Comment by ronsor
8 hours ago
In the end, all reasons resolve to either "it's what we had at the time" or "someone thought it looked good."
8 hours ago
In the end, all reasons resolve to either "it's what we had at the time" or "someone thought it looked good."
"Everybody just liked it that way and it costs too much to change it now": https://www.exocomics.com/743/
Not always, for example original CD disks had capacity of 74 minutes to accommodate Beethoven's Ninth Symphony.
That one also turned out a myth :) CD size was determined by Cassette tape dimensions (diagonal, human can still hold one in one hand) and that combined with conservative pits/lands/track pitch choice drove the play time.
thus CD runtime was derived from something "what we had at the time".
The story as told may be inaccurate but it wasn’t simply ‘what we had at the time’ either.
The 74 minute length resulted from Sony rejecting the Philips 60 minute 11.5cm diameter “Pinkeltje” disc size in favor of a 12cm diameter.
It’s quite possible that Sony’s Norio Ohga simply argued that the 9th symphony or various operas fitting would be enough of an advantage for the slight size increase without meaningfully decreasing portability.