Yes, the CD may be on its way out and audio cassettes may be a thing unheard of in affluent parlors in a few years from now.
However, even audio cassettes are profoundly useful to blind students studying in Indian languages. This, I have personally witnessed here and we are running a huge audio library and recording centre for marathi/hindi study and other books. The affordability and the ease of creation do not go always hand in hand with all new inventions. Besides, I do have fond memories to cherish of audio cassettes, the people who put in their valuable time and efforts without a murmur in lending their voice to the matter I studied for all these years. I am by no means opposing progress, but e text and other recordings on MP3 etc. do not have the affordability and above all, ease of creation for an ordinary blind person. Not at least, for now. Rajesh ----- Original Message ----- From: "Rajesh Asudani" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <[email protected]> Sent: Friday, August 17, 2007 11:26 AM Subject: [AI] The CD is 25 today > The CD is 25 today > > - Photo: AP > > Pieter Kramer with a model of the CD player introduced in August 1982. > > EINDHOVEN: It was August 17, 1982, and row upon row of palm-sized plates > with a rainbow sheen began rolling off an assembly line near Hannover, > Germany. > > > An engineering marvel at the time, today they are instantly recognisable > as Compact Discs, a product that turns 25 years old on Friday - and whose > future > in an age of iPods and MP3 players is increasingly in doubt. > > Those first CDs contained Strauss' Alpine Symphony and would sound equally > sharp if played today, says Holland's Royal Philips Electronics, which > jointly > developed the CD with Sony of Japan. > > The project that brought digital audio to the masses was a risky technical > endeavour back then, said Pieter Kramer, the head of the optical research > group > at Philips' labs in the Netherlands in the 1970s. "When we started there > was nothing in place," he said at Philips' corporate museum here. > > The proposed semiconductor chips needed for CD players were to be the most > advanced ever used in a consumer product. And the lasers were still on the > drawing > board when the companies teamed up in 1979. > > In 1980, they published the "Red Book" containing the original CD > standards, as well as specifying which patents were held by Philips and > which by Sony. > Philips had developed the bulk of the disc and laser technology, while > Sony contributed the digital encoding that allowed for smooth, error-free > playback. > Philips still licenses out the Red Book and its later incarnations, > notably for the CD-ROM. > > The jump into mass production in Germany was a milestone for the CD, and > two weeks later the companies announced their product was ready for > market. Both > began selling players that year. > > Sony sold the first player in Japan on October 1, with CBS supplying Billy > Joel's "52nd Street" as its first album. > > The CD's design drew inspiration from vinyl records: like the grooves on a > record, CDs are engraved with a spiral of tiny pits that are scanned by a > laser > - the equivalent of a record player's needle. The reflected light is > encoded into millions of 0s and 1s: a digital file. Because the pits are > covered with > plastic and the laser's light does not wear them down, it never loses > sound quality. > > Legends abound about how the size of the CD was chosen: some said it > matched a Dutch beer coaster; others that a famous conductor or Sony > executive wanted > it just long enough for Beethoven's 9th Symphony. > > But Mr. Kramer said the decision evolved from "long conversations around > the table" about which play length made the most sense. > > By 1986, CD players were outselling record players, and by 1988 CDs > outsold records. "It was a massive turnaround for the whole market," Mr. > Covers said. > > > Now, the CD may be seeing the end of its days. "The MP3 and all the little > things that the boys and girls have in their pockets... can replace it, > absolutely," > said Mr. Kramer. - AP > To unsubscribe send a message to [EMAIL PROTECTED] > with the subject unsubscribe. > > To change your subscription to digest mode or make any other changes, > please visit the list home page at > http://accessindia.org.in/mailman/listinfo/accessindia_accessindia.org.in To unsubscribe send a message to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with the subject unsubscribe. To change your subscription to digest mode or make any other changes, please visit the list home page at http://accessindia.org.in/mailman/listinfo/accessindia_accessindia.org.in
