Man Who Helped Pioneer Music CD Dies

Man Who Helped Pioneer Music CD Dies
Sunday, 24 April 2011

The aspiring opera singer and Sony executive credited with the creation and success of the compact disc has died.

Sony said former president and chairman Norio Ohga died Saturday in Tokyo of multiple organ failure at the age of 81.

Sony executives persuaded Ohga to give up on a career in opera and join the company in the 1950s after he complained about the sound quality of Sony’s tape recorders.

Ohga rose quickly within the company to become a key executive, and helped pioneer work on the compact disc, or CD, promising it would one day overtake records as a main platform for selling music.

It was also upon Ohga’s insistence that the CD was designed to be 12 centimeters in diameter and hold 74 minutes worth of music – enough to hold the entirety of Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony.

Sony introduced the CD in 1982, the same year Ohga became Sony president. The Associated Press reports that five years later, CD sales overtook record sales in Japan.

Ohga remained as Sony president until 1995, and then stayed on at Sony as chairman for several more years.

He is also credited with molding Sony into an entertainment giant with the purchase of the Columbia Pictures movie studio, now Sony Pictures Entertainment, in 1989 and the creation of Sony’s PlayStation video gaming division.

Ohga graduated from the Tokyo National University of Fine Arts and the Berlin University of the Arts. He continued to support classical music throughout his life, supporting young musicians and concerts in Japan.

Current Sony Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Howard Stringer said Saturday that it was Ohga’s ‘foresight and vision’ that helped Sony expand beyond audio and video products and turn into a global entertainment leader.