4 ms·

That's such an interesting graphic. I got my first cd for christmas 1994 as a kid and I was kind of in the middle of adoption. Middle-class family in Germany.

by wink 6y ago

That's such an interesting graphic. I got my first cd for christmas 1994 as a kid and I was kind of in the middle of adoption. Middle-class family in Germany. Some friends of mine already had CD players, but not all. MCs were still everywhere, but I can't really comment on how much people actually spent. I simply can't believe that the 1990-92 numbers are true in an adoption sense, or maybe the revenue was just a lot better than for MCs, because I honestly don't know anyone who had a meaningful CD collection in 1990 already. And this is not because I was too young (see above, first CD in 94) but even my friends' parents didn't have CDs from the 80s, later in the 90s.

usrusr 6y ago
1990-92, kids didn't have CD players yet but the "Hi-Fi generation" that grew up alongside the rock and pop music industry were deep enough into their careers to have the disposable income for buying a CD player and an accompanying library of CD re-releases of the LPs they could not afford when they were young. Re-releases where huge in the transition period from LP to CD.
- saltcured 6y ago
  In California suburbs, I remember when the somewhat upper-middle-class teenager next door showed off his CD player in the early 80s, before he graduated high school. It was the first and most primitive one I ever saw. Within a few years, my parents had added one to their hifi system, as did most other families I knew. Well before I graduated high school in '92, I had added a 10-disc changer to my bedroom hifi, using my own odd job cash from paper routes, lawn mowing, etc. It was some kind of scratch/dent item I got from the local home electronics store, and I think it cost me less than my first walkman from the mid-80s. I might have only owned two dozen CDs by then, still having a lot more music on tapes. I can't remember for certain whether the "record clubs" that kids got into for vinyl LPs also existed for CDs, but I suspect they did.
pbhjpbhj 6y ago
It's US music industry sales data, so there's no reason to believe it applies _directly_ to Germany. Also that's revenue. I didn't check, but isn't Compact Disc an industry standard and registered trademark, that required payment? So, there would be revenue associated with hardware sales which would front load the figures?? That chart needs an overall revenue area, and an items sold overlay to make it really useful.
- wink 6y ago
  Sure, but these should usually be at least comparable in certain countries? I don't have any insight, I wouldn't have expected it to be 5+ years off. Maybe the US and Japan were indeed further ahead by a few years.
mixmastamyk 6y ago
I asked my well-off dad for a CD player for Xmas in the mid to late 80s. By 1990 I had around a hundred discs, many thanks to the CD club (via mail, Columbia House and BMG) which made them available at prices about $4-$6 a piece, though you had to buy 16-20 or so at a time.

by wink 6y ago

usrusr 6y ago

1990-92, kids didn't have CD players yet but the "Hi-Fi generation" that grew up alongside the rock and pop music industry were deep enough into their careers to have the disposable income for buying a CD player and an accompanying library of CD re-releases of the LPs they could not afford when they were young. Re-releases where huge in the transition period from LP to CD.

saltcured 6y ago
In California suburbs, I remember when the somewhat upper-middle-class teenager next door showed off his CD player in the early 80s, before he graduated high school. It was the first and most primitive one I ever saw. Within a few years, my parents had added one to their hifi system, as did most other families I knew. Well before I graduated high school in '92, I had added a 10-disc changer to my bedroom hifi, using my own odd job cash from paper routes, lawn mowing, etc. It was some kind of scratch/dent item I got from the local home electronics store, and I think it cost me less than my first walkman from the mid-80s. I might have only owned two dozen CDs by then, still having a lot more music on tapes. I can't remember for certain whether the "record clubs" that kids got into for vinyl LPs also existed for CDs, but I suspect they did.

pbhjpbhj 6y ago

It's US music industry sales data, so there's no reason to believe it applies _directly_ to Germany. Also that's revenue. I didn't check, but isn't Compact Disc an industry standard and registered trademark, that required payment? So, there would be revenue associated with hardware sales which would front load the figures?? That chart needs an overall revenue area, and an items sold overlay to make it really useful.

wink 6y ago
Sure, but these should usually be at least comparable in certain countries? I don't have any insight, I wouldn't have expected it to be 5+ years off. Maybe the US and Japan were indeed further ahead by a few years.

mixmastamyk 6y ago

I asked my well-off dad for a CD player for Xmas in the mid to late 80s. By 1990 I had around a hundred discs, many thanks to the CD club (via mail, Columbia House and BMG) which made them available at prices about $4-$6 a piece, though you had to buy 16-20 or so at a time.