Walkman

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SONY Recorder Walkman (TCM-S68V)
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SONY Recorder Walkman (TCM-S68V)
MD Walkman
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MD Walkman
Sony Walkman SRF-S84 transistor radio (released 2001), without earbuds
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Sony Walkman SRF-S84 transistor radio (released 2001), without earbuds

The Sony Walkman personal stereo was a transistorized miniature portable cassette tape player invented by Akio Morita, Masaru Ibuka, and Kozo Ohsone, manufactured by Sony Corporation. The first Sony Walkman stereo was sold in 1979. The name Walkman was invented by Akio Morita. A German inventor, Andreas Pavel, claimed that he had came up with a similar device called a Stereobelt back in 1977. After court battles, Pavel and Sony came to an out of court settlement in 1999.

The names "Walkman", "Pressman", "Watchman", "Scoopman", and "Discman" are trademarks of Sony, and have been applied to a wide range of portable entertainment devices manufactured by the company. Sony continues to use the "Walkman" brand name for all of these kinds of portable audio devices as well, after the "Discman" name for CD players was dropped in the late 1990s.

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Cassette-based Walkman

The original blue-and-silver Walkman model TPS-L2 went on sale in Japan on July 1, 1979. In the UK, it was launched at the London rooftop nightclub Regines as the Sony Stowaway, a name withdrawn within three months of its first public appearance outside Japan in May 1980. In the United States, it was originally called the Sony Soundabout, but this too was eventually replaced by "Walkman". In Sweden, the name Freestyle was used.

Offering the ability for people to carry their own choice of music with them, the Walkman stereo was one of the most successful new consumer product introductions of the 1980s. Hit pop songs were written about it ("Wired for Sound" by Cliff Richard), hundreds of clones flooded the marketplace, and they quickly became ubiquitous amongst urban pedestrians and commuters. It was often linked to the jogging fad while Sony marketing also underlined its suitability for roller-skating.

The original Walkman was based on the Pressman, a business-oriented portable cassette recorder. While retaining the general form, the recording capability was replaced with stereo playback and two mini headphone jacks so two people could listen at the same time (though it came with only one pair of headphones). Where the Pressman had the recording button, the Walkman had a "hotline" button which activated a small built-in microphone (retained from the Pressman), partially overriding the sound from the cassette, and allowing one user to talk to the other over the music. The dual jacks and "hotline" button were phased out in the follow-up Walkman II model, which was more purpose-designed.

Some devices were also capable of recording. The highest quality Sony Walkman recording cassette deck was the Walkman Professional WM-D6C, which was comparable in audio quality with the best non-portable cassette decks. Unusual for a portable device, it had recording level meters and manual control of the left and right recording levels. Powered by the mains or by 4 AA batteries (compared with 2 for most Walkman models), it was widely used by journalists and developed a following among hi-fi enthusiasts.

Amidst of fierce competition primarily from Aiwa (the CassetteBoy) and Panasonic (the Mi-Jockey) by the late 80's, Sony upped the ante once again by creating the absolute zero gimmick, highest quality cassette model imaginable - the playback only WM-DD9, launched in 1989 during the 10th Anniversary of the Walkman (five years after the WM-D6C) and became the holy grail for a niche group of cassette Walkman collectors. It is the only auto reverse Walkman in history to utilize a two motor, quartz locked, disc drive system similar to high-end home cassette decks to ensure accurate tape speed for both sides of playback (only one motor operates at a time depending on the side of the tape being played). Power consumption was improved by requiring only either one AA battery or one gumstick-type rechargable, with optional AC adaptor input. It is also equiped with a tight gap amorphous tape head capable of reproducing the full 20-20,000Hz frequency range, a gold plated headphone jack, and a 2mm thick aluminum body. Sony made this model with only sound quality in mind, therefore it contains no gimmick features such as in-line remote control, music search, or LCD readout. Its only features are Dolby B/C noise reduction decoding, Mega Bass/DBB bass boost, tape type select, and two auto reverse modes.

By the late 1990s, the cassette-based Walkman was generally passed over in favor of the emerging digital technologies of CD, DAT and MiniDisc. After 2000, cassette-based Walkman products (and their clones) were approaching technological obsolesence as the cassette format was gradually phased out. However, Sony still continues to make cassette-based Walkmans today.

Every five years since the Walkman was born in 1979 until 1999, Sony would celebrate by coming out with an anniversary cassette model on July 1st with unprecedented breakthroughs in technology and features. Each anniversary model carries a different theme while retaining some characteristics of previous anniversary models: WM-3EX (luxury theme with golden body and red gift box - 1983), WM-701S (user friendliness theme with remote control and slim sterling silver plated body - 1989), WM-EX1HG (efficiency theme with long battery life and pop-up eject - 1994), WM-WE01 (wireless theme with cordless remote control and cordless earphones - 1999). Sadly, cassette Walkman innovation would come to an end as during its 25th Anniversary, Sony chose to not introduce another limited run cassette model but instead, brought out the hard disk based NW-HD1 in 2004 to officially announce the death of the compact cassette.

In common speech, the term "Walkman" is frequently used for any such device. This is often cited as an example of how a trademark can become so popular that it loses much of its value, as it no longer effectively distinguishes the product from similar ones.

