HW: Levitation - couple of questions

[Mark Edmonds]

In article <0007hbtbvzrl.H0000d99005c4b82 at igate.sprint.com>, "Allan T.
Grohe, Jr." <AGrohe at IGATE.SPRINT.COM> writes

>I thought that Pink Floyd's Dark Side of the Moon was among the first:
>I seem to recall seeing Digital Master recordings of it at record shows
>some years ago.  That would push the digital threshold back to '72-73.

Hmmmmm, you could be right but I would be very surprised if quality
digital recording existed in 1972! I did see a date for the very first
digital recording once and it was earlier than I would have expected but
surely not that old! I think the recording was of string quartet music
(Bartok maybe?) and I think it was released by Teldec. I'd take a stab
at 1979.

One of the thoughts behind my original question was "Digital recording
is new and therefore must be very expensive. How the hell could Hawkwind
afford to use it for Levitation?" How did they afford it!?