Nice, this is a report on the s
Yes, that is true.
Here is a transcript/excerpt you may not have read, of an interview with Heitaro Nakajima (of Sony) regarding the joint work with Philips:
Can you outline the joint work?
Nakajima:
We began a series of regular meetings, once every three months. For the first one we all went to Eindhoven, to Philips' headquarters. Two months later they came here to Japan. One thing can be said about the process of development in digital, and similarly analog: it's very much a step-by-step process. One person thinks, "This is the way to do it." Then somebody improves on that, and somebody else then improves on that. This was the process that was taking place. We realized that if we didn't draw the line somewhere and say, "This is where we stop," we would not achieve a standard. That was when we decided on a joint 50/50 contribution. I think on both sides the feeling was, "Why on earth have we signed to a 50/50 cooperation agreement?" I think Philips felt that as well. There was a certain amount of anger within Sony about that. The reason, obviously, was that each side felt it was ahead in technological development.
Aspray:
What was the division of labor on the development?
Nakajima:
The process was basically one of constant discussion and exchange of views. The people involved in various aspects of development would all bring their ideas to the table, and then the discussions would begin. Because I don't speak English very much, I tended to take a back seat, listen very carefully to what was going on, and just let the experts on each different technology go to work, as it were. Not only between Philips and Sony as such, but also between the hardware and software people within each organization, i.e. between Polygram and Philips, and between Sony and CBS-Sony. There was also argument concerning aspects of the optical pickup and the optical pickup in relation to the disc. Obviously there was a lot of discussion, and it was hard going at times. But I'm very happy with the system decided upon, and I feel we were able to reach an agreement on a very good system.
Yes, those meetings were a struggle. I spoke to Hans Mons and Kees Schouhamer Immink about these meetings.
The Japanese were dominant on audio in the 70s/80s. Philips knew they had a good basis for a digital audio carrier and wanted to avoid debacles like with the VLP and video2000. They needed a good partner to make the compact disc system a global standard, so they looked for a suitable partner in Japan. Eventually -just before Philips wanted to travel back to the Netherlands empty-handed- Sony called that they wanted to join in.
Perhaps also good to see how Sony tried to gain control. The story of the diameter of the compact disc. Initially, Philips had set the diameter at 11.5cm (this size corresponded to the diagonal length of a compact cassette). Sony wanted to move to 12cm at the last minute, in order to fit more playing time on the CD that way. Immink indicated that increasing playing time was nonsense. Philips was already in the starting blocks with Polygram to produce CDs. The change in the dimensions of the compact disc set Philips back.
So it was a game of give and take.
In the end, you could say that Sony played a big role in the digital part (error correction, d/a conversion) and that Philips had the lead in the optical.
Perhaps of interest to you: a report of the meetings by Francois Dierckx. At the time head of Audio at Philips and gives a detailed account of the 6 meetings here:
DutchAudioClassics.nl - The birth of a new technology - Francois Dierckx
www.dutchaudioclassics.nl
Here is an article about the 6 meetings, when they took place and what was discussed in them:
DutchAudioClassics.nl - Perfecting the Compact Disc System - The six Philips/Sony meetings - 1979-1980
www.dutchaudioclassics.nl
All in all, I think this was a tremendously great time.
www.dutchaudioclassics.nl
www.dutchaudioclassics.nl
dutchaudioclassics.nl
