Interactive Dreams presents the CD-i FAQ 2020 Edition - Section 0. About this CD-i FAQ

0.1 What's the goal of this CD-i FAQ?

This FAQ has been written in early 2000 and updated in 2019 to answer most of the questions that are still being asked by a lot of people about the Compact Disc Interactive system. There are other sites and FAQ lists about CD-i available on the web, but most of them are incomplete or even contain inaccurate information. This FAQ tries to clear up most of the myths about CD-i that go around. Furthermore, it is a tribute to what I feel is the most important new technology that was ever introduced onto the multimedia market.

0.2 Who wrote it and who maintains it?

This CD-i FAQ was originally written by Jorg Kennis. Jorg closely followed the CD-i development process during the late 80s and 90s and was actively involved in demonstrating the system for Philips in The Netherlands in the early 90s. Furthermore, he wrote articles about CD-i for various magazines and web sites, he created CD-i software and he wrote evaluations and recommendations for Philips' new CD-i hardware and software products. In 2019, the CD-i FAQ was updated by Sebastiaan Batenburg. Sebastiaan closely followed the CD-i developments since 1994. He is actively involved in the CD-i community and has taken many interviews with people who were involved in CD-i, as well as researching many CD-i projects of the past. He wrote articles about CD-i on various websites including The Black Moon Project and Interactive Dreams. The FAQ on Interactive Dreams is currently maintained by Sebastiaan Batenburg and supervised by Jorg Kennis.

0.3 Who helped along the sidelines?

This CD-i FAQ could never have been written if it weren't for dozens of people who shared their knowledge with us over the past years. Of course there were the guys and girls at Philips Interactive Media Systems in Eindhoven, The Netherlands, who introduced us to the system. Among them were Gerard Smelt, Frans Speijer, Peer Custers, Loek Sanders and many others. And then of course there are two close friends, Stefan Peters and Wouter Robers, which whom we discovered nearly all of CD-i's great features in the early years. Over the years, we met a lot of other passionated CD-i enthousiasts, who shared our love for the system. We mainly used the Internet to discuss the system and its features. Among those guys were Bo Raun Nielsen from Denmark and Stephane Cazat from France. This FAQ was also inspirated by an early version of the CD-i FAQ once made by Erik Eiselstadt, and the CD-i FAQs from Philips Interactive Media of America and the International CD-i Association. Finally a special mention goes to cdifan. cdifan is the current maintainer of the ICDIA site and has he shared many insights on various CD-i developments with us. Our warm thanks to all of you!!

0.4 How can I contact the author?

The updated CD-i FAQ 2020 Edition is maintained by Sebastiaan Batenburg. The contents will be updated with the knowledge of today. You can contact Sebastiaan by replying at the bottom of the articles on Interactive Dreams. You can also contact us by using the Facebook page "Interactive Dreams: Philips CD-i Group"

When you are looking for a place to discuss CD-i or ask questions, please use the 'Philips CD-i Appreciation Group' on Facebook.

0.5 What's the official status of this FAQ?

There is none! This FAQ is entirely non-official. It is not endorsed nor supported by Philips or any other company. All of the opinions mentioned in the FAQ are solely the ones of Jorg and Sebastiaan. We do not guarantee correctness, nor will we be responsible for any consequences occured from the usage of information in this FAQ.

Next chapter: Section 1. The CD-i System (Will be uploaded next week)

[Thanks, Jorg Kennis]