In the late 1990s, the record industry in North America and England used the compact disc format as its primary medium for the distribution of audio, with cassettes and vinyl records occupying minority roles. The CD contained audio data read by a laser as the disc span incredibly rapidly around an axis. The CD allowed for an incredibly clean and refined sound. It was smaller and more portable than a record, and better sounding than a cassette. It is also did not require turning over from one side to another like either medium, and could play for longer. The CD was the evolved, streamlined form of the record, yet not so different from it. From the time of the phonograph, which was the original ancestor of the compact disc, to the incarnation as CD, recorded music existed as a hot medium. Users were immersed in sound. McLuhan referred to the phonograph as a “Music Hall without walls” (McLuhan, 283); the same applies to the CD. Hot mediums such as the phonograph require little to no input from the user.
Below is a user created youtube video on the history of the CD:
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