Walkman is a
Sony, commonly referred to as Sony, is a Japanese multinational conglomerate corporation headquartered in Minato, Tokyo, Japan and the world's fifth largest media conglomerate measured by revenues....
brand tradename originally used for portable audio
cassetteThe Compact Cassette, often referred to as audio cassette, cassette tape, cassette, or simply tape, is a magnetic tape sound recording format. It was designed originally for dictation, but improvements in fidelity led the Compact Cassette to supplant the Stereo 8-track cartridge and reel-to-reel...
, and now used to market Sony's portable
audioAn audio frequency or audible frequency is characterized as a periodic vibration whose frequency is audible to the average human...
and
videoVideo is the technology of electronically capturing, recording, processing, storing, transmitting, and reconstructing a sequence of still images representing scenes in motion.- History :...
players as well as a line of
Sony EricssonSony Ericsson Mobile Communications AB is a joint venture established on October 1, 2001 by the Japanese consumer electronics company Sony Corporation and the Swedish telecommunications company Ericsson to manufacture mobile phones....
mobile phoneA mobile phone is a device which can make and receive telephone calls over a radio link whilst moving around a wide geographic area. It does so by connecting to a cellular network provided by a mobile network operator...
s. The original Walkman introduced a change in
musicMusic is an art form whose medium is sound and silence. Its common elements are pitch , rhythm , dynamics, and the sonic qualities of timbre and texture...
listening habits by allowing people to carry music with them and listen to music through lightweight headphones.
The device was built in 1978 by audio-division engineer
Nobutoshi KiharaNobutoshi Kihara was an engineer at Sony, best known for his work on the original Walkman cassette-tape player in the 1970s and was commonly called Mr...
for Sony co-chairman
Akio MoritaAkio Morita KBE was a Japanese businessman and co-founder of Sony Corporation along with Masaru Ibuka.-Early life:...
, who wanted to be able to listen to operas during his frequent trans-Pacific plane trips. The original Walkman was marketed in 1979 as the Walkman in Japan, the Soundabout in many other countries including the US, Freestyle in Sweden and the Stowaway in the UK. Advertising, despite all the foreign languages, still attracted thousands of buyers in the US specifically. Morita hated the name "Walkman" and asked that it be changed, but relented after being told by junior executives that a promotion campaign had already begun using the
brandThe American Marketing Association defines a brand as a "Name, term, design, symbol, or any other feature that identifies one seller's good or service as distinct from those of other sellers."...
name and that it would be too expensive to change.
The names "Walkman", "Pressman", "Watchman", "
ScoopmanNT was a digital memo recording system introduced by Sony in 1992, sometimes marketed under the name Scoopman. The system stored memos using helical scanning on special microcassettes, which were 30 × 21.5 × 5 mm with a tape width of 2.5 mm, with a recording capacity of up to...
", "
DiscmanDiscman was the product name given to Sony's first portable CD player, the D-50, which was the first on the market in 1984, and adopted for Sony's entire portable CD player line...
", and "
TalkmanTalkman is a program developed by Sony Computer Entertainment for the Sony PlayStation Portable video game console. It is a voice-activated translation software application that operates in four languages Japanese, English, Korean, and Chinese .The name "Talkman" is a reference to Sony's Walkman...
" are
trademarkA trademark, trade mark, or trade-mark is a distinctive sign or indicator used by an individual, business organization, or other legal entity to identify that the products or services to consumers with which the trademark appears originate from a unique source, and to distinguish its products or...
s of Sony, and have been applied to a wide range of portable entertainment devices manufactured by the company. The name "Walkman" was based on its precursor, the Pressman tape recorder. An initial prototype of the Walkman was in fact made by replacing the recording circuit and speaker from the Pressman with a stereo amplifier. Sony continues to use the "Walkman" brand name for most of their portable audio devices, after the "Discman" name for CD players was dropped in the late 1990s. According to Sony, the plural form is "Walkman Personal Stereos", rather than "Walkmans" or "Walkmen".
In March 2007, Sony extended the brand by launching its first all-digital, flash-based video Walkman, the
A800The Sony NW-A80x, is a series of network enabled video Walkman players, announced late 2006 and released on 19 May 2007.On 19 May 2007, only the NW-A806 and the NW-A808 model were released. On 13 June 2007, Sony announced that the NW-A800 would be included in the series and soon be available to...
series, where A stands for "All in one, Advanced, and Attractive".
Marketing
Sony's marketing team produced their first advertisement, a print ad, in 1979 named
Bridging the difference. The marketing of the Walkman introduced the idea of 'Japanese-ness' into global culture, synonymous with miniaturization and high-technology. While it was also launched as Walkman in Asia, the Middle East and Latin America. It was launched as
Freestyle in Sweden, since the Sony staff in Sweden objected to the illicit connotations of the word "stowaway". The use of these different names meant that the same product had to be promoted with different logos and package designs. Before the release of the Walkman, Sony distributed 100 cassette-players to influential individuals like magazine editors and musicians.
The "Walk-men" and "Walk-women" in advertisements were created to be the ideal reflections of the subject watching. This suppositional link that the consumer can have with the product allows one to identify with the personalized device, which then can become an integrated part of his or her life. The advertising of the Sony Walkman served to portray it as a culturally "hip" item. The advertisements contained youthful and fit people using the Walkman in order to entice people into purchasing it. The people in the commercials embodied the "identities we can become", thus making the Walkman a more appealing product for consumers. Teenagers were targeted by the advertising in particular, as Sony's executives hoped that by marketing their product to teens, the Walkman brand would become associated with "youth, activity, sport, leisure, the outdoors, fitness, health, movement, [and] getting-out-and-about". The word "walk-man" itself provides consumers with a vision of the product. In addition to these other modes of advertising, the walkman can be marketed through its idea of being a definition of today's culture. "It belongs to our culture because we have constructed for it a little world of meaning; and this bringing of the object into meaning is what constitutes it as a cultural artefact".
Today, Walkman still maintains its role in
popular culturePopular culture is the totality of ideas, perspectives, attitudes, memes, images and other phenomena that are deemed preferred per an informal consensus within the mainstream of a given culture, especially Western culture of the early to mid 20th century and the emerging global mainstream of the...
