In article ,
Vir Campestris wrote:
On 01/05/2014 23:56, Dave Plowman (News) wrote:
I'd ask then why they chose that size? No reason not to make it bigger
if a longer time was needed/possible. Remember it was a completely
fresh concept.

It meant the drive was the same size as the then-standard half-height 5
1/4 inch hard discs and floppies.I know of no other reason for the disc
size.

I'd be most surprised if that was a consideration. After all, Philips
already had the laser disc which was LP sized. They could have made the CD
the same size as a 7" record with much greater playing time. But there was
no digital mastering system at that time which could do longer.

Incidentally one of the reasons why 5 1/4 floppies held as much as 8
inch was that one limit is the way the disc changes size with humidity!

Andy

--
*Seen it all, done it all, can't remember most of it*

Dave Plowman London SW
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