The first commercial compact disc was produced on 17 August 1982.

Bought my first player in 86.

 

I can't think of many examples of 'very bad' early CD's. Which ones did you have in mind?

 

Got my first CD player around HS graduation in 1987. First purchase was Pink Floyd DSOTM. Still have it, but its a garden-variety U.S. pressing. My next couple of purchases are also still with me: a WG Target Doors S/T and a Hoffman Japan pressing of Who's Next. Bought Sgt. Pepper the week of release in June '87 and I believe CCR Green River Japan press rounded out the first five.

My first player was an Akai and I was glad to have purchased the 3-yr warranty cause it crapped out within 2 yrs. Bought at Magnolia Hi-Fi so I got Silver Platters bucks with the purchase, which turned me on to that great store that I would eventually work for in a few years.

 

I remember it like yesterday, end of the summer 1987 and I convinced my parents so I could spend some of my summer job earnings on a CD player, headphones, and a few CD's. It was an article in Rolling Stone magazine discussing the upcoming anniversary release of Sgt. Pepper on CD that got me. I made the trip one afternoon to Elgin, IL to the old Service Merchandise and chose a Technics model with headphone jack and headphone volume, which was the key feature I wanted as the dorm RA's were tough on loud music. Bought the Pepper CD, Let It Bleed, and Who's Next that first day. Still have Pepper and LIB (long supplanted with the Beatles Mono and Stereo sets and the Hybrid SACD and older MFSL Stones CD's, but foolishly gave my Who's Next away when the 1995 Astley remaster was released. What a foolish pre-Hoffman forum move, could have been a Hoffman Who's Next I gave away!

I also clearly remember awaiting the release of Who's Last on CD (yes, despised by many, but one I loved first on cassette and then on disc) and driving from NIU in DeKalb back to my hometown record store where I had special ordered it. Do I at least win Who fanatic for the day???

 

First CDs were birthday gifts in 1986 - REM's Life's Rich Pageant from my brother and the Soul man soundtrack from my uncle, though he did give me a player that day as well. It was this allegedly portable Sony that slid off its base and did not work very well. It was probably 300 or 400 bucks. i remember paying about 85 or 100 bucks to have it 'fixed' at some stereo shop. I did use it for about 3 or 4 years as my only player despite its erratic playback because i couldn't afford another one. First disc I bought myself was a couple weeks later - Big Audio Dynamite - No. 10 Upping Street

 

Dire Strait's Brothers In Arms was one of the first really good sounding discs in the day. I remember Peter Gabriel's Security being another.

 

I was pretty happy with all my early CDs, but Brothers In Arms was the one I'd use to 'show-off' my system. Other great sounding early CDs were Thriller & the Eurythmics' Be Yourself Tonight. I used to love the stereo effects on I Love You Like A Ball And Chain on the latter!

 

This was my first CD. Still have it and love it.

 

My first CD purchases were while I was a poor college student. Mostly I was buying classical music on CD back then because classical was so well suited for the CD format and I like classical. Unfortunately classical was also more expensive than the expensive rock CDs. Fortunately I still manged to get the MFSL Pink Floyd CDs even though I wouldn't have considered myself an audiophile back then.

 

One that comes to mind is Silk Degrees. CBS/Sony must have used a bad tape for that one. The MFSL gold disc is much better.

Abraxas is another one that is lacking. The tape hiss is very loud, and the sound otherwise is weak. However, later Sony masters have not been great either. The current remaster and the SACD are bassy, but the SACD benefits from the higher resolution. The two MFSL gold CDs are good, though some people find the later one to be bright. Maybe MFSL will nail it on their SACD (if it is ever released).

 

The very next week I found a white label copy of the vinyl so I had 2 copies of The Big Express.

 

Got my first player in 1988. My first compact disc was Springsteen's 'Tunnel Of Love', followed by Madonna Like A Virgin and Dire Straits Money For Nothing Comp.

I remember trading in stacks of vinyl (like an idiot) and cassettes from my collection to get enough trade to buy CDs. The trade value was so weak--it took me like 10-12 albums worth of trading to get one brand new disc.

Fast forward 25 years on and now it's the CD's that are worthless pennies on the dollar trade ins and it takes like a dozen discs to get a new Vinyl Record. Things have truly come Full Circle!!

Just glad i got back into vinyl early enough (early 2000's) that i replaced most of what i had without having to pay top dollar again.

 

Yeah, but that's over a century of continuous improvement (well, 1972-1988 were debatable). If cars were like CDs, they'd just be like Model T's ONLY LOUDER.

 

If you mean in the $25 range, yes. If you think about how much $25.00 was in 1983, more. We're talking Neil Young new vinyl prices. I still wish I'd pestered dad for that Men Without Hats cd I remember seeing in the mall record store back in '83.

 

is it expensive?

 

. . . and then the second seal was opened . . .

 

Why would anyone do the above unless 1) they were desperate for cash, or 2) to be rid of items that they never want to see again in their lifetime. Downsizing is another valid reason, although with CDs, jazzloft sleeves offer a way to store CDs without the jewel cases.

Today is a buyers market for CDs, which is why I'm buying.

 

I'm guessing the Ludwig mastered version of Brothers in Arms?

 

I don't have it to hand to check, but I bought it the week it was released. So probably.

 

The first issue was mastered by John Dent, so you will have to check the disc, or listen to the first track very carefully (the hi-hat will be in the right channel on the John Dent copies). They were only in the stores for a very short time before being replaced. Personally, I think Ludwig's is better.

 

Aqualung was out as an import with the very first batch I ever say. It was known quickly as a total dud. You mean you didn't know?

 

That's the way standards work. What do you want? Rectangular CDs? Aerodynamic CD's?
Not much you can do with the redbook standard, because it is the redbook standard.