, albeit a diminished one due to the large number of competitors in mobile audio devices today. Through Sony's effort to "[sustain] certain meanings and practices which have become emblematic of--which seem to stand for or to represent--a distinctive 'way of life': the culture of late-modern, post-industrial societies", the Walkman remains, largely due to effective advertisement, a symbol of the freedom and portability that Sony sought to convey among the younger demographic.
A main component of Walkman advertising campaign was personalization of the device. Having the ability to customize a playlist was a new and exciting revolution in music technology. Potential buyers had the opportunity to choose their perfect match in terms of mobile listening technology. Despite "all this technological diversity, there must be one which is the perfect choice for you". This method of marketing to an extremely expansive user-base while maintaining the idea that the product was made for each individual "[got] the best of all possible worlds—mass marketing and personal differentiation". Sony accomplished the genius feat of mass individualized and targeted advertisement, enabling the Walkman to be recognized as an influential piece of technology.
Origins
A portable personal stereo audio cassette player, called
StereobeltThe Stereobelt was the first portable personal stereo audio cassette player. It was invented by the German-Brazilian Andreas Pavel. The Stereobelt was the ancestor of the Walkman and modern-day personal audio devices such as the Zune and the iPod....
, was first invented by the German-Brazilian
Andreas PavelAndreas Pavel is a German-Brazilian inventor who is the 'father' of the portable personal stereo cassette player, better known as the Walkman....
in 1972. Pavel filed a patent for his Stereobelt in
ItalyItaly , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
in 1977, followed by patent applications in the U.S.,
GermanyGermany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
, the
United KingdomThe United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
and
JapanJapan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
by the end of 1978. His patent applications in the U.S. and the U.K. were rejected.
In 1979, Sony began selling the popular Walkman, and in 1980 started legal talks with Pavel regarding a royalty fee. In 1986 Sony finally agreed to pay royalties to Pavel, but only for sales in Germany, and only for a few models, and refused to acknowledge him as the inventor of the device.
In 2001, Pavel threatened Sony with legal suits in every country in which he had patented his invention. The corporation agreed to resume talks with Pavel and a settlement was finally reached in 2003. The exact settlement fee is a closely guarded secret but European press accounts said that Pavel received a cash settlement for damages in excess of $10,000,000 and is now also receiving royalties on some Walkman sales. The settlement also includes a clause which will prevent Pavel from bringing future law suits.
The settlement grants Pavel the recognition from Sony that he was the original inventor of the
personal stereoThe personal stereo is the term given to a portable audio player using an audiocassette player. This allows the listening of music through headphones while a person is mobile. The first personal stereo was the Stereobelt invented and patented by Andreas Pavel in 1977. Pavel attempted to...
.
Cassette-based
The metal-cased blue-and-silver Walkman TPS-L2, the world's first low-cost portable stereo, went on sale in
JapanJapan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
on July 1, 1979. In June 1980, it was introduced in the U.S. In the
UKThe United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
, it came with stereo playback and two mini headphone jacks, permitting two people to listen at the same time (though it came with only one pair of MDR-3L2 headphones.). Where the Pressman had the recording button, the TPS-L2 had a "
hotlineIn telecommunication, a hotline is a point-to-point communications link in which a call is automatically directed to the preselected destination without any additional action by the user when the end instrument goes off-hook...
" button which activated a small built-in microphone, partially overriding the sound from the cassette, and allowing one user to talk to the other over the music. Originally marketed as the "Soundabout" in the U.S., the "Stowaway" in the U.K., and the "Freestyle" in Sweden, Sony soon had the new name "Walkman" embossed into the metal tape cover of the device. When the follow-up model, "Walkman II" came out, the "hotline" button was phased out.
Some devices were also capable of recording. The highest quality Sony Walkman recording cassette deck was the Walkman Professional. Introduced in 1982 as WM-D6 and then replaced by the WM-D6C on September 1, 1984, it was comparable in audio quality to the best professional audio equipment. Many magazines began to compare it with non-portable cassette decks. The Walkman Professional had bright LED recording level meters and manual control of recording levels which were unique features not found in other portable units. It was equipped with quartz-lock capstan servo and amorphous head. Powered by a 6V adapter or 4
AA batteriesAn AA battery is a standard size of battery. Batteries of this size are the most commonly used type of in portable electronic devices. An AA battery is composed of a single electrochemical cell...
(compared with 2 for most Walkman models), it was widely used by journalists and developed a following among
hi-fiHigh fidelity—or hi-fi—reproduction is a term used by home stereo listeners and home audio enthusiasts to refer to high-quality reproduction of sound or images, to distinguish it from the poorer quality sound produced by inexpensive audio equipment...
enthusiasts. Even more unusual for a consumer-electronics product, it remained in production until 2002 and received only one major upgrade in the form of a reworked circuit board that used
SMDSurface mount technology is a method for constructing electronic circuits in which the components are mounted directly onto the surface of printed circuit boards . An electronic device so made is called a surface mount device...
components. One of
Henry RollinsHenry Rollins is an American singer-songwriter, spoken word artist, writer, comedian, publisher, actor, and radio DJ....
' early
spoken wordSpoken word is a form of poetry that often uses alliterated prose or verse and occasionally uses metered verse to express social commentary. Traditionally it is in the first person, is from the poet’s point of view and is themed in current events....
CDs was recorded with a Walkman Pro.
Amid fierce competition, primarily from Toshiba (the Walky), Aiwa (the CassetteBoy) and Panasonic (the MiJockey), by the late 80s, 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 use 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 2 mm 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
CDThe Compact Disc is an optical disc used to store digital data. It was originally developed to store and playback sound recordings exclusively, but later expanded to encompass data storage , write-once audio and data storage , rewritable media , Video Compact Discs , Super Video Compact Discs ,...
,
DATDigital Audio Tape is a signal recording and playback medium developed by Sony and introduced in 1987. In appearance it is similar to a compact audio cassette, using 4 mm magnetic tape enclosed in a protective shell, but is roughly half the size at 73 mm × 54 mm × 10.5 mm. As...
and
MiniDiscThe disc is permanently housed in a cartridge with a sliding door, similar to the casing of a 3.5" floppy disk. This shutter is opened automatically by a mechanism upon insertion. The audio discs can either be recordable or premastered. Recordable MiniDiscs use a magneto-optical system to record...
