The Story of the Atari ST CD

This video chronicles the story of the Atari ST's ill-fated CD add-on and the spin-off projects that arose around it.
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#RetroGaming #History #Atari

[@dragokills6990]

Even as an avid ST owner through the years I had no clue this thing even existed, great vid!

[@johneygd]

He should,ve called the title the story of the CANCLED atari ST CD addon,DAMNIT👎

[@frankowalker4662]

This would have put Atari head and shoulders above the rest, It's a shame it never got developed further.

[@jeremygregorio7472]

Atari was smart to hold off on CD tech. The amiga and Atari 16-bit hardware and heck even the 32-bit hardware wasn't sophisticated enough to make significant use of the CD format. It wasn't until we got to the power PC generation that it was worth doing. Atari should have just broke down and bought some Intel CPUs. The 68k line had just fallen too far behind... The power PC caught up but by then Atari was basically doomed

[@djp_video]

My after-school job in high school was in an Atari computer store in Houston, Texas in the late 80s to early 90s. We actually got one of the CDAR504 models and had it in the store for quite a long time. I really only remember one CD-ROM featuring software that had been published in one of the ST magazines (can't remember which specifically), though there might have been more that I never played with. We used it to play music more than anything else. :)

[@Sinn0100]

Whoa....CD ROM building in 1985?! Oh dear God, that thing would have cost a fortune! The TG-16 got its CD ROM drive here in the US in 1989. It retailed for $399. Basically, it cost $957.41 in today's money and like all console manufacturers they were selling it at a loss. I don't think (maybe they do) computer companies do the same thing.

[@roboarcado5552]

Thanks for re-uploading this video. It was one of my favorites.

[@TheLairdsLair]

Mine too!

[@joejacobsonwales]

I think its fair to say that both Atari and Commodore made massive bungles when it came to embracing CD technology, although at least the mighty Amiga got something usuable!

[@Sl1pstreams]

The problem with the CDAR was that it cost over $1,000 to produce in the 1980s. A CDAR would cost twice what the ST connected to it would.

[@themadmoderator8465]

loved the st got it as birthday gift from my old man and played it till it well went up in flames many years later

[@dreamcaster4754]

So damn cool, I would have loved one of these back in 1988!

[@KarlHamilton]

How am I only hearing about this now?!

[@dilbertfish]

That unit looked pretty sexy in a clunky, old fashioned way.

[@BAZFANSHOTHITSClassicTunes]

Shadow of the beast on amiga was the start of the end for jacks atari.

[@drcrutch]

No idea this even existed.

[@Octamed]

Groovy. I found one recently in perfect nick in an abandoned computer store! Is there actually any software ripped for it?

[@TheLairdsLair]

There is some I believe yes, check the AtariMania database.

[@chriscollins4375]

I have one of these units

[@michelwouters4110]

I have one in my collection. I'm a lucky bastard I think

[@8bitrocketstudios]

Cool vid, Kieren! I never knew what happened to that thing!

[@NesNyt]

6:45 these blokes related

[@TheLairdsLair]

It's Jack Tramiel and his sons, so yes!

[@Kevinkapon]

Atari should have never released the Jaguar or the Falcon, and just released the Painter.

[@federicocatelli8785]

What's the painter?

[@TheLairdsLair]

You didn't actually watch the video did you?

[@federicocatelli8785]

@@TheLairdsLair i quickly browsed through🙇...

[@TheLairdsLair]

You can't do that with my videos, because you miss important things like that!

[@federicocatelli8785]

@@TheLairdsLair Sorry 🙇I was busy and I could not watch the whole video

[@8bitrocketstudios]

I wonder is Boeing still has ST DCs in their old planes ? =)

[@johneygd]

Whoooaaah i can’t fucking believe it that not only nintendo did cancled their CD rom for their snes many times in a row but even atari for their atari ST,how could both companies would,ve make the same mistake??? (Altrough likely atari’s cancelation of their CD rom addon did NOT turned philips into a rival monster but nintendo’s cancelation of their CD addon did turned sony into a rival monster,now just imagine if it did happened the other way around) But ironically enough atari did made a CD rom addon for their flopped atari jaguar and nintendo did licensed the panasonic Q console wich could not only play gamecube discs but also CD’s, Trough stupidly enough while nintendo first planned to add dvd playback support on their way sothat in case kids don’t play that parents could watch dvd’s on it,but nintendo eventually dropped it at the last minute(probably to save on licensing costs and knewing that dvd players were dropped sooo much in price that it became obsolete to add dvd support for it at that point in time,ouch,ouch all ouch🥲🥵🥲