For humans, 30 isn't too old — not even middle age these days; but for technology, any age measured in decades denotes something downright ancient. Enter the CD, first demonstrated on March 8, 1979.
To date, over 3.5 billion audio CD players have been sold along with 240 billion Compact Discs. Sales are in steep decline, however, as the age of physical delivery systems for music ends, with the MP3 now king.
The CD hasn't nearly the passionate fanbase of Vinyl records or even cassettes, and probably never will, but many music fans, when blowing out the candles on the CD, will continue to lament the demise of cover art and the idea of the album as a cohesive artistic statement.
This article appears in Mar 4-10, 2009.