Man behind Development of CD's dies.

[Feuer Frei!]

OPERA singer Norio Ohga complained about the quality of Sony tape recorders before he was hired by the company, developed the compact disc and championed its superior sound. Love of music steered the former Sony chairman's career and, in turn, he transformed the Japanese electronics maker into a global software and entertainment empire.
The company president and chairman from 1982 to 1995, Mr Ohga died yesterday in Tokyo of multiple organ failure, Sony said. He was 81.
The flamboyant music connoisseur steered his work through his love of music. A former opera singer, Mr Ohga insisted the CD be designed at 12 centimetres in diameter - or 75 minutes of music - to store Beethoven's Ninth Symphony in its entirety.
From the start, Mr Ohga recognised the potential of the CD's superior sound quality. In the 1970s, when Mr Ohga insisted CDs would eventually replace vinyl albums, skeptics scoffed. Herbert von Karajan, Stevie Wonder and Herbie Hancock spoke up in defence of Sony's digital sound.
Sony sold the world's first CD in 1982 and they overtook LP record sales in Japan five years later. The specifications are still used today and have fostered the devices developed since.
"It is no exaggeration to attribute Sony's evolution beyond audio and video products into music, movies and game, and subsequent transformation into a global entertainment leader to Ohga-san's foresight and vision," Sony Corp Chairman and Chief Executive Howard Stringer said.
Some decisions made during Mr Ohga's presidency, such as the $3.4 billion purchase of Hollywood studios Columbia Pictures, were criticised as unwise and costly at the time. But Mr Ohga's focus on music, films and video games - as a way of enriching the electronics business - helped create Sony's success in his era.


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RIP Sir, thank you for your contributions to society