1981: __RCA's long-awaited videodisc system, essentially a vinyl record that plays video, hits stores in the United States. The company spent 15 years and $200 million developing it, only for the ...

the VideoDisc is a vinyl-sized black plastic disc that contained an entire film. The format failed in the home-viewing marketplace, obviously.

The result was a videodisc, first demonstrated in the summer of 1979, that let users choose their own routes through the streets, listen to interviews with Aspen locals, change the season ...