when it comes to double albums...

[DarkSideOfTheComputer]

how many songs, or minutes before there needs to be a 2nd cd?

[denmarkman]

Like, in terms of the technology? Your standard CD can hold roughly 80 minutes of music.

And if you mean in terms of what makes the best album, I'd give the same answer. I'd rather not have to put in a second CD unless the album just won't fit on one.

[satiemaniac]

it's my understanding that double albums typically are in the 90 minute range with each LP having 45 minutes. i BELIEVE this labeling still is generally applied even though CDs can hold an entire 90 minutes, but I guess in the most literal interpretation of double album needing two discs to hold the data that comprises the album, 180 minutes or three hours would be necessary to fill a standard CD. but i also don't really know the history of the CD as a format or whether companies today use DVDs anyway and can store even more data or what so uhh yeah good question

[CameronMB]

CDs hold almost 80 minutes. I would say that in this day and age a reasonable double album just has to be longer than 80 minutes; this would be unable to fit onto one CD. So even two CDs of 45 minutes could be a double album. I think many older double albums would fit this criteria. That said, plenty of albums in the pre-cd days are shorter. I would say over 1 hour originally appearing on 2LPs is plenty legitimate to qualify as a double album.

Some data from famous double albums:

Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness - 121 minutes
Drukqs - 101 minutes
The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway - 94 minutes
The White Album - 93 minutes
Physical Graffiti - 83 minutes
Quadrophenia - 82 minutes
The Wall - 81 minutes
Dangerous - 77 minutes
Tago Mago - 73 minutes
Out of the Blue - 70 minutes
Exile on Main St. - 67 minutes
Faces - 66 minutes
London Calling - 65 minutes
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[TracyJacks]

A double album should be over 70-75 minutes imo. If songs are 3-4 minutes long then its about 15-16 songs but it really depends on the musical structure. An opposite example is Soft Machine's Third which is 74 minutes long and it has only 4 songs on it.
I personally prefer short albums to longer ones, and it can also be said about double albums. When listening to a double album carefully, I like to take a pause in the middle of it - after about 40 minutes. But when a double album is too long (like Mellon Collie) then more pauses are necessary which breaks the listening experience a bit.

[NowhereMan]

Anything over an hour I'd go!
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[samistake2ice]

well i think that the ideal length of a single Lp is 40-70 min therefore making a double lp between 80 and 140 min (though 140 min is fucking long).
do what you will with that extra 10 min in between.
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[dmercado]

I don't think the definition is completely black and white, and a lot of it has to do with the technology of the time and what the intentions of the artist are. Many rap albums, and generally albums from the 90s, close in on 80 minutes. But before CDs, anything over 50 minutes was extended into a double album. At the end of the day, the distinction is not important (unless you're the RIAA) because a triple album is still an album in the same way that a 25 minute album is, length is just a property of the music that may or may not add to the overall quality.
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[Evandar]

All I know is that double albums tend to be too long. The only double-album that does not feel too long to me is Dylan's "Blonde on Blonde". And it fits on one CD, so there ya go. It's 72:57 long. I remember in the 90s Metallica's "Load" album clocked in at 78:59, precisely because many CD players at the time couldn't handle anything exceeding that length, so they actually had to cut off a bit off the last song. It was too long in any case.