. After 2000, cassette-based Walkman products (and their clones) were approaching technological obsolescence as the cassette format was gradually phased out. Sony still continues to make cassette-based Walkman devices in China for the US and other overseas markets, however they were discontinued in Japan only on October 23, 2010.
Every five years since the Walkman personal stereo was born in 1979 until 1999, Sony would celebrate by coming out with an anniversary cassette model on July 1. 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). However, 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 augur the death of the compact cassette. The last play-only cassette Walkman to be introduced (in North America, at least) was the WM-FX290, first sold in 2002, which also featured digital tuning, AM, FM, TV and weather band radio, operating on a single AA battery. In Canada, at least (where, like all portable radios distributed in that country, the WM-FX290 lacked access to TV and weather bands) this device appears to have ceased production as of May, 2006. In August 2006, Sony Canada began selling cassette Walkman personal stereos again, but this time they were only offering a basic model, the WM-FX197.
Until early 2009, in spite of the decline of the cassette, logically operated deluxe models (WM-GX788 etc.) had been available in a very few countries, especially in South Korea, Vietnam, and Japan. These models supported a so-called gumstick-type rechargeable battery, offered relatively better sound quality than cheaper models did, and had an automatic tape position selector and auto-reverse function. As of spring 2009, all tape models except the WM-EX651 were discontinued in South Korea. In Japan, only a few cheap models (WM-GX202 etc.) remained. In October 2010, however, those 'few' models finally became out of production. Many people no longer use cassette tapes for music listening and, in a few countries, cassette tapes are only used for language learning, which is now significantly declining thanks to podcasts from
BBCThe British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
or
CNNCable News Network is a U.S. cable news channel founded in 1980 by Ted Turner. Upon its launch, CNN was the first channel to provide 24-hour television news coverage, and the first all-news television channel in the United States...
or trends of (foreign-language learning) publishers which adopt MP3 file services or attached CDs rather than attaching tapes to their publications.
In October 2010, it was reported that manufacturing of the cassette-based Walkman would cease in Japan, but that Sony would continue production of the device in China to accommodate users abroad, including in the
United StatesThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, Europe, and some Asian countries. Once the final units are sold, they will not be available from the manufacturer. With the increase popularity of the MP3 players, it was the CD (compact disc) player that originally caused the decline of the Walkman.
CD Walkman (Discman)
The first CD based Walkman, the D-50 (D-5 in some markets), was initially launched in 1984. It was officially called the
DiscmanDiscman was the product name given to Sony's first portable CD player, the D-50, which was the first on the market in 1984, and adopted for Sony's entire portable CD player line...
, and this name has since been used informally to refer to such players. In recent years, Sony has dropped the Discman name and markets all its personal stereos under the Walkman brand.
Later Discman models featured ESP (Electronic Skip Protection), which pre-read the music from the CD into on-board memory and formed a type of buffer to prevent the CD skipping when the player was moved. The technology was since renamed 'G-Protection' and features a larger memory area, providing additional protection against skipping.
For years, the Discman and MD Walkman were successes in the marketplace. However, newer technologies, such as
flash memoryFlash memory is a non-volatile computer storage chip that can be electrically erased and reprogrammed. It was developed from EEPROM and must be erased in fairly large blocks before these can be rewritten with new data...
and hard drive-based digital audio players have caused the CD- and MD-based Walkman to lose popularity.
Sony still makes CD Walkmans: the newer models are capable of playing ATRAC3, ATRAC3plus, and MP3 CDs, and have become progressively thinner and more compact with each revision.
Video Walkman
The Sony GV-8 Video Walkman was introduced in 1989. It played
Video 8The 8mm video format refers informally to three related videocassette formats for the NTSC and PAL/SECAM television systems. These are the original Video8 format and its improved successor Hi8 , as well as a more recent digital recording format known as Digital8.Their user base...
format tape cassettes, showing them on a 3 inches (76.2 mm) diagonal color screen. The GV-8 included a TV receiver for
VHFVery high frequency is the radio frequency range from 30 MHz to 300 MHz. Frequencies immediately below VHF are denoted High frequency , and the next higher frequencies are known as Ultra high frequency...
and
UHFUltra-High Frequency designates the ITU Radio frequency range of electromagnetic waves between 300 MHz and 3 GHz , also known as the decimetre band or decimetre wave as the wavelengths range from one to ten decimetres...
channels. It was 5 × 8 × 2½ inches and weighed two and a half pounds. The rechargeable battery lasted from 45 minutes to one hour depending on usage.
MiniDisc Walkman
Initially the
MiniDiscThe disc is permanently housed in a cartridge with a sliding door, similar to the casing of a 3.5" floppy disk. This shutter is opened automatically by a mechanism upon insertion. The audio discs can either be recordable or premastered. Recordable MiniDiscs use a magneto-optical system to record...
was comparable to a miniaturised CD, capable of storing up to 74 minutes of near CD-quality audio on a disc roughly two-thirds the size of a CD. Today MiniDiscs can hold data files as well as music, with the ability to record and reproduce audio in CD-quality (without
ATRACAdaptive Transform Acoustic Coding is a family of proprietary audio compression algorithms developed by Sony. MiniDisc was the first commercial product to incorporate ATRAC in 1992. ATRAC allowed a relatively small disc like MiniDisc to have the same running time as CD while storing audio...
lossy compression).
MiniDiscs come in a plastic caddy protecting the disc's surface from dust and scratches. MiniDisc Walkmans are able to play and record MiniDiscs from digital and analogue sources, such as live audio from their microphone inputs. The first unit on the market, the MZ-1 was relatively large and unpocketable, but following model, MZ-R2, and subsequent MD Walkmans are quite compact, with today's MiniDisc Walkmans not much larger than the discs themselves.
