The Misappliance Of Science

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Oda to Joy

In Dispute: CDs are the size they are because it could hold Beethoven's 9th symphony.

There are at least three different stories 'explaining' why CDs are the size they are:

1. Conductor Herbert von Karajan demanded a 74-minute capacity disc so that his favourite piece, Beethoven's 9th, would fit on a single disc.

2. The wife of Sony chairman Akio Morita insisted on a 74-minute disc, for the same reason.

3. A Mr Oga from Sony decided that discs should have the capacity to contain Beethoven's 9th on one.

Only the last (#3) of these stories has an attribution. The "Mr Oga" story comes from an interview of Dr Toshi Doi, a director at Sony, by Nancy Herther, in CD-Rom Professional, July 1992. No additional information about Mr Oga is available or has been found.

References:

• Urbanlegends.com reference on CD length