This object was originally lent to the V&A for the exhibition The book and beyond: electronic publishing and the art of the book (April - October 1995) [94/371]. It was given to the V&A in 2015 [2015/871]. Historical context The compact disc format was developed jointly by Sony and Philips from LaserDisc technology in the late 1970s. The CD was originally developed to store and play sound recordings (see Sony D-50, W.1-2015), but was later also utilised for storage (CD-ROM). Taking advantage of this, the DD-1EX ‘Data Discman’ was launched in Japan in 1990, and released the following year in the United States. It was the world’s first electronic book reader (or ‘player’, as Sony called it). Its 3.15 inch miniature discs could store up to 100,000 pages of text, or 32,000 graphics. Encyclopaedia and travel dictionary (traditionally large books) software were usually included as a sales bundle, its target market was students and international travellers. The device was designed to be used in transit. It weighs 705g with its battery which, while heavy compared to modern e-books, was remarkably lightweight for an early portable product of this type. Indeed, the first CD-player, the Sony D-50 (1985), weighed 590g without its battery pack, and was considerably heavier with it. The DD-1EX was powered by a rechargeable battery, or by a battery pack containing four AA batteries. On a full-charge it could be used for up to three hours. It could also be plugged into mains electricity for use indoors. The very earliest versions of the DD-1EX could not be used to play audio CDs, but this version, which probably dates from 1991 when the type began to be exported to the west, did allow this function.