Video CD a few years later) on each side. The Laserdisc provided picture quality nearly double that of VHS tape and analog audio quality far superior to VHS. Philips later teamed up with Sony to develop a new type of disc, the compact disc or CD. Introduced in 1982 in Japan (1983 in the U.S. and Europe), the CD is about in diameter, and is single-sided. The format was initially designed to store digitized sound and proved to be a success in the music industry. A few years later, Philips decided to give CDs the ability to produce video, just like its
CD player 1983 Philips, at the US and European launch of the CD format, showcased the first top loading CD tray designs with their CD100 CD player. (Philips audio products were sold as Magnavox in the US at the time.) The design had a clamp on the lid which meant the user had to close this over the CD when it was placed inside the machine. Later, Meridian introduced their MCD "high end" CD player, with Meridian electronics in the Philips CD100 chassis. Top-loading was adopted on various equipment designs such as mini systems and portable CD players, but among stereo component