Question about 8cm Discs...
 

So before 2000 there was this 8cm discs right? I.ve only know about Singles being release, I.ve never seen and album and I was wondering are there albums in 8cm discs? or how were they release? were they released 2 discs for albums? or how they did it? how much can an 8cm cd hold? I mean were they like mini albums I dunno?

anyone has pictures?

arigatou.

I see.. so.. back then how were albums dones in japan I mean...

normal discs. 12 CM i think.

They only used 8 CM for singles.

8cm didn't have enough space for albums.

I think it was more cost effective to do a 8cm sized single, then a 12cm album..

Since 8cm was cheaper or w/e..

I see.. So later it was standardized all CDs to 12cm right?

Well,I was curious that why the 8cm blank CD-R is more expensive than 12cm Blank CD-R...:thud
But I've collected few 8cm Blank CD-R~:lech

Maybe that's now? lol

I wouldn't know.. but they could sell the 8cms for a lot cheaper than the 12cms[right?]

I think it's just aesthetics, to be honest. I don´t know why Avex eventually quit producing the 8cm/3" discs, but I can't imagine that cost was a (major) consideration.

That said, these discs are still widely used, especially in the more unconventional genres. A Dutch artist, Machinefabriek, releases all his music on 8cm discs, with all of them containing some 20 minutes of music. It's in this ambient/noise/drone genre that the format is quite popular. Note that these aren't considered albums, but EPs, which goes for practically anything released on 8cm.

Shiina Ringo released her Zecchoushuu on 3 8cm discs. It's officially a single release; all 3 discs have 3 songs, though they only amount for some 30 minutes of music, if I'm not mistaken.

Anyway, aesthetics.

I think they were cheaper when produced in high amounts, since they didn't need as much material as they need for 12 cm discs. Also, when Compact Discs first appeared, I believe they were considerably expensive and the smaller, 8 cm ones were a cheaper solution.

But since they're not used recently, especially for home purposes - becouse of small capacity, the 8cm CD-Rs are harder to get and more pricey...

As for Ayu, the first single she released in 12 cm was Boys&girls, which was a maxi single, so they did need more space on the disc, thus the bigger ones. That might have been the time when 12 cm discs were already affordable and 8 cm discs were slowly limited in production, so they began switching to bigger discs completly.

8cm discs are so cute 8D

When Compact Discs first appeared - that was 1982. Production prices weren't really an issue in 1998 anymore.

Well then I don't know why...

very interesting!... puffy as well released an 8cm CD for their latest best collection... as a bonus.

Aesthetics, I'd think. You might also say gimmick.

8cm discs have only 21 minutes of capacity, so i certainly dont hope an album is on a 8cm cd. and a 8cm cd can have problems with car cd players, the kind that sucks the disc in....so i am glad they dont use it anymore

Yes, that is a bit of a pity, but I always burn a bunch of 8cm discs onto one CD-R if I want to be able to play them in the car. I wish people would use them more often actually (though I have quite a few); I quite like the format myself.

could 8cm CDs be somekind of anti-piracy scheme?

I know Nintendo Gamecube uses some type of 8cm discs to counter piracy.

I think Gamecube just uses the miniDVD disc.. [1.3GB of space.]

And 8cm CDs easily fit into a PC CD-tray, so I don't think piracy had to do with it.

^ yeah , I know gamecube doesn't use 8 cm CDs. I meant like it uses somekind of 8cm DVDs.

I think in the past record companies have tried to come up with a alternative format for audio than the regular CD-format for audio. like the minidisk (which failed outside Asia tho). I beleive part of the reason has been trying to counter piratism.

it maybe a bit of a strech to assume 8cm CD is somekind of anti-piracy thing, since the format is just so unconvinient lol . tho it's not like it would be the most stupidest anti-piracy scheme ever ( remember the rootkit-program scandal with Sony? lol)