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Surfing on the tidal wave of demand, more than 45 companies, most of them Japanese, have begun producing CD players. The first devices were designed for use at home, but now disk devotees can take their music wherever they go. At least half a dozen companies currently produce automobile CD systems, which can endure nearly any pothole without a skip. Sony, among others, has produced the inevitable boom-box version (price: $550) that one reviewer described as having "enough rock-'n'- roll power to digitize everyone on the bus." Sony has even introduced a CD jukebox ($3,560), sold only in Japan, that carries as many as 120 disks, or 1,800 tunes.
Perhaps the hottest seller of all is Sony's Walkman-style model, which measures only 5 in. across and 1 1/2 in. thick. It lists for $300, but discount stores are now selling it for as little as $250. The rival Technics brand has an even smaller model that grabbed the limelight earlier this month at the annual Consumer Electronics Show in Chicago. "The reaction has exceeded our wildest expectations," says Richard Del Guidice, a Technics product manager. "We are only limited by how much our factories can produce."
Today's CD machine is the result of a technological race among electronics firms to develop a laser-based music system. It was won in 1978 by two companies working together, Sony of Japan and Philips of the Netherlands (U.S. brands: Magnavox, Sylvania). Philips originally designed a 60-min. disk, but Sony convinced its ally that the current 75-min. version would be better. Recalls Sony Chairman Akio Morita: "The reason was so that we could put Beethoven's Ninth Symphony on one record. The Ninth has a special significance in Japan because we traditionally play it over and over at year end."
For audio retailers, the CD is one of those dream items that deliver their own sales pitch. The sound, of course, is the first grabber. "It will knock you out," says Larry Canale, an editor of Digital Audio magazine. "I love watching the looks on the faces of people who haven't heard one before." CDs produce none of the surface noise, the hissing and clicking sounds, found on tapes and records. They have no wow and flutter, the trembly changes in pitch that are caused by the mechanisms of turntables and tape decks.
Best of all, since the laser is basic to all CD players, even the lowest- priced device produces the same near perfect sound as the top-end models. Costlier units are loaded with special features that let users determine which songs or tracks they want to hear and in what order. Some systems have remote controls for programming from across the room.