Cassette tapes used to have one side longer as a "convenient break between sides". Why don't CDs have this?

Question

Side one of a cassette tape often had a gap betweeb the end of the last song and the end of the tape. The manufacturers used to say that this was a "convenient break between sides". Why don't CDs have this convenient break?

Answer 1

Oh, c'mon! This cannot be a serious question, can it...???

Answer 2

The convenient break between sides, as you put it, had nothing to do with convenience, it was just how the two sides of the tape split. Sometimes this gap was at the end of Side A, sometimes it was Side B. If it were truly anything else, it would've been more consistent. Records, which predated cassettes, did not have these breaks, even though there were two sides.

CDs do not have this because... well, simply because there is only one side.

If you're thirsting for some silence in the middle of an album, perhaps you need to listen to different music.

Answer 3

tapes needed them because they had 2 sides, so you had to find a way to split the album into 2 equal parts. the blank space was used to even out the sides.

cds only have 1 side, so you don't need to divide the album, you just put the whole thing on the one side and you're good to do.

if anyone remembers 8 track tapes, they had 4 sides (half as many as tracks, because music is in stereo which requires 2 tracks). on 8 tracks, they often split songs into 2 parts and faded them in and out.

Answer 4

Ummmm, besides the obvious...CD's only have one side, the actual reason was because it was hard to divide the songs directly in half and maintain the continuity of the "album", so that was why you had silence on one side.

Answer 5

Well, for one, there is only one side.

Answer 6

because there is only one side!