Say Happy 25th Birthday to the Compact Disc

INDHOVEN, 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 turns 25 years old on Friday — and whose future is increasingly in doubt in an age of iPods and digital downloads.

Those first CDs contained Richard Strauss' Alpine Symphony and would sound equally sharp if played today, says Holland's Royal Philips Electronics NV (PHG), which jointly developed the CD with Sony Corp. (SNE) of Japan.

Read more of this story on FOX News.

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