Von: "Dave Radlauer" <[log in to unmask]>

> Somebody probably has better detail on this, but RCA *wanted* a format
> incompatible with the Long Playing 33 & 1/3 that had recently been
> introduced by Columbia.    Columbia offered to share the patent, but RCA
> didn't want in and wanted to compete on format . . . at first.

That's folklore.  RCA and Columbia were after two different things.
RCA wanted a replacement for the 78 single.  Columbia wanted a
replacement for the record album.  RCA had been stung by long 
playing records before, and didn't think there would be a market 
for them.  Columbia envisioned singles remaining as 10" 78s.

The development process of the 45 is fully documented in this 
white paper:

http://tildebang.com/jukebox/rec_and_changer_comp_design_45.pdf