Stereo’s dominance stemmed from LP storage limits, not audio ideals

Evidence

So, two channels were understood to be a compromise, “good enough for the home” or words to that effect, and that is exactly what we ended up with. The choice had nothing to do with aesthetic ideals, but with technical reality that, at the time stereo was commercialized, nobody knew how to store more than two channels in the groove of an LP disc. — Toole, Floyd E, Sound reproduction- the acoustics and…, 389

Categorization

• XREF: Technology-limited format choices echo how vinyl’s groove constraints shaped musical performance width, related to the milgrom trade-institution theme of physical constraints determining practice.
• QUESTION: Worth chasing how modern streaming removes the storage constraint yet stereo persists as the default.