What was your first CD?

[Michael Smith]

I don't remember when I got my first CD player, but it was a Yamaha CDX-530 (I still have it and use it), but for some reason the first CD I bought was Stanley Clarke's "If this bass could talk". I don't know why I selected that CD, because I'm not really a jazz guy, but when I first played it, it was such a revelation how good audio could sound. There were probably not that many CDs for sale back then. Soon thereafter I started buying a lot of CDs, including all of the Led Zeppelin catalog except for "physical graffiti" since I already had the vinyl

I've since ripped most or all of my CDs into the computer and normally listen to them in that format.

[phantomman]

Bon Jovi, "Slippery When Wet". Around the spring of 1987.

[Michael Smith]

I just looked up in my musical instrument receipts on my computer. My Yamaha CD player was $335 in March, 1990. I guess I was a late adopter, lol.

[S. Cane]

My first CD… I had to squeeze my mind to remember. IIRC it was GnR’s Appetite, in ‘91 or ‘92. I was young.

Never got to own many, I was a cassette tape guy

[Michael Smith]

In the past couple of years, I have scanned all of my musical equipment receipts into my computer, that I could find, starting with my first "real" stereo system purchased in New Orleans in 1978. The Pioneer receiver still works and my wife uses it for her TV sound system.

[ch willie]

1992. Ram by Paul and Linda McCartney. I was into vinyl but had sold all my gear except for a cheap cassette player. Poor graduate student. It was a thrill to hear the CD and its clarity. I still like CDs but still have a vinyl collection. Cassettes? Never again. The occasional de-spooling and chewing by even my Harmon-Karden was enough for me to swear off of them forever.

[Michael Smith]

1992. Ram by Paul and Linda McCartney. I was into vinyl but had sold all my gear except for a cheap cassette player. Poor graduate student. It was a thrill to hear the CD and its clarity. I still like CDs but still have a vinyl collection. Cassettes? Never again. The occasional de-spooling and chewing by even my Harmon-Karden was enough for me to swear off of them forever.

I have Ram on vinyl. I also have it on CD with some bonus tracks. I only bought a few cassettes.

[ch willie]

I have Ram on vinyl. I also have it on CD with some bonus tracks. I only bought a few cassettes.

I still have my first vinyl copy that I got in 1975. I've been a huge fan for a long time, and that album and Band on the Run are tied for my favorite McCartney studio albums. I got the Archive Deluxe box versions of the ones McCartney has released, including Ram and Band on the Run. My record and cd collection of The Beatles and their solo works is monstrous.

[OldStrummer]

Wow, I have a bit of story here.

My daughter was born in 1982. Like others, I was a cassette guy, but my daughter (with the help of her mom, of course) gave me my first CD player as a birthday present. It was a combination clock-radio-CD player, and I mostly used it as the clock and radio. Then, around 1991, my daughter was a participant in her elementary school's Christmas pageant (it was a Catholic school). Naturally, I had to attend. During the scene changes I noticed some very soft, mellow instrumental music being played over the PA. It was so subtle it could have given Muzak a run for its money.

Intrigued, after the show I found the music director and asked her what music she was playing during the intermissions. She told me it was a Christmas CD called An Airus Christmas. I thought I'd see about getting a copy.

This was a shot in the dark. The creator of the CD was someone I'd never heard of before, Kurt Bestor. No music shop I knew carried it, much less had even heard of it. But, you may recall, right about this time there was a new technology being developed and released (I worked for one of the companies involved) called "The Internet."

So, using a command-line interface via file transfer protocol (FTP) I did some searching, and lo and behold, I found an online company selling a copy. A few dropped connections and retries later, I managed to order the CD. This was not only my first CD, but also my first online purchase!

I still have the CD. Its copyright date is 1988. It won't win any music awards, but I still find it perfect background music around the holiday times. It's unobtrusive, but the tunes are all recognizable -- if one cares to pay attention to them!

(After the Internet grew into wider acceptance, I made a web site -- still running since 1996 -- and published links and reviews that garnered a lot of attention, and I had musicians, including several Grammy winners, send me free copies of their CDs to listen to and review. I now have over 300 CDs in a cabinet that I rarely listen to, but at times...)

