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
John Leigh Philips Philips himself became involved in the textile industry. For a time he was in business with his brother Francis, who outlived him, dying in 1850. As a young man Philips frequented the "Roscoe Circle" in Liverpool—the intellectual group around William Roscoe—meeting there William Paulet Carey, James Currie and Daniel Daulby. In late 1803 Philips was granted command of the First Regiment of the Manchester and Salford Corps, a volunteer militia which served as part of Britain's Home Guard during the French Revolutionary Wars. His brother Francis was appointed to a subordinate role in the same Corps alongside three of his