On October 1, 1982, Sony, Philips, and Polygram revolutionized the music industry by jointly developing and releasing the world’s first CD player, the Sony CDP-101. It was this date that became the reason for the annual celebration of the CD Player Day.

Using laser technology, the developers created a new recording format, a significant achievement of which was improved sound quality, reduced media size, and increased memory capacity. And the unique difference from LPs and cassettes – the ability to listen to records without turning over the disc, caused a frenzy among music connoisseurs.

At first, only residents of Japan could purchase the new product. But not everyone could afford it, because its cost reached 168,000 yen (about 2,000 dollars).

Due to the fact that the Philips company was unable to launch the production of CDs at the scheduled time, music lovers from other countries had the opportunity to become owners of the invention only in March 1983.

Despite the high cost, the new product became extremely popular and instantly captured the consumer market. In the US alone, 400,000 CD players were purchased within two years of its release.