4 ms·

That exactly was the attraction of CD-ROMs in the late 1980s and early 1990s. It was (to the era) practically infinite storage compared to what they were used t

That exactly was the attraction of CD-ROMs in the late 1980s and early 1990s. It was (to the era) practically infinite storage compared to what they were used to. Before the dawn of the Web in the mid/late 1990s, CD-ROMs were a major industry with the first electronic encyclopedias and many other reference works later made obsolete by the Web.

Doubl 6y ago
Encarta! Took me a while but that was what I was trying to recall!
wrkronmiller 6y ago
I remember in the early 00's having access to a copy of Microsoft Encarta in elementary school. We would have research-based projects (e.g. look up history of $topic and write 2-page "report" while citing sources). Students were trained by school librarians how to use the Dewey Decimal system, and take out/return books. The teachers/librarians reacted with intense hostility to my getting the required information within a few seconds, rather than needing to slog through hundreds of pages of paper reference material. The librarians, in particular, gave stern lectures about how digital information was untrustworthy, and the ability to do research using physical books would always be a critical life skill.
- ethbro 6y ago
  I just posted the other day about how my family bought a full set of Encyclopedia Britannica, then a couple years later a CD-ROM copy of Encarta (~500x the capacity of typical 3.5" floppies?), then four or five years later it was all online. Heady times! Also, younger folks these days haven't lived through a physical media migration. The weirdest thing I remember about the early CD-ROM days was that everything was parallel distributed: there was a floppy version (10 disks!) that would be substantially media-cut-down, then a CD-ROM version. Because install bases don't grow overnight.
ghaff 6y ago
Yep. At the time, there was this huge allure to being able to hold basically an entire shelf of books and/or multimedia content on a small disk in your hand.

Doubl 6y ago

Encarta! Took me a while but that was what I was trying to recall!

wrkronmiller 6y ago

I remember in the early 00's having access to a copy of Microsoft Encarta in elementary school. We would have research-based projects (e.g. look up history of $topic and write 2-page "report" while citing sources). Students were trained by school librarians how to use the Dewey Decimal system, and take out/return books. The teachers/librarians reacted with intense hostility to my getting the required information within a few seconds, rather than needing to slog through hundreds of pages of paper reference material. The librarians, in particular, gave stern lectures about how digital information was untrustworthy, and the ability to do research using physical books would always be a critical life skill.

ethbro 6y ago
I just posted the other day about how my family bought a full set of Encyclopedia Britannica, then a couple years later a CD-ROM copy of Encarta (~500x the capacity of typical 3.5" floppies?), then four or five years later it was all online. Heady times! Also, younger folks these days haven't lived through a physical media migration. The weirdest thing I remember about the early CD-ROM days was that everything was parallel distributed: there was a floppy version (10 disks!) that would be substantially media-cut-down, then a CD-ROM version. Because install bases don't grow overnight.

ghaff 6y ago

Yep. At the time, there was this huge allure to being able to hold basically an entire shelf of books and/or multimedia content on a small disk in your hand.