I've just realized... In the 80's P would usually release the same b-side on both single and maxi, and if it was too long for a 7" he would edit it. But given how many great songs he had that he could have released, and instead of butchering his long songs by editing them, why in the world didn't he release a DIFFERENT b-side for 7" and maxis, this would have allowed him to put the short ones on the 7", the long ones on the 12", fans who didn't care for edits would have bought BOTH versions of each single instead of just the maxi, we would have had twice as many b-sides and everyone would have been happy including WB.

.

Why oh why???

[Edited 3/22/15 13:24pm]

The reason i klicked on this thread was to talk you totallly out of no extended hb_sidew.<WHAT?

then i read the restan realized your great opoint!

he should ultimately give us all his music so we can finally discover if he is really cpable of a song a day.

i ccould go back and correct all that, but, who cares?

Prost!

Probably for the radio station when if they didn't/couldn't play the long version?

Was it not part of the purpose of 12" singles to have both longer running time, but to also play at a faster rpm, providing higher quality sound?

So, if he wanted to put out a particular b-side, even though the 12" version was the same track as the 7" single, it was played at 45 rpm instead of the 33 rpm of the 7". Thus better sound quality!

No. Almost all 7" singles play at 45rpm for any artist. Many people even call them "45s".

Every Prince 7" and 12" single in my collection plays at 45rpm although im sure that there may be the odd exception.

What you are saying about the fidelity of a track playing at 45rpm vs 33rpm has some truth though but doesn't really apply here.

[Edited 3/23/15 7:47am]

databank said:

I've just realized... In the 80's P would usually release the same b-side on both single and maxi, and if it was too long for a 7" he would edit it. But given how many great songs he had that he could have released, and instead of butchering his long songs by editing them, why in the world didn't he release a DIFFERENT b-side for 7" and maxis, this would have allowed him to put the short ones on the 7", the long ones on the 12", fans who didn't care for edits would have bought BOTH versions of each single instead of just the maxi, we would have had twice as many b-sides and everyone would have been happy including WB.

.

Why oh why???

[Edited 3/22/15 13:24pm]

As someone already said, radio. 7" records (or 45's as I've always known them as) were made for radio singles. Hell, most of the edits are even called "radio edits".

As far as the better fidelity, while it's true that 45 rpm records can potentially have better sound quality, that usual wasn't the case with 7" records. The 7" single was kind of a throwaway format, mostly bought by kids who saved up their allowance/lunch money etc. Sound quality wasn't the primary concern.