Gradual improvements were made to MiniDisc Walkmans through the years. The addition of MDLP (MiniDisc LongPlay) codec allowed up to 4 times the amount of music to be stored on one MiniDisc, at the sacrifice of some sound quality. NetMD followed. In 2004, Hi-MD was introduced, enabling computer files as well as CD-quality audio to be recorded on the discs for the first time. By 2005, Sony had relaxed the restrictions in its
SonicStageSonicStage is the name for Sony software that is used for managing portable devices when they are plugged into a computer running Microsoft Windows. It comprises a music player and library manager, similar to iTunes, Windows Media Player and RealPlayer. It is used to manage the library of ATRAC...
software to allow unrestricted digital transfers to and from Hi-MD and the computer.
NetMD
Sony expanded MiniDisc's possibilities with the introduction of NetMD (NetworkMD). These 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 released in 2002. It was Sony's '10th Anniversary' product, released 10 years after the introduction of the MiniDisc format in 1992. The case was made from a magnesium alloy, and the unit featured a built-in lithium-ion battery which provided 24 hours of battery life. The MZ-N10 allowed music to be transferred from a PC at up to 64 times actual playback speed, not including the time required for audio re-encoding. It was also the first MD Walkman to incorporate the
ATRACAdaptive Transform Acoustic Coding is a family of proprietary audio compression algorithms developed by Sony. MiniDisc was the first commercial product to incorporate ATRAC in 1992. ATRAC allowed a relatively small disc like MiniDisc to have the same running time as CD while storing audio...
DSP TYPE S codec, and is today (2006) the lightest recording MD Walkman ever produced. The accompanying 10th anniversary playback-only MiniDisc Walkman, the MZ-E10, was also released. It is the lightest MD Walkman ever produced, weighing 55 g (including built-in rechargeable battery) with a thickness of 9.9 mm.
Hi-MD
In 2004, Sony introduced the Hi-MD format. Hi-MD Walkmans use 1 GB Hi-MD discs in the same form-factor as regular MiniDiscs, and allow 1 GB of files and/or audio to be stored per disc. They also accept regular MiniDiscs, which can be initialized in Hi-MD mode for 305 MB capacity per disc (with the added ability to store audio and data, like Hi-MD discs).
Unlike NetMD, Hi-MD Walkmans allow two-way digital transfers to and from PCs virtually unrestricted. Hi-MD also allows the option to record and transfer audio in lossless linear PCM on standard MiniDiscs and Hi-MD discs. This offers sound quality equal to CD (as opposed to lossy ATRAC codecs used on standard MiniDisc/ NetMD).
Hi-MD Walkmans introduced from 2005 onwards allow direct playback of MP3s without the need to transcode the MP3s to ATRAC format. However, SonicStage is required for transfer and encryption onto the disc itself. Playable audio cannot be transferred to the devices without SonicStage.
Network Walkman
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 1 GB. The first of these Walkmans was the NW-MS7 which had a removable 64MB MagicGate Memorystick. At the time of its release (1999) it then boasted NW-MS70D as the smallest MP3 player on the market. After the runaway success of Apple's hard-drive-based
iPodiPod is a line of portable media players created and marketed by Apple Inc. The product line-up currently consists of the hard drive-based iPod Classic, the touchscreen iPod Touch, the compact iPod Nano, and the ultra-compact iPod Shuffle...
, Sony lost much of the portable digital audio market to the iPod and similar devices from other companies. Their main downfall would be Sony's stubborn resistance to supporting the ubiquitous MP3 codec in their early players and many users found it frustrating to convert their MP3 music collection to ATRAC3 for use on the Network Walkman, while Apple's iPod supported MP3 out of the box and came with the
iTunesiTunes is a media player computer program, used for playing, downloading, and organizing digital music and video files on desktop computers. It can also manage contents on iPod, iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad....
software.
NW-MS7
The NW-MS7 was released towards the mid of 1999 as Sony's first hit at the portable music player industry. They produce this first model shipping with a white 64MB MagicGate Memorystick and built-in battery, selling aside with NW-E3(32MB built-in and uses AAA battery) and had unfortunately released this which the memory is not enough for most people, and needed to transfer songs with bundled software OpenMG Jukebox(only works with Win98SE and later known as SonicStage). Later they produced upgrades NW-MS9/MS11 bundled with 64MB/128MB and uses a Gumstick type battery, and then the NW-MS70D with 256MB built-in, however at the same time as Apple released the iPod. NW-MS70D had 256MB of built-in flash memory. It could also be expanded by its MagicGate MemoryStick Duo port. But at the time, the Memory Stick PRO Duo had not been released yet. So therefore the NW-MS70D could only yield 384MB at any one time. The other downside to it was that it was incredibly expensive, costing as much as a 15 GB iPod. It also used a very buggy software, Sonicstage, and only played Atrac3, Atrac3plus and WAV files. However, it was the smallest digital audio player at that time. It was also solidly built with a aluminium shell. It boasted a 44 hour battery life. Despite a heavy marketing campaign, its sales were limited.
NW-MS90D
The replacement model, the NW-MS90D, used the same software as NW-MS70D, and yielded a maximum of 640 MB at any one time, but was also extremely expensive. The most eminent change was the 512 MB inbuilt memory and its new black shell. Due to its price and limited capacity, it was still largely ignored by the general public.
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. Sony did upgrade the HD1 to play MP3s but it still needed Sonicstage to transfer the files. 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. Its successors, the NW-HD3 and NW-HD5, also failed to make a major dent in the iPod's sales.
NW-HD3
The successor to the hard disk-based NW-HD1, 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 next model, the NW-HD5, was an updated design from the HD1 / HD3, and boasted a simpler control system, a user-removable lithium-ion battery, better file format compatibility, a unique "Follow Turn Display" that would automatically align itself based on how the player was held on startup, and updated software. A main feature was its advertised running time of 40 hours, when using low-quality format settings, i.e., 48 kbit/s ATRAC3 files, and no player-based audio enhancements (although the player does include these). Playback of 128 kbit/s mp3s was rated at 30 hours. The player was available in black, silver and red and was not sold in the Canadian market.
Unfortunately, the NW-HD5 was shipped with a cosmetic design flaw which meant that the buttons developed small visible cracks under their plastic coating. Although this did not affect functionality, many customers complained. Sony United Kingdom Limited allowed owners to send the units back to be re-fitted with slightly raised, crack-resistant buttons. Perhaps because of this problem, the NW-HD5 was on the market for a very short time before being pulled in preparation for the next model.
