What Product Changed Its Original Name In The U.s. From The "Soundabout"?

Sony introduced its Walkman portable cassette player thirty years agone this week, boot off a revolution in the consumer electronics industry by changing the way people enjoy music.

Until its introduction, the just mode people could bask their own selection of music while on the become was to lug around a larger, heavier cassette role player, but the Walkman brought music to the belt-clip, bag or pocket.

The first Walkman, the TPS-L2, cost ¥33,000 in Nippon and US$200 in the U.Due south., just despite the relatively loftier toll tag the reception was enthusiastic. In 1980 The Wall Street Journal chosen the Walkman "one of the hottest new status symbols around" and noted that prospective U.Due south. owners faced a calendar month-long wait considering of a backlog in orders.

The player had several features that were innovative for the fourth dimension including dual headphone sockets, independent book control for the left and correct audio channels and the distinctive orange "hotline" button on the height that faded the tape output and engaged a microphone so the listener could talk to someone nearby without stopping the music or taking off their headphones.

The pattern and much of the mechanics of the TPS-L2 was based on a model that came out in 1978 but was never branded as Walkman. The TCM-100 was a portable cassette recorder aimed at people who needed the ability to record audio clips on the go, such every bit business people and journalists. The TPS-L2 brought the technology to the mass-market place.

With the success of the Walkman a product line was born that would go on to become i of the world'due south all-time-known brand names — merely that global branding almost didn't happen. Fearing that "Walkman" wasn't proper English language, Sony initially chose the brand proper noun "Soundabout" for the U.South. market, derived from the discussion walkabout, and "Stowaway" for the U.K. It wasn't until a twelvemonth later, in 1980, that Walkman became the global brand name.

Inside a few years the products were developing fast.

The WM-2, introduced in 1981, was notable for its styling, which was much more than modern that of the TPS-L2 and also offered in several colors to accommodate personal tastes. By 1983, just 4 years later the launch of the Walkman, Sony introduced the WM-20, which was the same size as a cassette case. Then in 1984 the Walkman line expanded with the introduction of the D-l, the commencement CD Walkman.

For much of the eighties and nineties Sony reigned supreme in the personal sound space. Information technology sold hundreds of millions of Walkman players and was the standard by which nigh competing products were judged. However, things started to change with the inflow of digital music.

Sony'southward first Walkman to take digital files, the NW-MS7, was introduced in Nihon in Dec 2000 and went on sale elsewhere the following year. The product tied Sony's MemoryStick flash media format with its ATRAC file format and MagicGate copy protection.

Sony didn't know information technology at the time simply the formula would prove disastrous to Walkman's leading position in the portable sound market.

The introduction of digital music didn't simply mean more convenience for users. Information technology lowered the entry barrier to the player market and suddenly companies that had never made a digital audio player earlier could throw together a few chips, add some buttons and a brandish — or more than probable discover a Taiwanese contract manufacturer to practice this for them — and launch their own histrion.

Users were rallying effectually downloaded music or ripping CDs into the MP3 format and there was no shortage of companies lining upward to sell them players. In contrast Sony was requiring users convert MP3 files to ATRAC before they could be loaded on the Walkman.

Apple'south entry to the market in 2001 with the iPod was the starting time stride in a what would exist a brusque journey to replace Sony as the most fashionable brand name in portable audio.

In recent years nether CEO Howard Stringer Sony has been attempting to reinvigorate its Walkman line and sales have been rising. Sony sold 7 million Walkman digital music players in the financial year that ended in March, up from iv.five million in 2006. For the current fiscal year it expects to sell 6.three million units, a lower number due in part to the poor economy.

Sony's latest flagship model, the NW-X1000, packs noise cancelling, a bright touchscreen display, mobile TV, and the ability to surf the Internet and sentry YouTube videos. It'due south already on sale in major markets and supports Sony'due south ATRAC format but as well MP3, Windows Media and Linear PCM in addition to AVC, MPEG4 and WMV9 video files.

Source: https://www.techhive.com/article/601502/walkman_turns_30.html#:~:text=Fearing%20that%20%E2%80%9CWalkman%E2%80%9D%20wasn',became%20the%20global%20brand%20name.

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