One of the cool/obscure things is that the center hole exactly matches a then available coin because it made the development and testing easier.
acomjean•Feb 27, 2026
I remember seeing my friends dad’s first cd player. Huge jazz fan and it did sound great. Especially the quiet parts (No tape hiss or record pops) and easy to use. He bought a couple of cds of rock and man they sounded good.
Every other media at the time required some maintenance to sound good. Records would scratch, those tape pinch rollers would need to be cleaned. Nothing was easy, cds were (skip forward with a button push). Cassettes still were the only way to record, better for portability and sounded pretty good (we did some a:b testing cd vs cassette as kids).
Late 80s, cds were everywhere. I stopped buying records. At my highschool radio station someone got a ton of great records from his neighbor who was replacing with cds.
My friends dad who liked jazz did lament that a lot of the jazz he had in record form would never be re-released as cds. Not digital so a lot of music lost to time and a format change.
WillAdams•Feb 27, 2026
Early CDs were labeled as to the processes used, a 3 letter code As and Ds, so:
AAD == Analog recording, Analog mastering, Digital media
ADD == Analog recording, Digitally re-mastered, Digital Media
DDD == Digital recording, Digitally re-mastered, Digital Media
Your dad's friends should have imported from Japan --- they were big on Jazz, and a lot of my Jazz CDs have spines labeled in Japanese on one side and English on the other.
Projectiboga•Feb 27, 2026
Late 80s or early 90s there was also a DAD type, which often sounded really good.
From that Wiki link-
In practice, DAD was very rare, as many companies (especially the well-known classical music labels) used digital tape recorders (which were not prohibitively more expensive than analog tape recorders) during the editing or mixing stage.
WillAdams•Feb 27, 2026
I don't know if I have such a CD --- do you have an example which is noted as sound markedly better than other editions? (I'd especially be interested in a DAD disc which sounds better than an updated DDD disc)
BoingBoomTschak•Feb 27, 2026
Why did you write "re-mastered" instead of simply "mastered" for ADD/DDD?
WillAdams•Feb 27, 2026
Because most of my CDs are older and had previously been released as pure analog, so that's how I think of them, and that's where my experience is --- fair point though, putting parentheses around (re-) would have been better.
steve1977•Feb 27, 2026
Close, but not quite.
The first letter was the recorder used for initial recording, say a Studer A800 as an example of an analog multitrack or DASH as an example of a digital one).
The second letter was the recorder for the mixdown, i.e. usually some 2-channel system like an analog ATR-102 or Studer A80 or a digital DAT.
The third letter was the recorder for the master, which for CD by definition was always digital. In the early days usually a Sony U-matic, which funnily enough was an analog video tape format which got reused for digital audio (and is the reason for the odd 44.1 kHz sampling rate of the CD).
Edit:
The code was actually always considered a bit meaningless.
For example, you could record on a digital DASH, but mix on an analog SSL console and print the mix to a digital recorder. That would have been a DDD CD.
On the other hand, you could record on an analog A820, mix on a digital Studer desk, print the mix on an analog A80 and that would have been a AAD CD.
So, two codes indicating "pure" digital or "pure" analog, even though both processes used both technologies.
Or record on a ADAT and mix on a Yamaha 02/R, which would have been DDD but probably sounded worse than the AAD recorded on a Studer analog tape ;)
dylan604•Feb 27, 2026
> Sony U-matic
3/4" tape and was the only tape format that had the take up reel on the left.
jcynix•Feb 27, 2026
> At my highschool radio station someone got a ton of great records from his neighbor who was replacing with cds.
History repeats itself: right now you can now buy loads of CDs for cheap on eBay.
werdnapk•Feb 27, 2026
For a thorough breakdown of everything CDs, here's Technology Connections playlist on the subject:
I was one of the bozos believing that the dimensions of the CD had to do with Beethoven 9th symphony. :(
Yes I did went and paired up a CD with a cassette this morning OMG!!! Is true.
I could not afford the $300.00 USD Sony Portable CD but I friend of mine did.
First CD he let me listen to: Genesis "Genesis"
First DDD CD: Peter Gabriel "Security"
That last one probably the most influential music in my upbringing.
Funny though, I have hundred of CDs but I don't have those two.
I guess I have to go back to my friends house to listen to them.
Projectiboga•Feb 27, 2026
I heard Bob Weir on a Desert Island Discs broadcast with the Dead. He said the song Shock the Monkey was the song that got him willing to start using MIDI and digital tech, which the rest of the group had already embraced. Hearing how one artist I loved pulled another artist into a new direction really clicked for me as a music lover. I can't figure how to search their archive or whether it was an American copy with a slightly different title like desert island albums or songs. https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b006qnmr/episodes/player
mixmastamyk•Feb 27, 2026
> First DDD CD:
I remember listening to Donald Fagan’s Nightfly. Still sounds fantastic, though to nitpick perhaps a tad harsh. Amazing thought to have recorded that at approximately the same time as the debut of the primitive original IBM PC.
I wonder if The Nightfly has now been ruined with dynamic compression (AKA "remastered") like everything else over the last couple decades.
