Development of the CD

The development of the computer CD roughly paralleled the audio (music) CD:

In 1979, the CD, as a storage medium, was introduced in the audio industry.
In 1985, the CD came to the computer industry. Development was slow because the hardware was too expensive for most manufacturers and users.
In 1991, the CD-ROM/XA standard was enhanced, and multimedia requirements for hardware were specified.
In 1993, high-quality video playback came to the computer.
Today, the price of CD-ROM drives continues to drop, while their speed climbs. Approximately 85 percent of all computers include an internal CD-ROM drive as standard equipment. Most software packages are shipped in CD-ROM versions (3.5-inch disk versions are available but usually only by special order, and often they do not contain all the extras of the CD version).