How did Beethoven influence the technology of the second half of the 20th century?

Cheetah Designs · 29 Aug 2012 at 19:58

Question was actually from a pub quiz.....the moron wanted to cheat.

Judgeneo · 29 Aug 2012 at 19:59

I have no idea, but do tell if you find out.

squarebutt · 29 Aug 2012 at 20:03

Better hi-fi to bring out the best in recordings perhaps. And then all the technological spin-offs.

Castiel · 29 Aug 2012 at 20:09

Ask Bill S Preston esq.

Rotty · 29 Aug 2012 at 20:10

you have some odd friends

Morbius · 29 Aug 2012 at 20:11

Not much, he was a dog.

Antar Bolaeisk · 29 Aug 2012 at 20:11

He determined the maximum track length of the CD

Andy90 · 29 Aug 2012 at 20:23

^ Almost correct. Apparently the Head of Sony at the time suggested that the running time of an Audio CD should be 74 minutes so that he could fit Beethovens 9th Symphony on it.

orderoftheflame · 29 Aug 2012 at 20:23

Antar Bolaeisk said:
He determined the maximum track length of the CD

This.

Was going to post it but beaten like a ginger step kid.

estebanrey · 29 Aug 2012 at 20:27

Are we talking about the 18th century composer, or that film from the 90s with the big slobbery dog?

markweatherill · 30 Aug 2012 at 06:49

Beethoven better watch out or Apple will sue him. He's been lucky so far but it's only a matter of time before they realise much of his work has been published as sheet music of a suspiciously rectangular format.

Devrij · 30 Aug 2012 at 07:39

markweatherill said:
Beethoven better watch out or Apple will sue him. He's been lucky so far but it's only a matter of time before they realise much of his work has been published as sheet music of a suspiciously rectangular format.

Got a laugh out of me. Very difficult to do at this time of morning. Well done sir.

Cosimo · 30 Aug 2012 at 08:02

He "Rolled Over"......

He brought us rock and roll.

Sefirosu · 30 Aug 2012 at 08:37

Docaroo · 30 Aug 2012 at 08:54

Andy90 said:
^ Almost correct. Apparently the Head of Sony at the time suggested that the running time of an Audio CD should be 74 minutes so that he could fit Beethovens 9th Symphony on it.

Close but not quite!

It was actually conductor Herbert von Karajan who made this suggestion. He was in collaboration with Sony over setting the CD standard.

Orginially the capacity was going to be between 50-60 minutes but Karajan said that you should be able to listen to Beethoven's 9th start to finish on one CD which is about 63-65 minutes long depending on tempo.

HOWEVER, this isn't actually confirmed as fact, just a nice story - I have a feeling it might not be entirely the real reason, but it's a nice idea anyway