9781422280744

transmi¥ed. He became known as the “father of information theory,” and his ideas would eventually lead to the advent of personal computers and the Digital Age. The development of transistors in the 1950s enabled electronic devices such as computers and televisions to be made smaller, while simultaneously becoming faster and more powerful.

In 1947, the transistor was invented at Bell Labs in the United States. This device controls the flow of electricity in electronic equipment, enabling the amplification or switching of electronic signals. When a transistor turns on or off, an electric current flows or stops accordingly—today’s transistors can turn on or off 300 billion times per second. Transistors are now a key component of all microchips. Their development led to the invention of the first fully electronic and programmable computer in 1953, the transistor radio in 1954, and a transistor television (TV) in 1960. By the 1970s, personal computers and video game consoles were introduced, and analog records were starting to be converted to digital form.

ANALOG TO DIGITAL MEDIA A major landmark in the Digital Revolution was the transition from analog to digitally recorded music during the 1980s, when the digital format of compact discs (CDs) replaced analog storage formats such as vinyl records and casse¥e tapes. By the end of the decade, manufacturers such as During the 1980s, the digital format CD began to replace vinyl records as the preferred storage format for popular music. CDs had the advantage of being smaller and providing beer sound quality.

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