CD length

[felser]

So I thought that CD's only could hold 80 minutes worth of content.  The new Archie Shepp twofer on Impulse!  shows as running 81:14.  Can that be?  

[mjzee]

Yup.  I have some classical discs that go up to 82 minutes.

[T.D.]

CDs can hold more than 80 minutes, but many CD players I've owned became less reliable as playing time approaches 80 min. My current changer sometimes starts skipping near the end of really long discs. A flaky phenomenon, not strictly reproducible.

[sidewinder]

I find that my player also has some trouble playing the 80 minute CDs and needs repeat presses on the play button to do so., when the disk is started up (I initially thought it was a puck issue but suspect that isn't the case). Some of the recent German Impulse twofers are the usual culprit for this behaviour.

Edited January 26, 2016 by sidewinder

[Jim Alfredson]

From wiki: "The 74-minute playing time of a CD, which was longer than the 22 minutes per side^[14][15] typical of long-playing (LP) vinyl albums, was often used to the CD's advantage during the early years when CDs and LPs vied for commercial sales. CDs would often be released with one or more bonus tracks, enticing consumers to buy the CD for the extra material. However, attempts to combine double LPs onto one CD occasionally resulted in the opposite situation in which the CD would actually offer fewer tracks than the equivalent LP^{[citation needed]}, though bonus tracks were also added to CD re-releases of double LPs as well^{[citation needed]}.

Playing times beyond 74 minutes are achieved by decreasing track pitch beyond the original Red Book standard. Most players can accommodate the more closely spaced data.^[16] Christian Thielemann's live Deutsche Grammophon recording of Bruckner's Fifth with the Munich Philharmonic in 2004 clocks at 82:34.^[17] The Kirov Orchestrarecording of Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky's The Nutcracker conducted by Valery Gergiev and released by Philips/PolyGram Records (catalogue number 462 114) on October 20, 1998, clocks at 81:14.^{[citation needed]} The Mission of Burma compilation album Mission of Burma, released in 1988 by Rykodisc, previously held the record at 80:08.^[18]

Current manufacturing processes allow an audio CD to contain up to 80 minutes (variable from one replication plant to another) without requiring the content creator to sign a waiver releasing the plant owner from responsibility if the CD produced is marginally or entirely unreadable by some playback equipment. Thus, in current practice, maximum CD playing time has crept higher by reducing minimum engineering tolerances; by and large, this has not unacceptably reduced reliability."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Compact_Disc_Digital_Audio#Storage_capacity_and_playing_time

[mjzee]

In my experience, it's Universal that pushes the time-limit bar.

[felser]

29 minutes ago, mjzee said:

In my experience, it's Universal that pushes the time-limit bar.

And the Shepp CD I am referring to is a Universal release.

[T.D.]

A lot of the super-budget-priced classical megaboxes contain CDs that push the playing time envelope.

[mjzee]

According to the book that accompanies "The Rubinstein Collection" box, disc 134 (Unreleased Recordings - Part I) has a playing time of 82:58.

[JSngry]

Does current home-burning software still provide the "overburn" function? That would allow you to push the burn past 80 minutes, although exactly how far, I couldn't tell you.

[king ubu]

Considerably longer for sure than 80-82 minutes, which is fairly common I think ...  I must have some in the 83-85 minutes range (classical ones), usually they don't present any problems, at least not on playback, but I've encountered issues with the last tracks when trying to rip them (the Sabine Devieilhe Rameau disc - last track won't rip but plays fine for the time being, not sure what the future will bring ... and according to allmusic that one's only 79:52).

 

Found this on rec.music.classical.recordings:

 

The longest pressed CD I've encountered is called Smoke That Cigarette (Pleasure to Burn). It's a compilation of (mostly country-western) tobacco-related tunes, and it's on the German label Bear Family. 87:26 playing time. Plays fine in my car and on my boombox.

 

https://groups.google.com/forum/#!topic/rec.music.classical.recordings/ydkckciV66k

 

 

(added quote box, had to figure out formatting first as there0s no button for it ... we only get quick edit functions here, not the full functionality with quote, indent and the full emoticons displayed)

 

 

Edited February 11, 2016 by king ubu

[CJ Shearn]

The 2000 issue of "Ascension" is like this, skips near the end when ripped

[clifford_thornton]

Good thing I have the 1965/66 issue...

[Dmitry]

I'd love to go back to the Lp-length cd releases. 45 minutes is a perfect amount of time to say what you want to say.

..Just sayin'.

[Scott Dolan]

I thought LPs could only go 42 minutes? Was I misinformed? 

[Dmitry]

22 minutes per side, I think, is a maximum that can be pressed on it, to keep it sounding ok.

[Scott Dolan]

Ah, thanks for the clarification. 

[JSngry]

[medjuck]

3 hours ago, Dmitry said:

22 minutes per side, I think, is a maximum that can be pressed on it, to keep it sounding ok.

IIRC either My Funny Valentine or Four and More was nearly half and hour per side. 

[Jim Alfredson]

You can put more minutes on an LP but at the expense of the frequency response (mostly in the bass range).

[Kevin Bresnahan]

From one of my posts in the Larry Young thread in the New Releases forum: http://www.themasterdiskrecord.com/2014/06/deciding-long-make-side-vinyl-record/

Summary of cutting length trade offs from this article:

Here are your guide lines:

Under 18 minutes, I could cut almost anything.  As loud as wanted up to the groove distorting.  Full bass, metal, rock—it’s all good.

Between 18-22 minutes, I’m going to depend on a ballad or acoustic song to help with the length. If not, I’ll have to lower the level 2 or 3 db at 22 mins compared to 18 min.

From 22-26 minutes, I might have to lower the level more, or roll off a little bass. This depends on the client’s preference for bass/full/warm sounds vs level.

Over 25 minutes, it’s very likely—even for jazz—that I’ll have to lower the level, maybe clean up the low bass, and maybe more.

I can cut 30 minutes on a side, but the level is down 8db or more from the level I can cut on a 18 minute side. That's a lot. But, the sound is still good (or can be) even though the record noise becomes more apparent since the music is quieter.  If pressed at a high-quality plant with careful consideration, a long side can sound really good.

[Scott Dolan]

Down 8dB! That's really significant. 

Thanks for the breakdown, though. Like I said, I was under the impression there was a 42 minute limit on LPs (though I can't recall where I got the information), so it's nice to know the truth now. 

[jazzbo]

I have Miles Davis LPs with sides over 25 minutes long that sound great. Can be done.

[sidewinder]

4 hours ago, jazzbo said:

I have Miles Davis LPs with sides over 25 minutes long that sound great. Can be done.

Very true - my UK pressings of 'Agharta' and 'Big Fun' have very long side durations and sound great.

[Scott Dolan]

Yes, but could they have sounded better with a lesser run time?