Over the years, the face of music has changed
drastically; the seventies was rock, the eighties was, well I haven’t figured
that out yet, the nineties was grunge, and the 2000’s merged into hip-hop and
pop music. One thing that has changed
more than the music is the way the music is delivered to us and the way we
listen to the music. Technology in
general has changed drastically since the 1970’s, from entertainment consoles
such as Nintendo, the Sony Play Station,www.electronicreborn.com and the X-Box to cameras and
camcorders. As soon as a new product
hits the market the next competitor is in the works to make the product bigger
and better for half the price
So as you
can guess that keeps the technology landscape ever changing and new products or
new product developments are continually hitting the shelves at the nearest
electronic retailer. I am going to go
back in time and revisit one of the earliest electronics manufacturers, the
Sony Corporation and look at how the popular manufacturer has dealt with the
ever changing technological environment over the years. 
The Sony Corporation is a Japanese company.. www.electronicreborn.com ...founded in
1946 after World War 2; originally called Tokyo Tsushin Kogyo,
which in English translates to Tokyo Telecommunications Engineering Company. In the early 1950’s Bell Labs had created the
transistor, which is a semiconductor device used to amplify and switch
electronic signals and sounds. Masaru
Ibuka, the founder of Sony, traveled to America to convince Bell Labs to
license the new technology to his company to be used in communications. The deal was a success and Masaru Ibuka now
had the technology to catapult his new company to be the leader in radio
communications, making the first successfully commercial transistor radio. The TR-55 was the name of Sony’s first
transistor radio, named after the year it was designed in 1955. The design of the radio www.electronicreborn.com is much different
than anything we are used to today, shaped like a rectangular lunchbox 
the
radio has five transistors, the transistor’s replaced vacuum tubes much more
common during that time, and is powered by four double a batteries. The front of the radio is encased in punched
aluminum making the appearance of a very large speaker; www.electronicreborn.com the punched aluminum
design was the first in the market. The
radio was a simple design in that it had a dial knob that changed the radio
station and was marked with the Sony logo.
The overall dimensions of the radio were 89 X 140 X 38.5 mm, much
smaller than what I would expect Sony’s first radio to come in at. The transistor radios price in first year of
sale was a whopping 18,900.00 yen, today you can purchase the radio on e-bay
for a buy now price of $1,500.00.
the
radio has five transistors, the transistor’s replaced vacuum tubes much more
common during that time, and is powered by four double a batteries. The front of the radio is encased in punched
aluminum making the appearance of a very large speaker; www.electronicreborn.com the punched aluminum
design was the first in the market. The
radio was a simple design in that it had a dial knob that changed the radio
station and was marked with the Sony logo.
The overall dimensions of the radio were 89 X 140 X 38.5 mm, much
smaller than what I would expect Sony’s first radio to come in at. The transistor radios price in first year of
sale was a whopping 18,900.00 yen, today you can purchase the radio on e-bay
for a buy now price of $1,500.00.
The Sony Corporation’s second attempt www.electronicreborn.com at designing a new
radio came two years after the first radio hit the market. In 1957, Sony developed the TR-63, the
transistor radio 63 was what the device was called and as simple as the name
implies, the design in my opinion was worse than the name. The Sony Corporation’s attempt at creating a
hand held device 
was a success, the new device weighing in at 2.2 pounds and
4.4 X 2.8 X 1.3 inches in diameter; the radio was dubbed a real shirt pocket
radio. Offered in four colors lemon,
green, red, and black; the radio was a five circuit radio that operated off of
a nine volt battery. The addition of a
tuning capacitor required the design of the radio to switch from four double a
batteries to the nine volt battery, which would become standard on all
handhelds. The design consisted of a
punched aluminum grill similar to the design of the TR-55. The Sony Corporation took the idea of small
to the extreme with this radio with the small price tag of $39.00 at the time
of its release, which in 1959 Japan that was equivalent to one month’s
salary. By the way, I was being
sarcastic about the small price tag.
Nevertheless, it was such a success in the United States the Sony
Corporation 
www.electronicreborn.com earned the catch phrase “the global brand made in Japan”.
was a success, the new device weighing in at 2.2 pounds and
4.4 X 2.8 X 1.3 inches in diameter; the radio was dubbed a real shirt pocket
radio. Offered in four colors lemon,
green, red, and black; the radio was a five circuit radio that operated off of
a nine volt battery. The addition of a
tuning capacitor required the design of the radio to switch from four double a
batteries to the nine volt battery, which would become standard on all
handhelds. The design consisted of a
punched aluminum grill similar to the design of the TR-55. The Sony Corporation took the idea of small
to the extreme with this radio with the small price tag of $39.00 at the time
of its release, which in 1959 Japan that was equivalent to one month’s
salary. By the way, I was being
sarcastic about the small price tag.
Nevertheless, it was such a success in the United States the Sony
Corporation www.electronicreborn.com earned the catch phrase “the global brand made in Japan”.
The Sony Corporation’s next hand held device was
introduced in 1958. The device was
introduced as a more sleek handheld with a tapered bottom, all knobs were on
the right hand side of the device to allow for easier operation. The TR-610 was the new standard for all hand
held transistor radios. The device is
slightly smaller than the previous hand held coming in at 2.5 X 4.2 X 1 inch in
diameter and weighing around 10.6 ounces.
