Choose wisely! The correct answer, the explanation, and an intriguing story await.
Back in 1991, at the National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) Convention in Las Vegas, the first commercial audio CD recorder was unveiled to the world by Japanese electronics maker Denon. Known as the DN-770R, this pro-grade Compact Disc recorder was initially targeted towards radio stations and audio production facilities. It allowed them to master demo discs, archive broadcasts, and distribute pre-recorded content more efficiently than analog tape.
Despite its groundbreaking nature, the Denon DN-770R came with a hefty price tag of $20,000 and required around $100,000 worth of additional equipment to function properly. Blank CDs were also expensive, selling for $35 to $40 each and could only be recorded once, making them a costly and inflexible medium compared to cassette tapes.
However, the introduction of CD recording technology marked a significant moment in digital audio history. Prior to this innovation, compact discs were strictly read-only, used for music distribution. The ability to record on CDs opened up new possibilities for content creation and data storage.
Although CD recorders initially remained out of reach for most consumers, the landscape began to change rapidly. By 1995, Hewlett-Packard introduced one of the first consumer-market CD-R drives, the HP SureStore 4020i, priced at $995. This marked a turning point in making CD recording accessible to small businesses, hobbyists, and eventually the mass market.
This shift democratized CD recording, leading to a surge in home media production during the late 1990s and early 2000s. Users were now able to create custom music CDs, back up data, and share multimedia content without the need for professional studio equipment.
As the price of CD-R drives and blank media continued to decline, CDs became an integral part of personal computing and digital media. While they were eventually overtaken by DVD, flash storage, and cloud-based solutions, the legacy of CD recording technology lives on in its impact on the evolution of digital content creation.
