CD RIP?

An interesting article I've had in my pile for a week: on the 25th anniversary of the CD. It's a great example of technological advance-- both in its invention and then being superseded by DVD's, MP3's and so on.

EINDHOVEN, Netherlands -- It was Aug. 17, 1982, and row upon row of palm-sized plates with a rainbow sheen began rolling off an assembly line near Hanover, Germany.

An engineering marvel at the time, today they are instantly recognizable as compact discs, a product that turned 25 years old this month -- and whose future is increasingly in doubt in an age of iPods and digital downloads...

By 1986, CD players were outselling record players, and by 1988 the CDs were outselling vinyl records.

Now, the CD may be seeing the end of its days. CD sales have fallen sharply in recent years. In 2006, there were 553 million sold in the United States, a 22 percent drop from its 2001 peak of 712 million, according to Nielsen SoundScan.