ArseAssassin
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Compact_Disc_Digital_Audio
The format has also been influential in the progression of video game music, used in mixed mode CD-ROMs, providing CD-quality audio popularized during the 1990s on hardware such as PlayStation, Sega Saturn and personal computers with 16-bit sound cards like the Sound Blaster 16.
In other words, the quality was similar to CDs because the technology was the same.
I blame the success of neoliberalism (perhaps confusingly, a distinctly conservative project driven by the likes of Reagan and Thatcher). Ever-widening wealth gaps and focus on individual responsibility for solving problems seems to have created an environment where people will jump on just about any bandwagon that tells them they're inherently better than others. Unfortunately, evil will keep winning as long as there's enough support (or indifference) for evil to keep winning.