In January 2006, the NW-HD5 became unavailable as a normal purchase from retail electronics stores and was relegated to online auction sites and used-electronics warehouses as a consumer item. Eventually the whole of the Network Walkman line would be discontinued for Sony's new solution.
Walkman MP3
Walkman MP3 marked the inclusion of popular codecs such as
MP3MPEG-1 or MPEG-2 Audio Layer III, more commonly referred to as MP3, is a patented digital audio encoding format using a form of lossy data compression...
,
AACAdvanced Audio Coding is a standardized, lossy compression and encoding scheme for digital audio. Designed to be the successor of the MP3 format, AAC generally achieves better sound quality than MP3 at similar bit rates....
and
WMAWindows Media Audio is an audio data compression technology developed by Microsoft. The name can be used to refer to its audio file format or its audio codecs. It is a proprietary technology that forms part of the Windows Media framework. WMA consists of four distinct codecs...
. Walkman MP3 players reside in the same Network Walkman group.
Some hardware changes include the exclusion of stick remote control and the usage of new connector for charging, accessories and data transferring. Starting with the NW-S series, Walkmans feature Sony's new proprietary port called
WM-PORT which is a USB 2.0 compliant 22-pin connector. Another notable hardware change is a color screen which can display album art. These models also use new power management features which give the device a three-hour battery life after only three minutes of charging.
NW-A series models still use the previous connector and can still use the stick remote control.
Early releases
Some early releases in this category are players using flash memory as storage media. Sony called them
Portable IC Audio Player. These release include the
Walkman CoreThe Walkman Core is a digital audio player available in capacities of 1 GB and 512 MB. Features include a 3-Line electroluminescence display, battery rated to hold a 50 hour playback life, the ability to play MP3/ATRAC3/ATRAC3plus audio formats. Sony also claims that the battery can charge at a...
(NW-E50X and NW-E60X series), the
Walkman CircThe Walkman Circ is a circular MP3 player about the size of a circular bar of soap. It was released in 2001.- Producer:The Sony Circ Audio Walkman comes from the walkman division of Sony. It comes from a line of MP3 players dependent on advancing nanotechnology.-Colour:The walkman comes in a...
(NW-E10X series), and the Walkman Bean (NW-E20X and NW-E30X series). All of these lines have
Organic light-emitting diodeAn OLED is a light-emitting diode in which the emissive electroluminescent layer is a film of organic compounds which emit light in response to an electric current. This layer of organic semiconductor material is situated between two electrodes...
(OLED) screens. They are not using WM-PORT and support MP3, WMA and ATRAC format only.
NW-A Series
The NW-A series Walkman is a digital music player available in 6 (NW-A1000), 8 (NW-A1200) and 20 gigabyte (NW-A3000) versions and features an
ELElectroluminescence is an optical phenomenon and electrical phenomenon in which a material emits light in response to the passage of an electric current or to a strong electric field...
-technology screen. Battery life can reach 20 and 35 hours respectively. The player supports ATRAC3, MP3, WMA and from firmware version 3.00 it also supports
AACAdvanced Audio Coding is a standardized, lossy compression and encoding scheme for digital audio. Designed to be the successor of the MP3 format, AAC generally achieves better sound quality than MP3 at similar bit rates....
.
The primary means of putting music on this device is to use Sony software: SonicStage and
Connect PlayerCONNECT Player is a media player application, developed by Sony Connect, a division of Sony Corporation of America in 2005. It was released for European and Japanese market in November 2005 to be used with Sony's new HDD digital music players - the NW-A Walkman Series.In January 2006, Sony Europe...
(now withdrawn due to too many problems). The software only works on Microsoft Windows. Other common platforms such as
Mac OSMac OS is a series of graphical user interface-based operating systems developed by Apple Inc. for their Macintosh line of computer systems. The Macintosh user experience is credited with popularizing the graphical user interface...
and
LinuxLinux is a Unix-like computer operating system assembled under the model of free and open source software development and distribution. The defining component of any Linux system is the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released October 5, 1991 by Linus Torvalds...
are not supported. SonicStage has received much criticism. It is only possible to move tracks from the music player to the PC's hard drive, and thereby from one music player to another, if each device/computer is "authorized" to the user's account with the Connect Store for their country. Users from countries that do not have the Connect Store service are currently limited to one device/computer.
There are a number of features to select music according to a variety of criteria. The "Artist link" function prompts the Walkman to search, find and display similar artists in that genre. There are two new shuffle modes. By selecting "My Favourite Shuffle", the device automatically selects the 100 most listened to 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 currently held on the device. A recent firmware update (V3.00) added the "Artist Link Shuffle" function to the list of Intelligent Shuffle modes, along with a clock and calendar.
NW-D series
Released in July 2007, this was a line of 1 GB (
NWD-B103/B103F) and 2 GB (
NWD-B105/105F) multifunction MP3 player and voice recording function. It was the firm's first-ever MP3 player to be liberated from the SonicStage software, but it has been shorn of the ability to play back
ATRACAdaptive Transform Acoustic Coding is a family of proprietary audio compression algorithms developed by Sony. MiniDisc was the first commercial product to incorporate ATRAC in 1992. ATRAC allowed a relatively small disc like MiniDisc to have the same running time as CD while storing audio...
and
AACAdvanced Audio Coding is a standardized, lossy compression and encoding scheme for digital audio. Designed to be the successor of the MP3 format, AAC generally achieves better sound quality than MP3 at similar bit rates....
music files.
The Auto-Transfer option allowed this Walkman to search for all the MP3 files on the PC and then copy these files directly to the Walkman. It also could record CDs directly from a Sony compatible Hifi system via USB connection without any PC (the NWD-B105 also supported
WMAWMA may refer to:- Organizations :*Western Manufactured Housing Communities Association, a nonprofit trade association for owners of manufactured home communities in California*Western Marble Arch, a synagogue in central London...
files).
It also came with a three-line colour display; the voice recorder (MP3) came with bit rates of low (96 kbit/s), mid (128 kbit/s) and high. Models with the built-in FM tuner ("F") had 30 preset stations with a frequency of 87.5–108.0 MHz, with the capability to record and play FM content. The five preset equaliser also had a custom setting option.
