{"id":11177,"date":"2026-01-13T12:18:00","date_gmt":"2026-01-13T11:18:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.uni.lu\/c2dh-en\/?post_type=articles&p=11177"},"modified":"2026-01-13T12:18:01","modified_gmt":"2026-01-13T11:18:01","slug":"voyager-company","status":"publish","type":"articles","link":"https:\/\/www.uni.lu\/c2dh-en\/articles\/voyager-company\/","title":{"rendered":"Voyager Company: When the Future of Books ran on CD-ROM"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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In 1989, Bob Stein<\/a> launched one the very first cultural CD-ROMs in history<\/a>: an interactive exploration<\/a> of Beethoven\u2019s Ninth Symphony. Between 1989 and 2000, Voyager Company<\/a> explored the possibilities of CD-ROM, while pushing the boundaries of multimedia and books. Their slogan? \u201cBring your brain.”<\/a> Their original motto said it all: a book transforming into a disc. Stein didn\u2019t wish to replace the book, but to extend it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\nBob Stein and the Obsession with the Augmented Book<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Before Voyager, Stein had already grasped the essential: new media don\u2019t kill books, they transform them. In the 1980s, he had acquired the rights to Citizen Kane<\/em> and King Kong<\/em> for laserdisc<\/a>. That\u2019s when he created The Criterion Collection<\/a>, the world reference for collector film editions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\n \n\"Cover

\n Cover of the \u201cVoyager Presents\u201d promotional disc (1995), showcasing the publishing house\u2019s productions. \u00a9 Internet Archive <\/p>\n <\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

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The CD-ROM arrived in the late 1980s. Massive storage capacity, interactivity\u2026 Stein envisioned the future. In 1989, with Robert Winter<\/a> (UCLA), he released Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 CD Companion<\/em><\/a>. The concept? To listen to the symphony while following an animated score, reading musicologists\u2019 commentaries, exploring themes one by one. It was rudimentary, coded in HyperCard<\/a>, but for the first time, a disc became an exploratory space.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Voyager continued with CD Companions<\/em> for music<\/a> (Dvo\u0159\u00e1k, Subotnick), then literature, cinema, history. In 1992, Maus<\/a> by Art Spiegelman<\/a> went interactive. In 1993, A Hard Day’s Night<\/a> sold 100,000 copies \u2013 it was their biggest commercial success<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

\nTechnical Innovations<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Voyager experimented constantly. In 1992, the Expanded Book Toolkit<\/a> enabled the creation of electronic books on floppy discs. They adapted Random House’s Modern Library<\/a>: the foundations of the modern e-book were there, well before the Kindle.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 1995 appeared CDLink.<\/a> The concept was technically innovative. One could synchronize an audio CD in its CD-ROM drive with web pages. It allowed to listen to an album while \u201cmultimedia liner notes<\/a>\u201d displayed in real-time \u2013 lyrics, biographies, photos, videos. Launched on 12 July 1995 at the Knitting Factory<\/a> (New York), it was co-sponsored by Rykodisc<\/a> and SPIN<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\n \n\"\u201cLast

\n \u201cLast Chance to See\u201d by Douglas Adams (1992), one of Voyager’s successes combining complete audio narration and over 800 photographs. \u00a9 The Voyager Company \/ Internet Archive <\/p>\n <\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

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But reality caught up with Voyager: in 1995, 36% of American households owned a computer, 48% had a CD-ROM drive, and 20% of internet users were on AOL<\/a> (incompatible with CDLink). It was too early.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Over 70 websites used the technology. The first 25 websites were created in a few days by \u201cliberal arts graduates with text editors<\/a>\u201d. There was no need to be an engineer. Around 50% of CDLink sites were co-productions with labels.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Voyager also innovated with \u201cmixed-mode<\/a>\u201d CD-ROMs: audio tracks (Red Book<\/a> standard: PCM<\/a>-encoded music playable on any CD player) combined with data tracks (Yellow Book<\/a> standard: interactive content and executable instructions only playable on compatible computers). Clever and hybrid, these discs initially posed preservation challenges.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

\n1989-2000: A Narrow Window<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

The CD-ROM encountered success for a decade. Between commercial emergence (late 1980s) and disappearance (early 2000s), Voyager rode the entire wave. But the wave receded quickly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

From 1995-1996, the web exploded. People discovered they could access multimedia content without buying a $50 CD-ROM. Microsoft launched Encarta<\/a> in 1993. In 1994, von Holzbrinck<\/a> partially acquired Voyager. It wasn\u2019t enough. By 2000, it was over. However, a catalogue of approximately 80 CD-ROMs had been released. Some titles remain landmarks: Maus<\/a>, A Hard Day’s Night<\/a>, Last Chance to See<\/a> (Douglas Adams<\/a>), Our Secret Century<\/a> (Prelinger Archives<\/a>). In 1993, 17 of the 50 best CD-ROMs listed by MacUser<\/a> bore the Voyager<\/a> signature. But critical acclaim didn\u2019t pay the bills.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\nA Fragile Legacy<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Stein didn\u2019t give up. In 2004, he created the Institute for the Future of the Book<\/a> (supported by the MacArthur Foundation<\/a>, which provided a generous grant<\/a>). <\/strong>His objective was to continue reflecting on \u201cthe transition from the printed page to the networked screen<\/a>\u201d. This time on the web, not on what would become an obsolete physical media.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Preservation initially posed specific challenges<\/a> for mixed-mode CD-ROM\u2019s: early emulators could not handle these hybrid disc images (BIN\/CUE format).Woods and Brown\u2019s research<\/a> (2012) at Indiana University documented these technical obstacles and developed solutions by modifying open-source emulators SheepShaver<\/a> and Basilisk II<\/a> to successfully read mixed-mode images, enabling access to landmark titles… Fortunately, some institutions acted. In 2019, Stein donated 53 CD-ROMs to the Electronic Literature Lab<\/a> (Washington State University<\/a>), which digitised them and put them online (\u201cThe Voyager Company Showcase<\/a>\u201d). The Internet Archive<\/a> hosts several emulated titles. In 2015, during the “Welcome to the Future!” exhibition at iMAL<\/a> (Brussels), Stein gave a 42-minute lecture<\/a> on Voyager’s history, followed by a roundtable with former electronic publishing actors from the 1990s.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

These initiatives saved part of Voyager\u2019s heritage. But much remains inaccessible. Mixed-mode CD-ROMs pose particular technical challenges.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Voyager\u2019s story illustrates a recurring paradox: being a pioneer doesn\u2019t guarantee success. In 1989, Voyager anticipated the challenges of interactive multimedia publishing we know today \u2013 enriched books, narrative podcasts, web documentaries.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Today, Voyager is a reference in media archaeology<\/a> and digital publishing history. Their CD-ROMs are studied as cultural objects in their own right. They stand as witnesses to an era when people believed the future of books would involve silver discs on a shelf. This history resonates with the CD-HIST project<\/a>, which explores the memory of these hybrid objects, which are simultaneously obsolete and visionary.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\nSome references <\/h3>\n\n\n\n

\nArticles and books <\/h4>\n\n\n\n