Voyager Company: When the Future of Books ran on CD-ROM

In 1989, launched one : an of Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony. Between 1989 and 2000, explored the possibilities of CD-ROM, while pushing the boundaries of multimedia and books. Their slogan? Their original motto said it all: a book transforming into a disc. Stein didn’t wish to replace the book, but to extend it.

Bob Stein and the Obsession with the Augmented Book

Before Voyager, Stein had already grasped the essential: new media don’t kill books, they transform them. In the 1980s, he had acquired the rights to Citizen Kane and King Kong for . That’s when he created , the world reference for collector film editions.

Cover of the “Voyager Presents” promotional disc (1995)

The CD-ROM arrived in the late 1980s. Massive storage capacity, interactivity… Stein envisioned the future. In 1989, with (UCLA), he released . The concept? To listen to the symphony while following an animated score, reading musicologists’ commentaries, exploring themes one by one. It was rudimentary, coded in , but for the first time, a disc became an exploratory space.

Voyager continued with (Dvořák, Subotnick), then literature, cinema, history. In 1992, by went interactive. In 1993, sold 100,000 copies – it was .

Technical Innovations

Voyager experimented constantly. In 1992, the enabled the creation of electronic books on floppy discs. They adapted Random House’s : the foundations of the modern e-book were there, well before the Kindle.

In 1995 appeared 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 “” displayed in real-time – lyrics, biographies, photos, videos. Launched on 12 July 1995 at the (New York), it was co-sponsored by and .

“Last Chance to See” by Douglas Adams (1992)

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 (incompatible with CDLink). It was too early.

Over 70 websites used the technology. The first 25 websites were created in a few days by “”. There was no need to be an engineer. Around 50% of CDLink sites were co-productions with labels.

Voyager also innovated with “” CD-ROMs: audio tracks ( standard: -encoded music playable on any CD player) combined with data tracks ( standard: interactive content and executable instructions only playable on compatible computers). Clever and hybrid, these discs initially posed preservation challenges.

1989-2000: A Narrow Window

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.

From 1995-1996, the web exploded. People discovered they could access multimedia content without buying a $50 CD-ROM. Microsoft launched in 1993. In 1994, partially acquired Voyager. It wasn’t enough. By 2000, it was over. However, a catalogue of approximately 80 CD-ROMs had been released. Some titles remain landmarks: , , (), (). In 1993, 17 of the 50 best CD-ROMs listed by bore the signature. But critical acclaim didn’t pay the bills.

A Fragile Legacy

Stein didn’t give up. In 2004, he created the (supported by the , which provided a ). His objective was to continue reflecting on “”. This time on the web, not on what would become an obsolete physical media.

for mixed-mode CD-ROM’s: early emulators could not handle these hybrid disc images (BIN/CUE format). (2012) at Indiana University documented these technical obstacles and developed solutions by modifying open-source emulators and to successfully read mixed-mode images, enabling access to landmark titles… Fortunately, some institutions acted. In 2019, Stein donated 53 CD-ROMs to the (), which digitised them and put them online (“”). The hosts several emulated titles. In 2015, during the (Brussels), Stein gave a on Voyager’s history, followed by a roundtable with former electronic publishing actors from the 1990s.

These initiatives saved part of Voyager’s heritage. But much remains inaccessible. Mixed-mode CD-ROMs pose particular technical challenges.

Voyager’s story illustrates a recurring paradox: being a pioneer doesn’t guarantee success. In 1989, Voyager anticipated the challenges of interactive multimedia publishing we know today – enriched books, narrative podcasts, web documentaries.

Today, Voyager is a reference in 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, which explores the memory of these hybrid objects, which are simultaneously obsolete and visionary.

Some references

Articles and books

ARDEN Sasha, “Resurrecting the Digital Past: Access to Artistic Content on CD-ROMs”, Tate Collection Care Research, 2022, consulted on 10 January 2026.
BROWN Geoffrey, “Developing Virtual CD-ROM Collections: The Voyager Company Publications”, International Journal of Digital Curation, vol. 7, n° 2, 2012, p. 3-20, consulted on 10 January 2026.
PIPER Keith and MERCER Kobena, Relocating the Remains, London, Institute of International Visual Arts (Iniva), 1997.
WOODS Kam and BROWN Geoffrey, “Creating Virtual CD-ROM Collections”, International Journal of Digital Curation, vol. 4, n° 2, 2009, p. 184-198, consulted on 10 January 2026.

Web Articles and Online Publications

BELL Eamonn, “Information Overload: The Strange Journey of CDLink and the Rediscovery of Music Information Retrieval””, Eamonn Bell Blog, 8 September 2021, consulted on 10 January 2026.
DIGITAL FORENSICS AND PRESERVATION, “The Voyager Company: Bob Stein’s Voyage”, eLearning Industry, 12 May 2021, consulted on 10 January 2026.
MAHER Jimmy, “The Best of Voyager, Part 1”, The Digital Antiquarian, 18 June 2021, consulted on 10 January 2026.
STEIN Bob, “The Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony CD Companion”, Institute for the Future of the Book (blog), October 2005, consulted on 10 January 2026.

Institutional and Archival Resources

CRITERION COLLECTION, “What’s in a Name”, Criterion Current, consulted on 10 January 2026.
ELECTRONIC LITERATURE LAB, “The Voyager Company Showcase”, Washington State University, consulted on 10 January 2026.
HISTORY OF INFORMATION, “The Voyager Company Develops ‘Expanded Books’ ”, consulted on 10 January 2026.
HISTORY OF INFORMATION, “The Voyager Company Provides the Tools for Anyone to Publish an ‘Expanded’ or Electronic Book”, consulted on 10 January 2026.
INSTITUTE FOR THE FUTURE OF THE BOOK, official website, consulted on 10 January 2026.
INTERNET ARCHIVE, “Voyager Presents” collection, consulted on 10 January 2026.
INTERNET ARCHIVE, “Last Chance to See CDs”, consulted on 10 January 2026.
INTERNET ARCHIVE, “Prelinger Archives”, consulted on 10 January 2026.
iMAL CENTER FOR DIGITAL CULTURES AND TECHNOLOGY, “From CD-ROM Revolution to the Future of Electronic Publishin”, Exhibition documentation, 2015, consulted on 10 January 2026.

Multimedia and Video Sources

STEIN Bob, “Bob Stein at iMAL Brussels”, video lecture (42 minutes), YouTube, 2015, consulted on 10 January 2026. h
Several Wikipedia articles (on Bob Stein, Douglas Adams, Encarta, HyperCard, Red Book for instance) were also consulted for general background and technical definitions.