Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP
Posting-Version: version B 2.10.1 (Tek) 9/26/83; site shark.UUCP
Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!burl!ulysses!mhuxj!houxm!vax135!cornell!uw-beaver!tektronix!orca!shark!davew
From: davew@shark.UUCP (Dave Williams)
Newsgroups: net.audio
Subject: Re: Record speeds
Message-ID: <1092@shark.UUCP>
Date: Wed, 3-Oct-84 11:37:39 EDT
Article-I.D.: shark.1092
Posted: Wed Oct  3 11:37:39 1984
Date-Received: Fri, 5-Oct-84 05:46:49 EDT
References: <1698@inmet.UUCP>
Organization: Tektronix, Wilsonville OR
Lines: 29


>> RCA came out with 45 rpm just to be difficult.

>Then they came out with a needle-played video disc system just
>to be difficult again.

                  -- Mark Lutton
No company comes out with a product just to be difficult, but
to make money. RCA and CBS brought out their competing
record formats in the late forties. Both had good and bad
points. The RCA 45 rpm format actually had better fidelity
than the CBS 33 1/3 format. The main problem was you
could not get a full album on one RCA disc, even in the 
EP (extended play format). The industry finally chose
the 45 for singles and the 33 for albums. The fidelity
problems with the 33 1/3 format have been solved
for a long time. The main problems in disc reproduction
now are in the mastering, not the disc. This is what
digital mastering is attempting to deal with.

As for the RCA CED video disc. They were trying to
provide a cheap system for the masses. It was a
marketing decision that failed. The cost of
LaserDisc units came down and people were willing
to pay more for the superior quality of the laser
unit. Worse yet, most people wanted a medium they
could record on so the VCR market took off and
left the video disc market in the dust.