newman (05/03/83)
Donning my asbestos suit, I just wanted to say that anyone who puts a CD player in a car is beyond all help. Before you flush money down the toilet like that, consider making a charity donation or mail it to me. Such a person would probably buy a 68000 Unix system with hard disk as a home computer too. I thought the real reason the cd's were 12 cm was that the disks and players would be too expensive in the larger size and they could easily get the density for an hour on one side with 12 cm.
rday (05/04/83)
Since I may have been the cause of utcsrgv!newman's flame against
CD players in cars, I feel it is up to me to defend my statement that
Sony pushed for the 12 cm format so they could also market CD players
for the mobile audiophiles among us. Nowhere in Mr. Newman's article
does he attempt to rationalize phrases like "beyond all help" and
"flush money down the toilet". And what in God's name does this
have to do with buying a 68000 Unix system with hard disk as a
home computer???
Normally, Mr. Newman, one does not pay as much for a car sound
system as for a home system. I personally own a Nakamichi 660ZX,
and I sure as hell am not going to put another one in my van
(much as I would like to). Given that a typical CD player would sell
for about $1000 (given some of quotes I've seen flying by on the net),
I figure that $300-$400 would be reasonable for a car player. This is
not an outrageous price to pay for exquisite sound, many cassette decks
cost far more. And some of us don't leave our audiophile ears behind
when we get behind the wheel.
Finally, Mr. Newman, I may indeed be wrong as to why Sony and Philips
decided on the 12 cm format, but, if Sony is after the auto market,
maybe they know something you don't??
sorry about flaming in public...
R. Daydmmartindale (05/05/83)
I think a 68000 UNIX system with a hard disk would make a nice minimal home computer. Though I'd probably rather have a home CD player before a home computer.
dyer (05/07/83)
It is indeed true that Sony specified the dimensions of Compact Disks to fit the footprint of most car stereo cutouts. This comes to me from David Ranada, an editor at Stereo Review, who's followed the medium's development from the start. Mr. Newman's flaming isn't completely off-base. The dynamic range afforded by the CD system just isn't suited for the automobile. Soft passages will be completely drowned out by car noise. Many people recommend using a DBX compressor (NOT the noise reduction system) when transferring disks to tape for car use. This is saying that CASSETTES already have too much dynamic range for the car. So, right now, a automotive CD system is wasting money. But, we can expect the price to go down significantly in the next 5-25 years, to a point where the CD player is competitive with cassette players. Then, add some optional compression in the automotive player, and given that we now have one no-compromise interchangable format for both home and car, you can see why Sony/Philips is taking the far view. /Steve Dyer decvax!wivax!dyer