Better yet, you don't need any components in the supply chain that weren't well within the means of people 100 years ago. Vinyls and Edison cylinders will outlive every CD ever made.

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Avamander a day ago | parent [-]

That's a fun statement. I think we already had vacuum tubes and other foundational components that would in theory have allowed someone to build a CD player a 100 years ago or very close to that. If they would have had the knowledge.

For starters, CDs are not very dense, you can see the data with a microscope: http://www.pmonta.com/compact-disc-microscopy.html

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kibwen 11 hours ago | parent [-]

In addition to the circuitry, I was also assuming that the laser would pose a difficulty.

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Avamander 8 hours ago | parent [-]

It doesn't really require a coherent light source, although that does allow further miniaturization.

	▲	kibwen 3 hours ago \| parent [-]
		I think it would be fair to allow a hypothetical 1920s CD player to occupy most of a room. I'd be interested to see exactly how hard it would be to produce such a thing using the available technology of the era, though I'm still somewhat skeptical regarding the complexity and precision required of the laser motor (which unlike a vinyl needle needs to be controlled manually, rather than just following a groove mechanically) and the spindle motor (which needs to accelerate precisely depending on the laser's distance from the center, unlike a record which revolves at a constant rate).