If asked what the first digital audio recording format was, most people would receive one of three responses: The Compact Disc, MP3s or Cassettes. Those three responses are all incorrect. In 1976 a new audio format named SoundStream and the company of the same name, debuted.
The technology they used allowed them to convert analog recordings into digital and thus improving the quality of the recordings. The company quickly began working with major companies including Warner Bros., RCA and CBS to record various works of music under all of those labels.
Though initially successful, SoundStream was eventually overtaken by the growing popularity of the CD. A brief format war began between the two after the CD was released in 1982; but by 1985, SoundStream went the way of the Dodo and succumbed to the inevitable and the CD soon became the most popular format for over a decade.
