CD Digipack

The history of music recording

  • 1877, phonograph invented by Thomas Edison. 
  • 1887, phonograph reinvented and commercially sold using wax cylinders.
  • Gramophone invented 2 months after, using flat disks instead. 
  • 1928, records were incredibly thick and brittle.
  • 1963, Phillips invented cassette tape, became one of the most used ways to listen to prerecorded music from 1970 - 2000s. Contained two miniature spools, where magnetically coated polyester plastic film was passed and wound. 
  • 1979, Sony release Sony Walkman.
  • 1981, CD invented when Sony and Phillips collaborate.
  • 1984, CD walkman released.
  • 1988, Moving Pictures Expert Group (MPEG) was the average format for audio/video compression and transmission. MPEG-1 video CDs, MPEG-2 DVDs, MPEG-3 (MP3) audio compression codec of choice for music (1989), MPEG-4 standard for multimedia online.
  • 2001, iPod released.
  • 2003, iTunes released.
  • 2005, Youtube launched quickly becoming to most visited music platform.
  • 2008, Spotify launched - one of many music streaming apps (like Deezer and Napster which had come before it). 

Initial research - Codes and conventions of CD covers

From being given the task to analyse four CD covers and write down common codes and conventions, we looked at Paolo Nutini's These Streets, The Bible's eponymous album, The Staple Singers' Somebody Saved Me and Everything But the Girl's Eden.


These were the reoccurring features found from each CD;

Front cover:
- Name of artist/band and album - both in the same font and easily readable.
- The artist/band's name is usually bigger than the album name, although this isn't always the format as 'Eden' shows.
- Usually has an image of the artist/band or some photography/artwork which shows the atmosphere of the album.

Back cover:
- Tracklist.
- The same or similar colour palette and imagery as seen on the front of the pack.
- 'Legalese' text in small print, often found at the bottom or side.
- Record label logo (sometimes).
- Barcode.
- On more modern albums, social media details and accounts for fans to find more content of the artist/band. 

Inside front/back cover:
-  Usually an imagery and colour palette theme continuation, but there are no set rules.
- Sometimes there is a circular image underneath the disc tray - credits and other imagery could also be hidden here. 
- Back cover information repeated (like the trackless and 'legalese'). 











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