Quote:
Originally Posted by Solitaire1
We've returned to the day of the single, something we left for a time with the advent of the album (possible due to the long playing record). In fact, singles (meaning the purchase of single songs) was the norm even before recorded music was introduced when people used to buy sheet music for single songs.
The introduction of the compact disc (CD) led to the temporary end of the single (a factor was that a CD single likely cost almost as much to press as a full CD) since you had to buy the entire album to get a single song. Now, with downloaded music, you can buy singles once again.
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It wasn't that long of an intermission.
Compact discs came out back in 1982 (I was fortunate enough to be in Japan at the time and got a Sony CDP 101 when they came out) but took a couple years to supplant vinyl. The original MP3.com began selling single downloads by 1997.
In the interim they did have those little four inch Compact Disks that you usually put in a ring adapter. I think I may have bought "Doctorin' the Tardis" on one of those when I was in Saudi Arabia.