quoted 4 lines Everyone probably knows this but apparently the reason a CD is this>Everyone probably knows this but apparently the reason a CD is this
>particular length, is that Phillips asked Herbert Von Karajan about this
>new medium's length and he said it would be "wunderbar" to have Beethoven's
>Choral Symphony on one disk!
Nope, and it wasn't the wife of Sony's chairman either:
Of more interest is an interview by Nancy Herther in the July 1992 _CD-ROM
Professional_ ("The Past, Present and Future of the Compact Disc, Multimedia
and the Industry: An Interview with Dr. Toshi Doi"). Dr. Doi is a Director
of the Sony Corporation, and helped invent the compact disc. On p. 21:
Q. I've heard different stories about the beginnings of the compact disc.
Could you please tell us how the compact disc came to be the 12 cm disc
that it is.
A. Mr. Oga from Sony decided the size of the compact disc. We had a big
debate with Philips on the size of the CD disc. I was pushing 10 cm,
because it was a round number and a very small disc. Sony was very
interested in having a portable CD player from the very beginning. Philips
was pushing for a much larger disc***. Mr. Oga finally made the decision
that he wanted something which could hold the entire Beethoven's 9th
Symphony on a single disc. That was a very good decision and as good of
a reason as any other.
C.
[Thanks to www.urbanlegends.com]
--
cspot@hyperreal.com (Chris.Hilker)
"You know I am a total idiot trainspotter..."
- Gonzi Merchan (fresh@linkonline.net)