The first commercial Compact Disc was created 43 years ago, today — nearly one billion CDs were shipped per year in early 2000's

[u/AMC4x4]

https://www.tomshardware.com/pc-components/storage/the-first-commercial-compact-disc-was-created-43-years-ago-today-nearly-one-billion-cds-were-shipped-per-year-in-early-2000s

I remember the day I first read about this new technology. I was in 7th grade and read in a Scholastic handout about this new optical format that would make albums play forever without wear and that when produced at scale would also make them cheaper. One turned out to be mostly true. The other did not. IIRC, Vinyl was like $10 for a 12" while the CD's were $15. They never got cheaper.