PowerCD
Encyclopedia
Apple Computer
Apple Inc. is an American multinational corporation that designs and markets consumer electronics, computer software, and personal computers. The company's best-known hardware products include the Macintosh line of computers, the iPod, the iPhone and the iPad...
in 1993 and discontinued several years later. It was a re-badged Philips
Philips
Koninklijke Philips Electronics N.V. , more commonly known as Philips, is a multinational Dutch electronics company....
-designed product which was sold in addition to Apple's speakers and also included a remote control
Remote control
A remote control is a component of an electronics device, most commonly a television set, used for operating the television device wirelessly from a short line-of-sight distance.The remote control is usually contracted to remote...
. The PowerCD was capable of reading Kodak photo CD
Photo CD
Photo CD is a system designed by Kodak for digitizing and saving photos in a CD. Launched in 1992, the discs were designed to hold nearly 100 high quality images, scanned prints and slides using special proprietary encoding. Photo CDs are defined in the Beige Book and conform to the CD-ROM XA and...
s, data CDs
CD-ROM
A CD-ROM is a pre-pressed compact disc that contains data accessible to, but not writable by, a computer for data storage and music playback. The 1985 “Yellow Book” standard developed by Sony and Philips adapted the format to hold any form of binary data....
and audio CD
Red Book (audio CD standard)
Red Book is the standard for audio CDs . It is named after one of the Rainbow Books, a series of books that contain the technical specifications for all CD and CD-ROM formats.The first edition of the Red Book was released in 1980 by Philips and Sony; it was adopted by the Digital Audio Disc...
s. It can connect to Apple Macintosh personal computer
Personal computer
A personal computer is any general-purpose computer whose size, capabilities, and original sales price make it useful for individuals, and which is intended to be operated directly by an end-user with no intervening computer operator...
s through SCSI
SCSI
Small Computer System Interface is a set of standards for physically connecting and transferring data between computers and peripheral devices. The SCSI standards define commands, protocols, and electrical and optical interfaces. SCSI is most commonly used for hard disks and tape drives, but it...
and also to stereo systems and television
Television
Television is a telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images that can be monochrome or colored, with accompanying sound...
s. Today they are collectible items as they are relatively rare.
History
With the success of the Apple NewtonApple Newton
The MessagePad was the first series of personal digital assistant devices developed by Apple for the Newton platform in 1993. Some electronic engineering and the manufacture of Apple's MessagePad devices was done in Japan by the Sharp Corporation...
, in mid-1992 Apple Industrial Design Group
Apple Industrial Design Group
The Apple Industrial Design Group is the industrial design arm of Apple Inc. responsible for crafting the appearance of all Apple products, including the Apple Macintosh computer line.-History:...
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
Sony
, commonly referred to as Sony, is a Japanese multinational conglomerate corporation headquartered in Minato, Tokyo, Japan and the world's fifth largest media conglomerate measured by revenues....
's Discman
Discman
Discman was the product name given to Sony's first portable CD player, the D-50, which was the first on the market in 1984, and adopted for Sony's entire portable CD player line...
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. However, Mac Like Things was short-lived and by September 1992, it was folded into Apple's New Media Group having only brought to market the PowerCD and AppleDesign Powered Speakers series.
AppleDesign Powered Speakers
Along with the PowerCD, Apple released two versions of their desktop speakers: the AppleDesign Powered Speakers and the redesigned AppleDesign Powered Speakers II a year later. The original speakers came in Platinum gray to match Apple's desktop line, while the second generation were curvier and also came in a darker gray color designed to match the PowerBook line and PowerCD. Both were powered with an AC adapter and could be attached to any audio output source, with two separate inputs for the computer and an external CD player. Both had a headphone jack in the front of one speaker along with the volume control and an optional subwooferSubwoofer
A subwoofer is a woofer, or a complete loudspeaker, which is dedicated to the reproduction of low-pitched audio frequencies known as the "bass". The typical frequency range for a subwoofer is about 20–200 Hz for consumer products, below 100 Hz for professional live sound, and below...
connection port on some models.
See also
- iPodIPodiPod is a line of portable media players created and marketed by Apple Inc. The product line-up currently consists of the hard drive-based iPod Classic, the touchscreen iPod Touch, the compact iPod Nano, and the ultra-compact iPod Shuffle...
- Apple QuickTakeApple QuickTakeThe Apple QuickTake was one of the first consumer digital camera lines. It was launched in 1994 by Apple Computer and was marketed for three years before being discontinued in 1997. Three models of the product were built including the 100 and 150, both built by Kodak; and the 200, built by Fujifilm...
- Apple Interactive Television BoxApple Interactive Television BoxThe Apple Interactive Television Box was a set-top box developed by Apple Computer in partnership with a number of global telecommunications firms, including British Telecom and Belgacom amongst others...
- Bandai Pippin
- List of products discontinued by Apple Computer