My CD player came with Brothers in Arms by Dire Straits, as a demo of dynamic range. That album (a digital recording) has, shamefully, been "remastered" and dynamically compressed.
mixmastamyk•Feb 27, 2026
My uncle had the vinyl, and I got the CD a couple of years later. I see it has "manufactured by Columbia House" on the back. ;-) No loudness war back then, but the treble is brighter than most recordings of the time, leading to a potential tweaking of the knob for the album.
VerifiedReports•Feb 27, 2026
Similar story! The first disc (and song) I heard was "Let's Dance," David Bowie.
I have hundreds of discs, but only have Let's Dance on vinyl.
I also have the second pop digital recording ever, The Nightly by Donald Fagen, only on vinyl. I use it to show people how good records can sound.
I'm glad I bought and kept so much music when I did, because now the labels have destroyed everything with dynamic (not data) compression. It's disgusting. Now that everyone has dirt-cheap access to pristine recording & playback technology, music sounds like absolute shit because some suits thought it needed to sound "louder."
It's possibly one of the biggest but least-understood crimes against art in all of history.
jeffreygoesto•Feb 27, 2026
A Philips engineer visited our chair end of the 90s and told the same about the size "the cassette could be handled with one hand, let's keep that". He also told us they designed their delicate test equipment so that it would fit on a 1st class seat but not 2nd, so when they had to sit next to it during the flight (much too sensitive stuff to check in), management had to book them 1st class flights to Japan. ;)
6 Comments
https://publications.rwth-aachen.de/record/95066
Every other media at the time required some maintenance to sound good. Records would scratch, those tape pinch rollers would need to be cleaned. Nothing was easy, cds were (skip forward with a button push). Cassettes still were the only way to record, better for portability and sounded pretty good (we did some a:b testing cd vs cassette as kids).
Late 80s, cds were everywhere. I stopped buying records. At my highschool radio station someone got a ton of great records from his neighbor who was replacing with cds.
My friends dad who liked jazz did lament that a lot of the jazz he had in record form would never be re-released as cds. Not digital so a lot of music lost to time and a format change.
AAD == Analog recording, Analog mastering, Digital media
ADD == Analog recording, Digitally re-mastered, Digital Media
DDD == Digital recording, Digitally re-mastered, Digital Media
This is known as a SPARS Code: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SPARS_code
Your dad's friends should have imported from Japan --- they were big on Jazz, and a lot of my Jazz CDs have spines labeled in Japanese on one side and English on the other.
From that Wiki link-
In practice, DAD was very rare, as many companies (especially the well-known classical music labels) used digital tape recorders (which were not prohibitively more expensive than analog tape recorders) during the editing or mixing stage.
The first letter was the recorder used for initial recording, say a Studer A800 as an example of an analog multitrack or DASH as an example of a digital one).
The second letter was the recorder for the mixdown, i.e. usually some 2-channel system like an analog ATR-102 or Studer A80 or a digital DAT.
The third letter was the recorder for the master, which for CD by definition was always digital. In the early days usually a Sony U-matic, which funnily enough was an analog video tape format which got reused for digital audio (and is the reason for the odd 44.1 kHz sampling rate of the CD).
Edit:
The code was actually always considered a bit meaningless.
For example, you could record on a digital DASH, but mix on an analog SSL console and print the mix to a digital recorder. That would have been a DDD CD.
On the other hand, you could record on an analog A820, mix on a digital Studer desk, print the mix on an analog A80 and that would have been a AAD CD.
So, two codes indicating "pure" digital or "pure" analog, even though both processes used both technologies.
Or record on a ADAT and mix on a Yamaha 02/R, which would have been DDD but probably sounded worse than the AAD recorded on a Studer analog tape ;)
3/4" tape and was the only tape format that had the take up reel on the left.
History repeats itself: right now you can now buy loads of CDs for cheap on eBay.
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLv0jwu7G_DFWBEyCKt4tK...
Yes I did went and paired up a CD with a cassette this morning OMG!!! Is true.
I could not afford the $300.00 USD Sony Portable CD but I friend of mine did.
First CD he let me listen to: Genesis "Genesis"
First DDD CD: Peter Gabriel "Security"
That last one probably the most influential music in my upbringing.
Funny though, I have hundred of CDs but I don't have those two.
I guess I have to go back to my friends house to listen to them.
I remember listening to Donald Fagan’s Nightfly. Still sounds fantastic, though to nitpick perhaps a tad harsh. Amazing thought to have recorded that at approximately the same time as the debut of the primitive original IBM PC.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Nightfly
I wonder if The Nightfly has now been ruined with dynamic compression (AKA "remastered") like everything else over the last couple decades.
My CD player came with Brothers in Arms by Dire Straits, as a demo of dynamic range. That album (a digital recording) has, shamefully, been "remastered" and dynamically compressed.
I have hundreds of discs, but only have Let's Dance on vinyl.
I also have the second pop digital recording ever, The Nightly by Donald Fagen, only on vinyl. I use it to show people how good records can sound.
I'm glad I bought and kept so much music when I did, because now the labels have destroyed everything with dynamic (not data) compression. It's disgusting. Now that everyone has dirt-cheap access to pristine recording & playback technology, music sounds like absolute shit because some suits thought it needed to sound "louder."
It's possibly one of the biggest but least-understood crimes against art in all of history.
https://web.archive.org/web/20180208182825/https://www.resea...
WTH.