Green Book (CD standard) Green Book (CD standard) The "Green Book", formally known as the "CD-i Full Functional Specification", is a CD standard announced in 1986 by Philips and Sony that defines the format for interactive, multimedia compact discs designed for CD-i players. The standard was originally not freely available and had to be licensed from Philips. However, the 1994 version of the standard was eventually made available free by Philips. CD-i discs conform to the "Red Book" specification of audio CDs (CD-DA). Tracks on a CD-i's program area can be CD-DA tracks or CD-i tracks, but the first track must always be a
Philips CD-i in August 1996. Although Philips had aggressively promoted CD-i, by August 1993 "Computer Gaming World" reported that "skepticism persists about its long-term prospects" compared to other platforms like IBM PC compatibles, Apple Macintosh, and Sega Genesis. The magazine stated in January 1994 that despite Philips' new emphasis on games "CD-i is still not the answer for hardcore gamers", but the console "may yet surprise us all in the future". It recommended the CD-i with video cartridge for those needing to buy a new console as "The price is right and there is more software to support it", but 3DO was