Way back on March 8, 1979, the Philips electronics company held a press conference announcing some sort of crazy new invention called the Philips Compact Disc.  It wasn’t until three years later that the first CD, Billy Joel’s 52nd Street, was released to the general public.  Nearly 30 years later, the CD has bested the vinyl record, the cassette tape, and the 8-track to become the premier physical media for music.  If you’ve ever wondered why CDs are the way they are, Mental Floss has 10 great facts about CDs, including why they’re the length they are, the first million-selling CD, and the ultimate in CD sound quality.

Even today, with digital downloading on the rise, the CD is still the de rigeur format for music and looks to be this way for the foreseeable future.  Given how things are working, the CD will probably remain the physical format of choice for music until people no longer want physical copies of their purchases.  So, basically, forever.  Or at least until people start buying Blu-ray discs featuring entire musical collections from certain bands no longer recording.