gus on 3-9-2010 at 5:22 pm

  115. I bought the 1992 single of Temple of Love by Sisters of Mercy. It was, and still is, my favorite song. I still have the CD, of course.
    My first LP was U2′s Under A Blood Red Sky as a Christmas gift from my sister.
    I don’t remember what my first tape was.
    I definitely remember the reason I switched to CD’s. I was delivering pizzas and had ALL of my tapes, over 200 of ‘em, stolen out of my car.

    posted by 303mike on 3-9-2010 at 6:23 pm

  116. CrazySexyCool – TLC when I was in 5th grade :)

    posted by Nykkya on 3-9-2010 at 6:32 pm

  117. My first CD was America’s Greatest Hits.

    posted by starlight_night on 3-9-2010 at 9:49 pm

  118. Like Leslie, my first CD was also Green Day Dookie (my copy still plays too). Inappropriatly enough, I got the CD in a Christmas grab bag from my church youth group. And like a lot of other people, the only CD player in the house was in the living room.

    posted by Mrs. Coffee on 3-9-2010 at 9:54 pm

  119. Dirty Dancing soundtrack, if you can believe it. Loved \Time of My Life\. Still do, come to that.

    posted by David Z on 3-9-2010 at 11:13 pm

  120. sister hazel
    wallflowers
    mighty mighty bosstones

    posted by dannyO on 3-10-2010 at 2:04 am

  121. first CD i ever bought was Daisy Chainsaw’s “Eleventeen.” i’d gone through three cassettes of the album and wore all of them out, so i figured it would be a good time to start buying CD’s. players were getting cheap at the time too, which helped. i think i was about 13. i still have that CD and it’s still one of my all-time favorite albums. very underrated!

    and as someone who’s worked in audio duplication, i can say for certain that the material a CD is made out of has absolutely zero effect on the sound quality. it’s all digital binary code, so the EQ/tone stack on the stereo is going to have the greatest impact on sound quality. this is a marketing ploy that’s been used for decades to dupe high-end audiophiles into spending more money and it’s always annoyed me (in fact, the high-end audiophile thing is rife with companies making products that supposedly enhance sound at ridiculous points on the stereo when in fact that do absolutely nothing except drain wallets.)

    now, there are some materials that are more resistant to scratches such as the black coating on some CDR’s and old PS discs. but again, they have nothing to do with the sound quality. oh, and ever wonder what the difference is between “audio” and “data” CD-R’s? not a damn thing. just a marketing ploy and they’re completely interchangeable.

    posted by Cat MacKinnon on 3-10-2010 at 2:17 am

  122. Mine were
    Matchbox 20 – Yourself or Someone Like you (1996)
    No Doubt – Tragic Kingdom (1995)

    ‘Twas a good Christmas that year!

    Recaptcha: largest bonehead

    posted by Sara on 3-10-2010 at 1:43 pm

  123. Depeche Mode’s Music for the Masses, which I played incessantly (partly because I loved it, and partly because it was the only CD I owned for some time).

    posted by eotc on 3-10-2010 at 9:51 pm

  124. First CD: Peter Gabriel’s 4th (“Security”), which I think was the first commercial (pop) CD to be DDD (digitally recorded/mastered/formatted). No tape hiss no matter how loud you turn it up…

    First LP: The Star Wars soundtrack…

    Still have both!

    posted by Paul on 3-11-2010 at 4:03 pm

  125. The first cd I bought was “The very best of Motorhead” and it was a double cd. The second cd was a project of the band called “The Beer Muggers” and on the label of the cd it said: “If you do not like this disk, you can always use it as a beermat.” And it did.

    posted by Maternitus on 3-16-2010 at 4:13 pm

  126. Much like Vlachen above, my first CD was one I won on off the radio. I got The Temptations’ Greatest Hits off an AM oldies station in Birmingham, Alabama. A few months later my parents finally bought a CD player for it!

    posted by Zach on 3-25-2010 at 3:10 pm

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