CD Walkman (Discman)

The first CD based Walkman was initially launched in 1984 - the D-50. It was nicknamed the 'Discman', and this name has since been used to refer to them.

Later Discman models boasted ESP (Electronic Skip Protection), which pre-read the music from the CD into a small amount of memory to prevent the CD skipping when the player was moved. The technology was since renamed 'G-Protection', and uses a larger memory to pre-read the data.

For years, the Discman / CD Walkman was a success in the marketplace. However, newer technologies, such as flash / hard drive MP3 players and MiniDiscs, have caused the CD based Walkman to lose popularity.

Sony still makes CD Walkmans - the newer models are capable of playing ATRAC3plus and MP3 CDs, and have become progressively thinner and more compact with each revision.

MiniDisc Walkman

Initially the MiniDisc was akin to a miniaturised CD, capable of storing up to 80 minutes of CD-quality audio on a disc roughly two-thirds the size of a CD. MiniDiscs also came in a plastic caddy, which increased their lifespan over CDs. The MiniDisc Walkman was able to both play and record MiniDiscs from digital sources and microphones. The units were initially large, but soon reduced in size as the technology was perfected.

Gradual improvements were made to MiniDisc player-recorders, including the addition of MDLP (short for MiniDisc LongPlay), which used Sony's ATRAC technology to allow up to 4 times the amount of music to be stored on one MiniDisc, at the sacrifice of some sound quality.

The real 'innovation' with the MiniDisc line came when the NetMD (short for NetworkMD) recorders were introduced. This allowed the use of a PC to convert music from CDs or MP3s into ATRAC3 format, and use a USB cable to transfer the music to the MiniDisc at a much faster rate than was possible when using a line-in cable.

The MZ-N10 was Sony's '10th Anniversary' product, released 10 years after the initial introduction of the MiniDisc format. The recorder's shell was made from magnesium alloy, and also had an in-built lithium-ion battery (which provided 24 hours of battery life), while still being compact and well-built. It allowed music to be transferred from a PC at up to 64 times faster than realtime speed (not including any conversion time).

Since the NetMD, Sony has introduced the HiMD format. These recorders use MiniDiscs with a higher data density, which allows up to 1GB to be stored. Hi-MDs could also be used for data storage, and with the latest models of recorder, direct playback of MP3s without the need for conversion to ATRAC3plus. Some of the latest models include digital cameras and colour screens, to show the cover art of the currently playing song (and allow the user to choose their next song by looking at the cover art of the album) and take / store digital photos on MiniDiscs, all in one device.

Network Walkman

Sony NW-HD5
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Sony NW-HD5

Initially the 'Network' Walkman was a series of digital music players that used flash memory to hold their data. The players used Sony's proprietary ATRAC format, and were available in a number of capacities, up to 1GB. The units were small and well designed - however, they were expensive.

After the runaway success of the hard-drive based Apple iPod, Sony lost a lot of the portable digital audio market to the iPod and other similar devices from other companies, despite keeping their existing product lines and designs up-to-date.

Sony's first attempt at equalling the iPod's success was the NW-HD1, which was smaller and boasted better sound quality. However, the unit would only play Sony's proprietary format, ATRAC3 - whereas other players on the market would play the much more widely used MP3 format without having to be converted to ATRAC3. The PC conversion software, SonicStage, was also buggy, and the player's control system was not as user-friendly as it could have been. The NW-HD1 didn't sell as well as Sony would have hoped.

The replacement model, the NW-HD3 was a very similar design - however, despite the fact that the unit would play MP3s natively, the PC software was still buggy, and the unit was equally poorly received.

Sony's latest model, the NW-HD5, is an updated design from the HD1 / HD3, and boasts a simpler control system, a removeable lithium-ion battery, a quoted running time of 40 hours (when using low-quality settings and no player-based audio enhancements), better compatiblilty, and updated software. The player is available in black, silver and red (in the UK at least).

However, Sony's SonicStage software is only currently available for Windows, with a lack of third-party tools for users of other systems. Also, music files must be transferred via SonicStage to be listenable - and as well as stability issues the program is missing many features (such as podcast support) which iPod users can enjoy via iTunes.

A number of new flash memory based players were recently made available, to compete with other flash based devices, one of which is the iPod Shuffle. The units are available in two designs, with 3 colours available on each. One of the players is also available with a built in FM radio. The players are competitively priced, and are designed for ease of use.

What next?

After losing a large portion of the market to other companies, Sony's latest attempt to revive the Walkman brand involves a series of music-centred mobile phones by Sony Ericsson. The W800 and W550/W600, the first products born of this concept, have numerous audio capabilities including playlists, audio equalisation, support for the .m4a (Apple iTunes) file format, and the ability to operate as a "pure" music player with the phone switched off - in addition to top-of-the-range features such as a 2 megapixel auto-focus camera on the W800. A handsfree with high-quality earbud-type earphones is supplied. The W550/W600 will have 256MB of internal memory, while the W800 comes with a 512MB Memory Stick Pro Duo. Separately available accessories include line-out cables. Third-party options like iTuneMyWalkman include support for iTunes.

See also

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