NW-E Series
E series established itself as a pure
MP3MPEG-1 or MPEG-2 Audio Layer III, more commonly referred to as MP3, is a patented digital audio encoding format using a form of lossy data compression...
player without large LCD display to play videos. It had a similar design to a USB flashdrive, and it provided a large collection of different colors. Specifically, E020 series released in Japanese domestic market features changeable case, making the color selection enormous.
In August 2006 Sony released the
NW-E00X series, filled with 512MB, 1 GB or 2 GB of flash-memory. Very compact, this Walkman offered a battery life of up to 28 hours. It had a built-in USB key for easy file transfer. The battery charge/recharge was through USB connection. It was also equipped with a bright and clear 1 line OLED display for easy navigation. Dimensions were: width 24.6mm, height 79.0mm, depth 13.6mm and weight 25.0 grams.
Supported multiple codec ATRAC (
ATRAC3 66 kbit/s, 105 kbit/s, 132 kbit/s,
ATRAC3plus 48 kbit/s, 64 kbit/s, 256 kbit/s) MP3 and WMA (and later AAC), via SonicStage 3.4 software for music management and transfers of tracks for
WindowsMicrosoft Windows is a series of operating systems produced by Microsoft.Microsoft introduced an operating environment named Windows on November 20, 1985 as an add-on to MS-DOS in response to the growing interest in graphical user interfaces . Microsoft Windows came to dominate the world's personal...
.
This series also worked with
LinuxLinux is a Unix-like computer operating system assembled under the model of free and open source software development and distribution. The defining component of any Linux system is the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released October 5, 1991 by Linus Torvalds...
and
MacMac OS is a series of graphical user interface-based operating systems developed by Apple Inc. for their Macintosh line of computer systems. The Macintosh user experience is credited with popularizing the graphical user interface...
using the
free softwareFree software, software libre or libre software is software that can be used, studied, and modified without restriction, and which can be copied and redistributed in modified or unmodified form either without restriction, or with restrictions that only ensure that further recipients can also do...
originally called
NW-E00X MP3 File Manager, that eventually become in
Symphonic, and now
JSymphonic. JSymphonic is an open source, cross-platform program (that runs on any Windows/Linux/Mac machine with java 1.5 installed), that, once copied into the Walkman enables the transfer of several audio files, including MP3, to/from several flash based Walkman Series.
It can be downloaded from here and is in continuous development.
In March 2007,
AsiaAsia is the world's largest and most populous continent, located primarily in the eastern and northern hemispheres. It covers 8.7% of the Earth's total surface area and with approximately 3.879 billion people, it hosts 60% of the world's current human population...
,
AustraliaAustralia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
,
New ZealandNew Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...
, some countries of
EuropeEurope is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
and
CanadaCanada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
had the Walkman
NW-E01X series (NW-E013, NW-E015 and NW-E016) a small USB flash player. Weighing only 23 g, the NW-E01X was available in capacities from 1 to 4 GB and came in five colors: pink, violet, teal, black, and gold. Its features included a rechargeable lithium-ion battery, built-in FM tuner, a three-line color OLED display, calendar and time function, and Clear Stereo and Clear Bass technologies to enhance the audio quality. A release date and pricing for the NW-E01X in the
United StatesThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
was also unknown.
The
NW-E02X series, were released in
JapanJapan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
in March 2008. The memory sizes were 1 GB for the NW-E023, 2 GB for the NW-E025, and 4 GB for the NW-E026. Each size was available in a five color assortment: white, pink, green, red, and black. The faces of the players were designed for admit changeable color and design templates. The supplied earbuds were the MDR-EX82 earphones in white for the white, pink, and green player and black for the red and black player.
These could play
ATRACAdaptive Transform Acoustic Coding is a family of proprietary audio compression algorithms developed by Sony. MiniDisc was the first commercial product to incorporate ATRAC in 1992. ATRAC allowed a relatively small disc like MiniDisc to have the same running time as CD while storing audio...
, PCM,
WMAWMA may refer to:- Organizations :*Western Manufactured Housing Communities Association, a nonprofit trade association for owners of manufactured home communities in California*Western Marble Arch, a synagogue in central London...
,
MP3MPEG-1 or MPEG-2 Audio Layer III, more commonly referred to as MP3, is a patented digital audio encoding format using a form of lossy data compression...
, and
AACAdvanced Audio Coding is a standardized, lossy compression and encoding scheme for digital audio. Designed to be the successor of the MP3 format, AAC generally achieves better sound quality than MP3 at similar bit rates....
, (
DRMDigital rights management is a class of access control technologies that are used by hardware manufacturers, publishers, copyright holders and individuals with the intent to limit the use of digital content and devices after sale. DRM is any technology that inhibits uses of digital content that...
'ed WMA and AAC couldn't be played). As in older models the connector, was the standard male USB. The screen was LCD and displayed three lines along with an optional album-jacket function. It had a five-band equalizer and Sony's "clear stereo" which means pre-set EQ function.
They had a built-in Li-Ion cell which had a quick-charge for approximately three hours playback from a 3-minute plug-in and a complete charge takes about one hour. Sony mentioned the capability of FM reception, (Japan band of 76 to 90 MHz), usually devices with an
F at the end of the model number. Dimensions were 83.7 × 22.3 × 16.2mm and weigh 30 grams.
Available accessories for all E series included lanyards, armbands, A/C adapters, metallic and silicone cases.
NW-S Series
The Sony "NW-S700" series is the first flash-based Network Walkman with built-in
Active noise controlActive noise control is a method for reducing unwanted sound.- Explanation :...
technology. It blocks surrounding noise with integrating mic in its EX-earphone. This player is one of only a few other DAPs that have a noise cancellation feature at this size. The earphone has a proprietary design specifically made for this player, thus making it impossible to plug into other DAPs, even the ones that come from Sony.
This Walkman has a small OLED screen capable displaying album art and some text information about the song and the player features. The S700 comes in 1 GB(NW-S703), 2 GB(NW-S705), and 4 GB(NW-S706) capacities; some countries sell the 2 GB and 1 GB models only. Selected models are also equipped with a Stereo FM Tuner.
