First Red Book CDs and players[edit]

Red Book was the first standard in the Rainbow Books range.
Philips established the Polydor Pressing Operations plant
in Langenhagen near Hannover, Germany, and quickly passed a series of milestones.

The first test pressing was of a recording of Richard Strauss's Eine Alpensinfonie (An Alpine
Symphony) played by the Berlin Philharmonic and conducted by Herbert von Karajan, who had
been enlisted as an ambassador for the format in 1979.[22]

The first public demonstration was on the BBC television program Tomorrow's World in 1981,
when the Bee Gees' album Living Eyes (1981) was played.[23]

The first commercial compact disc was produced on 17 August 1982. It was a recording from
1979 of Claudio Arrau performing Chopin waltzes (Philips 400 025-2). Arrau was invited to the
Langenhagen plant to press the start button.

The first popular music CD produced at the new factory was The Visitors (1981) by ABBA.[24]

The first 50 titles were released in Japan on 1 October 1982