Re: How was the length of the standard Compact Disk derived?

Greetings, Walt!

Actually, there isn't a single standard CD capacity. It's whatever the industry is currently able to squeeze onto the media. Right now, the 74-minute CD is the most popular; 63-minute CDs have largely vanished from the market.

There are also 80-, 90-, and 99-minute CDs available.

Here's a comparison of recording time vs. data capacity for each:

    Minutes    Megabytes
       63         636
       74         747
       80         807
       90         908
       99         999

For more information, see the FAQ: http://www.faqs.org/faqs/cdrom/cd- recordable/part1/preamble.html

Best wishes,

Aaron