PC History: CD-ROM

In the innocent days of the early 90s the future of personal computing still seemed to be wide open. To many, the internet and especially the World Wide Web didn’t seem to be of any major significance yet. The the Hot New Thing in the world of PCs was multimedia. CD-ROM was introductroduced in 1985, and became cheap enough for many in the early 90s. In 1994, multimedia discs—from encyclopedias to magazines—flooded the market, before they World Wide Web took over. Philips and Sony created a recordable CD called the CD-R in 1991. The CD-ROM was then followed with DVD and Blue ray disks.

How The CD-ROM Lost The Multimedia Dream To The Internet
https://hackaday.com/2024/06/24/how-the-cd-rom-lost-the-multimedia-dream-to-the-internet/

The short, happy reign of CD-ROM
https://www.fastcompany.com/91128052/history-of-cd-roms-encarta-myst
In 1994, multimedia discs—from encyclopedias to magazines—flooded the market, and felt like the future. It was fun while it lasted. In terms of pure mindshare, 1994 might have been the year of Peak CD, with 17.5 million CD-ROM drives and $590 million in discs sold, according to research firms Dataquest and Link Resources.

Videos:
How does a CD work? (AKIO TV)
How a CD ROM Works Animation

DVD+R and DVD-R; What was that about?

CD-R
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CD-R

The end of an era has been reached now…
The general trend shows a decrease in demand for optical discs. Optical disk drives (ODD) have long ceased to be an important component of desktop computers and laptops, and users are increasingly choosing external hard drives, SSDs, memory cards, flash drives, network storage (NAS) and cloud services for data backup.

Sony Shuts Down Production Of Recordable CD-R, DVD-R And BD-R Discs
https://menafn.com/1108395600/Sony-Shuts-Down-Production-Of-Recordable-CD-R-DVD-R-And-BD-R-Discs?fbclid=IwZXh0bgNhZW0CMTEAAR3Janr8AiEsv4b5nFC_axFAaa50FLyWCI20t0GxNb_AIrWXHNvhY8-N4GU_aem_WWApsB78cwXeu9rbkPB8Tw
Sony has announced the reduction of 250 jobs at its optical disc manufacturing plant in Tagaze, Japan, as part of an initiative to completely phase out the production of recordable optical media. All because of the decrease in demand for these products – consumers prefer other media, Azernews reports. Sony will gradually cease production of media on optical discs, including Blu-ray discs, at its plant in northeastern Japan.