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Sony Walkman Official Logo

The Walkman is a popular Sony brand used by the company to market its portable audio players, and is synonymously used to refer to the original Walkman portable personal stereo player. The original Walkman became famous for bringing about a change in the listening of music, allowing people to carry their own choice of music with them.

The first Walkman was a transistorized miniature portable cassette tape player invented by a German inventor. The first Sony Walkman stereo was sold in 1979 as the Soundabout. Akio Morita created the name Walkman, and until recently he was also credited with the invention of the personal stereo. However Sony has recently acknowledged the claims of Andreas Pavel, who created and patented a similar device, the stereobelt, in 1977. After 30 years of highly financed court battles against Pavel, Sony came to an out-of-court settlement in 2003.

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. The plural form is usually "Walkmans" rather than "Walkmen."

1 Cassette-based Walkman
2 CD Walkman (Discman)
3 MiniDisc Walkman
4 Network Walkman
- 4.1 NW-HD1
- 4.2 NW-HD3
- 4.3 NW-HD5
5 The latest Walkman
6 Walkman Phones from Sony Ericsson
7 See also
8 External links
- 8.1 Reviews
- 8.2 Other links

Cassette-based Walkman

Walkman TPS-L2 (1979)

The original blue-and-silver Walkman model TPS-L2 went on sale in Japan on July 1, 1979. In the UK, it was 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 (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; unusually for a consumer-electronics product, it was in production, unchanged, for almost 20 years.

Amid fierce competition, primarily from Toshiba (the Walky), Aiwa (the CassetteBoy) and Panasonic, by the late 80's, Sony upped the ante once again by creating 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 rechargeable, with optional AC adaptor input. It is also equipped with a tight gap amorphous tape head capable of reproducing the full 20-20,000 Hz 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.

Walkman WM-EX170 (1998)

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 obsolescence 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-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 evolves into a generic term and loses much of its original value, no longer effectively distinguishing the branded 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

MD Walkman

Initially the MiniDisc was akin to a miniaturised CD, capable of storing up to 74 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

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.

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.

NW-HD1

Sony's first attempt at equalling the iPod's success was the NW-HD1, which was smaller and was advertised as having better sound quality than the iPod at the time. 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 did not sell as well as Sony had hoped.

NW-HD3

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 therefore equally poorly received.

NW-HD5

Sony's latest model, the NW-HD5, is an updated design from the HD1 / HD3, and boasts a simpler control system, a removable lithium-ion battery, a quoted running time of 40 hours (when using low-quality settings and no player-based audio enhancements), better compatibility, and updated software. The player is available in black, silver and red. This model is not available for sale in Canada.

In approximately January of 2006, the NW-HD5 became unavailable as a normal purchase from retail electronics stores and was relegated to online auctioneers and used-electronics warehouses as a consumer item.

A number of new flash memory based players were recently made available, including the Walkman Core and the Walkman Bean. Both of these lines have OLED screens as well as long battery lives.

The latest Walkman

The latest Walkman, a digital music player is available in 6 (NW-A1000) and 20 gigabyte (NW-A3000) versions and features a screen using the latest organic EL technology. The player supports Atrac, and WMA and MP3.

There are a number of features to select music according to a wide number of criteria. It features the new ‘Artist link’ function. This means that if you are listening to an artist or track and you press the artist link button the new Walkman will search, find and display similar artists in that genre. It also comprises two new shuffle modes. By selecting ‘My Favourite Shuffle’, the device automatically selects the most listened to 100 songs and plays them at random. The ‘Time Machine Shuffle’ function randomly selects a year and plays all of the songs from that particular year that are currently held on the device.

Walkman Phones from Sony Ericsson

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 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.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.The Sony Ericsson W810 is the same as the W800 except for its quad band and EDGE support.

In continuance with the Walkman series phones, Sony Ericsson launched the W900(considered the successor of S700) which in addition to the audio and camera capabilities of W800, also features 3G video calling and streaming, better video recording (30 frames a second), larger screen and 470MB of internal memory which can be expanded up to 2GB.Music can be imported from a variety of sources into it, either over-the-air direct to the phone(if it supports an operator music download service)or via a PC.

Having sold more than 3 million Walkman phones according to a press release by Miles Flint(President,Sony Ericsson)at the 3GSM Congress 2006 held at Barcelona,Sony Ericsson introduced their sixth Walkman branded phone,W950i to the market.W950i is a slim,UMTS-enabled device with 4GB internal memory (flash memory) complete with touch screen for simple navigation through music genres, playlists, individual songs or music albums.It also the first Symbian based Walkman phone(Symbian v9.1 and UIQ 3.0 platform)to be introduced.

Just before the CeBIT 2006,Sony Ericsson announced yet another Walkman phone,the W300.It is the first clamshell Walkman phone in the series.W300 is also the first Walkman Phone to support Memory Stick Micro(M2)and a VGA camera.

External links

Reviews

Sony NW-A1000
Sony Walkman Bean
Sony NW-HD5