Kodak's Photo CD market is slow to develop

Eastman Kodak Co has had a difficult time promoting its new Photo CD players, despite spending $30 million in a 4th qtr 1992 advertising campaign. The players, selling for $350 to $650, allow users to view and edit photographs on their TV sets. Customers spend $20 to $25 for putting a 24-exposure roll of conventional film on compact disk. One aim of the product is to bolster weak sales of film. Businesses, museums and other organizations are using Photo CD technology for low-cost graphics-arts work, but Kodak is seeking a breakthrough in the consumer market. Demand remains tepid, with many customers saying the players and the processing cost way too much. Photo CD faces stiff competition from Philips Electronics NV's compact-disk interactive (CD-I) players, which play music and interactive audio-video disks as well as Photo CD disks.