CD player in 1970. Following litigation, Sony and Philips licensed Russell's patents (then held by a Canadian company, Optical Recording Corp.) in the 1980s. The Compact Disc is an evolution of LaserDisc technology, where a focused laser beam is used that enables the high information density required for high-quality digital audio signals. Prototypes were developed by Philips and Sony independently in the late 1970s. In 1979, Sony and Philips set up a joint task force of engineers to design a new digital audio disc. After a year of experimentation and discussion, the "Red Book" CD-DA standard was published in 1980. After their
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