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sidewndr46
It's pretty common where I live when someone passes that all their belongings are just moved to the curb for collection. I picked up one of these sometime around 2015 off the curb. I took it apart for parts. I was confused why a CD player seemed to be so over engineered and over built. I eventually searched up the model number and realized it was the first one to reach the US market around 1983.
Kon5ole
How did the market support all these weird inventions that required so many unique, precise components?

CD's, LP's, 8-tracks, CRT's, minidisc, microcassettes, VHS, Jaz and Zip drives, laserdiscs. Needed lasers, magnet sensors, tiny motors, gears and whatnot.

Today everything seems to be a chip in a box and still it's often more expensive.

robotmay
I came across DCC (Digital Compact Cassettes) this month: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digital_Compact_Cassette. A digital cassette tape format with the players being backwards compatible with standard audio cassettes. Not massively surprising that I didn't remember them from the 90s, as they were about for roughly 4 years and lost to MiniDisc, which itself wasn't particularly successful. So many of the inventions of that era are a fascinating combination of mechanics and electronics.
fragmede
Tomtom's origin story is freaking amazing. Now, satnav is a free add on, supported by advertising.
TitaRusell
Built by tiny Asian hands- remember in the 1980s there were a lot of young people and various countries desperate for economic growth.
malgorithms
> Without sample-and-hold circuitry, this meant the stereo channels were approximately 11 μs out of sync.

Am I correct in assuming this wouldn't be perceivable on a stereo, based on the speed of sound?

gottheUIblues
Yes indeed, it's about the time sound takes to travel 4mm