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When the compact disc was introduced it was hailed as the future of music for decades to come. Experts thought the new technology would have a similar shelf-life to vinyl, which dominated the industry for more than 60 years.
But in a move heralded as the beginning of the end for the format, audio manufacturer Linn is halting the manufacture of CD players in the New Year. The firm is instead going to focus on making new Studio Master Quality technology, which sounds as good as the original recorded product, and can be downloaded from the internet.
Managing director Gilad Tiefenbrun said: 'Our customers have fast recognised the limitations of CD players and in the age of home networking, people now want better control of their music and the ability to enjoy it in any room of their home.
'CD players no longer belong in the specialist domain.'The first commercial compact disc was released in October 1982, and by the end of the decade looked to have seen off LPs. But in a final twist vinyl looks set to outlive the young pretender to its throne.
Top DJs prefer records, because of the flexibility of the format for mixing, while audiophiles enjoy its “warm” higher quality of sound compression.
Demand is such that Scottish-based Linn, whose top systems cost more than £100,000 pounds, is continuing to make turntables. The CD is not the first technology to be made obsolete in the digital age.
Its little brother the DVD pushed stalwart VHS cassettes out of the living room and consigned bulky players to the dustbin.
And sales across the board have suffered as digital downloading has taken hold, with millions downloading movies and music for free, while paid for downloads are booming.
Adam Liversage, spokesman of music recording body the British Phonographic Industry, said the move could be significant.
He said: 'This is a very interesting development. Typically it is the high end audio manufacturers that do drive things forward in audio.
'There will always be early adopters who look to take up the latest technologies in the music scene.
'For example the introduction of multi-channel superaudio CDs at the millenium offered a higher level of quality, and they are popular with the higher end users. The fact they are playable on the Playstation 3 has made them more accessible.'
Last month the body announced that 2009 had already broken last year's record number of legally downloaded single and individual track sales.
Of 117 million sales, nearly 99 per cent were digital downloads.
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