NW-Z Series
The Sony NWZ-A826 is one of many MP3 players belonging to the Walkman Z-series. This edition features 4 GB flash memory, as well as a large 2.4 inches (61 mm) monitor; in addition the MP3 player offers several audio options in a housing with a thickness of 9.3 mm. The EX earplugs come packaged. There are four audio options: Clear Stereo, Clear Bass, VPT Surround and DSEE Sound Enhancer.The ear plugs are a combination of earplugs and a normal earset in one.
W series
The W series is a wireless MP3 player built into a set of water-resistant headphones with 2 GB of internal memory. It can play 11 hours of music and can "quick-charge" for three minutes to yield up to 90 minutes of playback. It can play back MP3, AAC (unprotected only), and WMA (subscription included) files. It features Zappin, which allows the user to browse through tracks by playing a snippet of the chorus of each song.
Walkman Video MP3 Player
Walkman Video MP3 Player combined the music playback capability of current Walkman MP3 Player line with video. Sony decided to choose Memory Stick Video format (which actually is H.264/MPEG-4 AVC format) as standard for Walkman MP3 Video Player.
To further extend MP3 support, Sony moved to phase out the ATRAC format. In late August 2007, Sony released an email to customers of its Online Music Store (Connect) stating that Sony would shut down the service and begin to phase out the ATRAC codec on any future version of the Walkman portable device. The email stated that Sony would adopt a Windows Media format; this plan was to be completed by March 2008, affecting customers and their Walkmans in the North American and European regions. This transition away from the ATRAC codec was to allow the Walkman line to be adopted by more potential customers and their specific and unique preferences on online music services. The product affected with this transition is NW-A8XX Series, which was actually released twice, the version with ATRAC and the one without.
NW-A800 series
The
Sony NW-A800 series is a
video-enabled Network Walkman player. This series has a metallic build. A chrome-like strip surrounds the edge of the device, and accenting of the same style surrounds the buttons and makes up the logos on the front. It features a QVGA display with ID3 tag and album art support.
It is available in 2 GB, 4 GB, and 8 GB capacities. The interface is similar to that of a mobile phone. The screen is a 2 inches (50.8 mm) QVGA (240×320) colour LCD and can be used either horizontally or vertically. The Lithium-ion rechargeable battery can last up to 30 hours for music and 8 hours for video.
The NW-A800 has been released in the European Union, Asia, New Zealand, and North America. As of 19 May 2007, Sony Canada has released the 8 GB and 4 GB models. The 2 GB model was released on 13 June 2007.
This player is an ATRAC Audio Device which relies on SonicStage to manage music. For photo and video management it uses Sony's Image Converter.
NW-A810 series
While hardware wise is the same as NW-A800, this series introduces some substantial changes in its media manager software. First, this player introduce drag and drop feature to transfer media. This update eliminates the need of Sony's proprietary SonicStage program and uses Windows Media Player instead. Also, this player no longer supports the ATRAC format.
NW-S710 and S610 series
Soon, Sony launched another series of Walkman video player, type S, standing for "specialized". This was considered as a lower end product to Walkman A series.
NW-A820, A910 series in Japan
At the end of 2007 and the beginning of 2008, Sony tried to further extend the product line of Walkman, with the debut of A910 series, A820 series. Among them, A910 and A820 should be the successor to A810, which feature larger LCD display and memory, and built-in wireless function (for A820 only).
The
NW-A919, a 16GB video walkman with a digital '
1segis a mobile terrestrial digital audio/video and data broadcasting service in Japan, Argentina, Brazil, Chile and Peru. Service began experimentally during 2005 and commercially on April 1, 2006. In Brazil, the broadcast started in late 2007 in just a few cities, with a slight difference from...
' TV tuner. The player has a touch screen, measures 47.2mm×86.0mm×12.3mm and will be available in black or silver. It was released in Japan in November 2007.
NWZ-A820 and A720 series
In March 2008, Sony debuted A720 and A820 series in the United States. These two models seemed to have exactly the same external design. The only difference appeared that the A820 series was equipped with a Bluetooth module which can be used to connect wireless headphones. The upgraded A820 and A720 had a 2.4" LCD display and a selection of memory from 4 gigabytes to 16 gigabyte. This also includes the popular 8 GB version. In some regions the package will contain a pair of Sony In-Ear Earbuds with sound-reduction technology. The EX85 series earbuds are included in the US retail package. It will not include an FM radio, additional memory storage, or a voice recorder. After Sony upgraded the Walkman A model, the A810 series was no longer viewable at SonyStyle online store.
Walkman X series
The Sony Walkman X series was a touchscreen audio and video player from Sony. It has a 3 inches (76.2 mm) OLED touch screen, internet access through Wi-Fi and digital noise-cancelling as well as applications for
SlackerSlacker Radio is an interactive Internet radio service available in the US and Canada. Listeners can access the service on the web, through mobile apps on multiple smartphones as well as on Slacker Personal Radio Players and other devices. It allows users to create and share customized music stations...
and
YouTubeYouTube is a video-sharing website, created by three former PayPal employees in February 2005, on which users can upload, view and share videos....
. It is available in 16 GB and 32 GB versions.
Media files can be transferred using programs such as Media Manager, Windows Media Player 11 (both programs are on the CD), and Content Transfer (Sony made), but they can also be dragged and dropped from the computer to the device using a file manager such as Windows Explorer (if drag and drop is used, some id tag information is not included, such as the year). If
MTPThe Media Transfer Protocol is a devised set of custom extensions to the Picture Transfer Protocol . Whereas PTP was designed for downloading photographs from digital cameras, Media Transfer Protocol supports the transfer of music files on digital audio players and media files on portable media...
is not installed on the computer, the Walkman switches to
UMSThe USB mass storage device class, otherwise known as USB MSC or UMS, is a protocol that allows a Universal Serial Bus device to become accessible to a host computing device, to enable file transfers between the two...
/MSC mode.
Like all Sony players sold outside Japan since 2007 (since the NWZ-A810 series), the player is not gapless (there is a gap between tracks, unless
WAVWaveform Audio File Format , is a Microsoft and IBM audio file format standard for storing an audio bitstream on PCs...
