8088 computers were around and in use for a long time. While you may have upgraded to a 286 or 386, many others were still using 8088 systems.
Just as there were interface cards available to attach an 8-inch floppy drive to an IBM PC, there were 8-bit CD ROM controller cards.
As far as what software came on early CDs, I recall the most intriguing was the encyclopedias that came on CDs. A wealth of info was contained on that single disk, complete with videos and images. Of course, these encyclopedias were killed by the internet but when they first came out, they were a big deal. Another popular use for early CDs was to distribute "shovelware" which was a bunch of crappy little programs stuffed onto a CD.
