--- Sez Scott Rhodes to Tony Rigby ---
 TR> BTW, I've never understood why foreign 45s have
 TR> those big holes. Any idea?
As Cowboy Curtis once told Pee Wee Herman, who was admiring his
cowboy boots: "You know what they say: big feet --- big shoes."
 SR> Why America kept the large hole while other countries apparently
 SR> didn't, I don't know.  Probably inertia more than anything else.
Yes, reducing the angular momentum, or inertia, was one factor, the other
being that it makes it easier to get the green magic marker into the hole
to coat the edge with that fidelity enhancing pigmentation...
My present turntables have the 45 adapter (or at a holder for
one) built-in, so I don't have to search for the things anymore.
But I can remember attempting to center a single visually so it
could be listened to, often degenerating to putting it purposely
off-center for the kind of annoyance a CD player can only deliver
if you own Residents CD's....
Perhaps someone else would like to tackle the question of why
British 12 inch singles are 45 RPM and Americans are 33 RPM...
DM
... "If I don't say a word you'll know that it's the truth" - Peter Perrett  
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