[Bill Moore]

I still have our original Pioneer 6 disc changer I bought in the early 80's, I think Van Halen was our first disc. Very little access at the time in our little town, but went to Houston for the company and came back with $100 worth of music!
The player still works fine, but loading and unloading the cartridge takes time, fortunately the DVD player works fine for a quick single play.

[Michael Smith]

Old Strummer, that's quite a story about acquiring your first CD. The CD is still available on E-bay (but kind of pricey). He also put out a volume 2 in 1992.

[OldStrummer]

Old Strummer, that's quite a story about acquiring your first CD. The CD is still available on E-bay (but kind of pricey). He also put out a volume 2 in 1992.

I actually bought two more Kurt Bestor CDs, but never knew he did a Volume 2 of his Christmas album.

[blackonblack]

My 1st CD was to replace countless LPs and Tapes of the same item.
Pink Floyd DSOTM

I still haven’t converted from CDs to online only. Running about 3k CDs. Use to have a good portion of them ripped to a FLAC based system but that server died. The head unit is no longer supported. (Slim Devices). Haven’t found a suitable solution to “stream” from my own server anywhere in a lossless format.

[blackonblack]

So yes I’m a snob, while the rest of the world was going 10x less than CD with mp3, I was going 10x more with SACD and DVDA.
yes I do have a portion of my previous FLAC files converted to mp3 and on a classic 160 gb iPod for the vehicles. Not sure if that’s even large enough. My FLAC server was sitting just a bit above half a TB, and that was before getting hundreds of more CDs.

[jrgtr42]

The first CD I got was either Billy Joel's Storm Front or Edie Brikell & The New Bohemian's Shooting Rubberbands at the Stars. I have no idea why my parents thought I'd like either one of them - they were birthday presents in whatever year it was. Late 80s.
The first I got of my own volition was Gun N Roses Lies, then a bunch more bought by my parents. The First I got with my own money was GNR's Use Your Illusions, 1 & 2.
Currently I have hundreds of them - I still like having a physical representation of the music - haven't gone streaming only. I do save most of them down to my Ipod, for running, use in the car and so on.
I also haven;t gotten into the whole vinyl thing, though I do have a bunch of albums, but not a working record player (I should look into getting a new needle / cartridge for the one I have. )

[gibsonjunkie]

I still have our original Pioneer 6 disc changer I bought in the early 80's, I think Van Halen was our first disc. Very little access at the time in our little town, but went to Houston for the company and came back with $100 worth of music!
The player still works fine, but loading and unloading the cartridge takes time, fortunately the DVD player works fine for a quick single play.

I had a Pioneer 6 disk changer in my car - still have spare cartridges sitting around somewhere.

[Bill Moore]

I have a Pioneer changer in our van, but it's 10 disc.
I installed a new stereo a year or so ago that has a CD, but also a USB and Bluetooth connection to my phone, all the music we could ever want!

[Michael Smith]

My car (2014 Subaru Forester Touring Edition) has a CD player built into the audio/navigation system, but I don't think I have ever used it. The car also has a 1/8" auxiliary input jack in the storage compartment under the center arm rest that can be connected to the 1/8" jack on a phone, and of course bluetooth. I normally use bluetooth, I should probably do a comparison of the audio quality of the auxiliary input vs. bluetooth. Most of the time, however I am listening to AM talk radio when in the car. Kind of a waste for a high end Harman-Kardon system with speakers all over the place, lol.

[Laker]

I honestly can’t remember if this was my first CD but it was the first my band recorded and that’s probably why it stands out in my memory. I was real big on cassettes and had a Nakamichi deck (still use it) that produced tapes that were so good people thought they were listening to a CD.

Now days, I have loaded most of my CDs into the PC and copied them to thumb-drives that are plugged into the usb ports in the cars and the bike.

[gibsonjunkie]

I can't remember my first - I think maybe Graham Nash's "Songs for Beginners" which was also teh first LP I ever bought. I still prefer to buy CDs since artists get a bit more $$$ than downloading, but then rip them onto my iPhone and use a Bluetooth connection in the car and 1/8" plug in the truck. The audio sucks in the Mustang, so I'm not worried that much about sound quality.

[Offshore Angler]

Buying or recording? :)

[cka73]

"Every Mother's Nightmare" It was around 90 or 91. They did a cover of The Charlie Daniels Band's "Long Haired Country boy" that got a little run back then. My second purchase was the big Led Zepplin Box set though. Wore those out!