Apple PowerCD

Background

Apple PowerCD was announced on March 22, 1993 and released at the end of June 1993. It was a re-badged Philips-designed product (Philips CDF-100) which was sold in addition to Apple's speakers and also included a remote control. The PowerCD was capable of reading Kodak photo CDs, data CDs and audio CDs. It can connect to Macintosh personal computers through SCSI and also to stereo systems and televisions. With the success of the Apple Newton, in mid-1992 Apple Industrial Design Group created a division called Mac Like Things which was to focus on what they saw as a whole new market for Apple in consumer electronic devices. The PowerCD marked Apple's first stand-alone consumer-oriented product brought to market, which did not require a computer for use. It was analogous to Sony's Discman portable CD players of the time, however, unlike Sony's and most others, Apple's could also be used as computer peripheral as well. And while most desktop Macs at the time included built-in CD-ROMs, the PowerCD was designed to match the PowerBook series which would not include a built-in CD-ROM for several more years. Its ability to be operated under battery power alone made it not only a portable drive for computers, but gave it the added ability to be marketed as a stand-alone portable CD player.