The new device was coined “the vertical shirt pocket transistor radio”
www.electronicreborn.comand is the standard by which all the others are judged. The most aesthetically appealing aspect of
the radio is the speaker grill. 
The
grill is made of punched aluminum much like the earlier models; however, the
grill obtrudes from the device giving the device a more three dimensional look.
The
grill is made of punched aluminum much like the earlier models; however, the
grill obtrudes from the device giving the device a more three dimensional look.
Over the next decade, The Sony Corporation expanded its
endeavors into other areas such as television, tape recorders, audio equipment,
calculators, and larger radios; leaving the development of a new hand held
device on standby. It wasn’t until
around 1973 that the Sony Corporation put out the next hand held radio but by
that time it was just another electronic device; radios had been around for
almost twenty years and now there’s all kinds of other electronics to appease
customers. Sony needed to reinvent the
handheld radio to gain back the popularity.
The Sony Corporation introduced its first ever hand held www.electronicreborn.com stereo cassette recorder/player in 1979.
The Walkman revolutionized the way music was delivered to its
audience. The walkman allowed users to
carry the hand held with them listening to their music through headphones. The Walkman is a very small hand held
weighing less than one pound. Sony had
finally created a new device that was as popular if not more as it’s first hand
held some twenty years earlier. Sony
would use the brand name Walkman to become synonymous with its future hand held
devices’; the name is still used on Sony’s new products to this day. Sony
finally had a product brand that it would keep reinventing; the walkman went
through many developments over the eighties.
www.electronicreborn.com
The biggest change to the Walkman www.electronicreborn.com brand came in 1984 with
the release of its compact disc version named the Discman. The newest member of the Walkman family was a
huge success. The only problem was the
movement of the device could impact the functionality of the compact disc
being
played, such as skipping. The hand held
was larger and boxier than some of its previous products; in my opinion, the
design of the device set Sony back about ten years in terms of design features. Sure it was compact disc but the design of
the device was low priority. One reason
they skimped on design, in my opinion, was to cut cost of the new
technology.
being
played, such as skipping. The hand held
was larger and boxier than some of its previous products; in my opinion, the
design of the device set Sony back about ten years in terms of design features. Sure it was compact disc but the design of
the device was low priority. One reason
they skimped on design, in my opinion, was to cut cost of the new
technology.
Finally, Sony had a device that was ahead of its time in design,
functionality, and cost-- the D-J50.
Released in 1991, the D-J50 was a hand held compact disc player with a
low profile look. The device was
slightly larger than a compact disc jewel case.
One of the reasons Sony www.electronicreborn.com was able to make the device so thin was due to
highly integrated circuits. The controls
for the device were located at the very front, and the right side. The rewind, fast-forward, play, and stop were
on the front with the volume and headphone jack on the right side. The lid for the device was in the shape of a
large compact disc, itself. The Sony Corporation 
would continue to develop new
products throughout the nineties including products such as the Play Station,
the Entertainment Robot, personal computers www.electronicreborn.com, and continually developing the
Walkman.
would continue to develop new
products throughout the nineties including products such as the Play Station,
the Entertainment Robot, personal computers www.electronicreborn.com, and continually developing the
Walkman.
The newest face of Sony is the Walkman mp3 player. The change in technology over the last five
years has ushered in many digital devices making cassette tapes and compact
discs obsolete. The new devices can be
found in any electronic retailer www.electronicreborn.com or on any retailer’s website. The mp3 player allows users to store many
songs to memory. Most new versions of
the Walkman mp3 players have internet capability allowing users to download
hundreds of songs and store them for later use.
The new Walkmans are many times smaller than the ancient Walkmans
developed in the 80’s and 90’s. They are
sleeker with touch screen displays, unheard of in the 80’s. There are many versions of the Walkman
including the Walkman sport allowing users interaction to music while exercising. The best feature of the new Walkmans is the
rechargeable batteries. I remember, as a
kid, having to replace the batteries in my Walkman about every four or five
days, that was around 1994. Such an
inconvenience when the batteries went out in the middle of a song, Oh man!
Today, Sony continues to bring the best of quality to the
Walkman brand. www.electronicreborn.com It will continue to do
product development and continue to deliver the consumer with the newest most
innovative products in the market. There
is more competition today than there was in the early days of the company, but
Sony www.electronicreborn.com makes quality products that are in demand and I’m sure they will be around
for another fifty years.
BROUGHT TO YOU AND CREATED BY:
BRYAN RUSSELL BALDRIDGE
********REBORN TECHNOLOGIES
******************ELECTRONIC REBORN
***********************PROJECT REBORN
www.electronicreborn.com
ESSAYS: oilrun.blogspot.com
MORE ESSAYS: (ALT. ENERGY): chemalt.blogspot.com
Tutorials on C programing: http://cprogrammingloops.blogspot.com
ESSAYS: oilrun.blogspot.com
MORE ESSAYS: (ALT. ENERGY): chemalt.blogspot.com
Tutorials on C programing: http://cprogrammingloops.blogspot.com
References
