1978 in Hi-Fi

On May 17, 1978, Philips made the first public announcement of a new digital audio disc format — the earliest public glimpse of what would eventually become the Compact Disc. At the time it was little more than a demonstration and a promise; the format wouldn't reach store shelves for another four years, and the underlying technical standard hadn't even been finalized yet. Still, 1978 marks the moment digital audio stopped being purely a laboratory curiosity and became something the public and the rest of the industry knew was coming.

None of that registered yet in the advertising of the day, which continued to sell the analog present rather than the digital future: component receivers, turntables, and increasingly capable cassette decks remained the products buyers were actually choosing between in 1978.