Compact Disc Logo PNG
Compact Disc is an optical-disc for record and storage of any data, created by Philips and Sony in 1982. Today there are various options and types of compact discs available, but the standard one is able to keep up to 700 MB of data, which is equal to 80 mins of sound records.
Meaning and history
The history of the compact disk, or CD, dates back to the second half of the last century. The phonograph created by Thomas Edison in 1877 can be considered the distant ancestor of this digital medium. The phonograph was replaced by the gramophone, followed by the gramophone (portable gramophone). Next were the tape recorder and the video player (VHS). These devices allowed playing vinyl records and cassettes on magnetic tapes, but they had one disadvantage, the amount of information that could be placed on such media was severely limited.
The question of creating a new medium became as acute as possible in the 1970s, just then the German company Philips began active development in the field of data recording on portable media.
Only nine years later, in 1979 Philips presented the prototype of the modern CD with a polycarbonate base. The first disk was 0.5 centimeters smaller in diameter and held about 600 megabytes of information. In the same year, a test batch of disks containing Richard Strauss’s Alpine Symphony performed by the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra under Herbert von Karajan was printed.
In 1981, a public demonstration of the new format took place on the BBC’s Tomorrow’s World program. The Bee Gees’ album “Living Eyes” was played on the air. And already on August 17, 1982, in the German town of Langenhagen (near Hannover) the first commercial CDs went on sale. The first album from the world of popular music to be released on CD was “The Visitors” by ABBA. The first classical music CD contained the waltzes of Frederic Chopin performed by Chilean pianist Claudio Arrau. CDs appeared on the shelves of commercial music stores a little later, on October 1, 1982. This happened in Japan.
In the same year 1982, the Japanese company Sony and the Dutch company Philips launched the first CD players on the market at a price of about 1200 euros, which at the time was unaffordable for many people. Over the years, CD players and CDs themselves became more affordable, and music lovers began to swap their vinyl collections for CDs.
By the way, the name for the new medium was chosen by Phillips management – “Compact Disc” (similar to “Compact Cassette”). Other variants were “MiniDisc”, “Mini Rack” and “Compact Rack”.
1982 – Today
The iconic Compact Disc logo is known all over the world. It’s black and white wordmark is modern, stylish and unique.
Written in two completely different styles, the nameplate looks balanced and harmonized. The bold black “Compact” inscription is written in all-caps of the custom sans-serif typeface with sharp angles and slightly arched horizontal bars of the letters “C”.
Located above the “Disk” wordmark, the first “C” is placed right above the “I”, replacing its dot.
The “Disk” part, which is the biggest lettering of the logo, boasts white thick shapes with a black outline. They look smooth and sleek, evoking a sense of futuristic and innovative approach.
The black and white color palette of the logo makes it look great on any placement and with any additions.
