CD-Rom then - music or otherwise - appears to have a relatively short life as a market edge technology. The pace of Internet develop appears likely to have set its own 'use-by' date on CD-Roms. This is unlikely to affect the short term development and proliferation of CD-Rom hardware and software however, indeed, the reverse case applies. It is clearly in the interests of music companies and hardware manufacturers to creatively develop, market and exploit the form as soon as possible. Although it is unlikely to be a conscious policy, the very move into CD-Rom music production for the latter half of the 1990s may even prove astute as a further re-tooling of the once (semi-) discrete music industry into part of a multi-media, interactive orientated industry. This of course returns us to the quotations from Guy Debord which both preface this article and open this section.
Viewed within the logic of product succession which motivates the industry, the replacement of CD-Rom by the - supposedly 'bigger, better, more powerful' Internet system promises the ultimate gratification of the (cultivated) consumer desire for complete audio-visual access and experience. As much present publicity hype promises, Internet will deliver - will grant the ecstasy of immediate communication (communion ?) with a global entertainment network. Yet the lessons of history suggest otherwise and seem to support Debord's contention that it is the "system alone that will continue" - ie, in this case, will continue to devise, market and plan the obsolescence of technologies and services which offer 'bigger, better, more powerful' pleasures. Viewed within the rush of that history, the CD-Rom, whatever the sophistication of its individual texts, will soon be seen as a transitory medium; one which will soon assume the status of a historical curio (like the song-slides and song-films of the 1910s-20s). But here we must pause, all technologies, and especially 'advanced' ones, date quickly and/or expire. The project of this essay is to give an overview of a burst of cultural production and anticipate its trajectory. Whatever the inbuilt (and inevitable) obsolescence of the CD-Rom form, a slew of hardware systems and texts will ensue over the next 5-15 years, occupying a prominent place in the audio, visual and literary culture of the West. Despite early indications, the music CD-Rom may even develop into a complex and effective meidum in its own right. Whatever the likely transformation in the next wave of technology, CD-Roms are likely to be a prominent media of contemporary cultural production over the next decade at least. As such, they merit the kind of attention accorded to them here and analysis of their application, design and marketing offers insights into the operation of the 'society of the spectacle' as it approaches the millennium and the era of the Internet.
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