/PCM audio files are used), it does not support lossless compression, and there is no on-the-go playlist feature (playlists can only be created on a computer).
Mobile phones
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 marketed under the
Sony EricssonSony Ericsson Mobile Communications AB is a joint venture established on October 1, 2001 by the Japanese consumer electronics company Sony Corporation and the Swedish telecommunications company Ericsson to manufacture mobile phones....
brand.
Contrary to most Walkman lines, Sony Ericsson Walkman Phones do not support Sony's proprietary audio format,
ATRACAdaptive Transform Acoustic Coding is a family of proprietary audio compression algorithms developed by Sony. MiniDisc was the first commercial product to incorporate ATRAC in 1992. ATRAC allowed a relatively small disc like MiniDisc to have the same running time as CD while storing audio...
(with all of its variants, except certain Japanese models supporting ATRAC). Walkman phones do support
AACAdvanced Audio Coding is a standardized, lossy compression and encoding scheme for digital audio. Designed to be the successor of the MP3 format, AAC generally achieves better sound quality than MP3 at similar bit rates....
as well as
MP3MPEG-1 or MPEG-2 Audio Layer III, more commonly referred to as MP3, is a patented digital audio encoding format using a form of lossy data compression...
.
The
W800The W800 Walkman, released in 2005 , was the first Sony Ericsson phone to use the Walkman brand. The phone features Bluetooth v1.2 , Infrared and USB connectivity....
and
W550/W600Sony Ericsson W600 is Sony Ericsson's second phone with a swivel design. It is the first swivel phone to have the Walkman features. It offers 256 MB of internal memory , MP3/AAC/MIDI playback, FM radio, full internet browsing capabilities, 1.3 Megapixel camera , and three separate speakers. It has...
have numerous audio capabilities including playlists, audio equalisation, support for the M4A audio file format, and the ability to operate only as music player, with the telephony electronics switched off. It also includes standard mobile phone features, such as a 2 megapixel auto-focus camera. The W550/W600 will have 256 MB of internal memory, while the W800 includes a 512 MB
Memory StickMemory Stick is a removable flash memory card format, launched by Sony in October 1998, and is also used in general to describe the whole family of Memory Sticks...
.
The
W810The W810 is a camera phone produced by Sony Ericsson. It was released in April 2006. It is the successor of the W800.- Features :...
is an
EDGEEnhanced Data rates for GSM Evolution is a digital mobile phone technology that allows improved data transmission rates as a backward-compatible extension of GSM...
-enabled Quad band telephone launched in response to demand for a black coloured Walkman Phone. Other than minor changes in the software and hardware, most of the features are similar to those of the W800.
Sony Ericsson also launched the
W900The Sony Ericsson W900i is a 3G/audio player manufactured by Sony Ericsson. The display of the device is a 240×320 pixel 262,000 color 2,1 inch TFT QVGA screen...
(considered the successor of S700) which in addition to the audio and camera capabilities of W800, also features
3G3G or 3rd generation mobile telecommunications is a generation of standards for mobile phones and mobile telecommunication services fulfilling the International Mobile Telecommunications-2000 specifications by the International Telecommunication Union...
video calling and streaming, better video recording (30 frames a second), a larger display, and 470 MB of internal memory which can be expanded up to 2 GB. Music can be imported from a variety of sources, either via the wireless service provider or from a personal computer.
Sony Ericsson president Miles Flint, claiming to have sold over three million Walkman phones, introduced their sixth Walkman branded phone, the
W950The Sony Ericsson W950i is the third UIQ 3 smartphone based on Symbian OS v9.1. It was announced on February 13, 2006, a week after the announcement of the Sony Ericsson M600.- Developing for the W950i :...
, at the 3GSM Congress in 2006. The W950i is a slim device with 4 GB internal flash memory, including a touch screen for navigation through music genres, playlists, individual songs or music albums. It is also the first Symbian OS-based Walkman phone to be introduced.
In 2006, Sony Ericsson announced yet another Walkman phone, the W300. It is the first Walkman phone in the series in a "flip phone" form factor. The W300 is also the first Walkman Phone to support Memory Stick Micro and features a VGA camera. They also launched their 8th Walkman telephone, the W700. It is essentially a stripped-down version of the W800 with a different case colour, and includes a 256 MB Memory Stick. The other major change is the absence of Auto-focus in the onboard camera.
May 18, 2006, saw the introduction of two more Walkman phones, a second clamshell model,
W710W710 is a mobile phone produced by Sony Ericsson.The W710 was announced on May 18, 2006. It is one of two clamshell Walkman-brand phones, and shares many characteristics of the Z710...
, and the first slider,
W850iThe Sony Ericsson W850i is the first 3G sliding form factor phone for Sony Ericsson, introduced in 2006, and is a member of their Walkman line. The phone made its first public appearance in the 2006 movie, The Da Vinci Code, months before its release...
.
In February 2007, the W880 was announced and released. It features a design which is only 9.4 mm thick and a full metal face plate. Being one of the smallest phones on the market, it has proved very popular.
In November 2007, the W890 was announced and was released in February 2008. Following the former model in the series the W880, the W890 had a lot more enhanced features. Its built-in camera was upgraded to 3.2 MP from 2 MP. An FM radio was introduced in it. It featured 3.5G tech which increased the connection speed from 384 kbit/s in the W880 to 3.6 Mbit/s in this phone. Both the internal and package included external memory were doubled. Its talk time increased from 6.5 hr to 9.5 hr and the music play time reached 20 hrs.
See also
- Sony Connect
The CONNECT Music Store was Sony's music store built within the SonicStage music management application for Microsoft Windows-based personal computers. It was one of the world’s largest online music download stores with over 2.5 million tracks to preview and purchase, with over 10,000 new songs...
- Personal digital assistant
A personal digital assistant , also known as a palmtop computer, or personal data assistant, is a mobile device that functions as a personal information manager. Current PDAs often have the ability to connect to the Internet...
- CLIÉ
The Sony CLIÉ was a series of personal digital assistants running the Palm Operating System developed and marketed by Sony from 2000 to 2005. The devices introduced many new features to the PDA market, such as a jog-wheel interface, high-resolution displays, and Sony technologies like Memory Stick...
- Palm OS
Palm OS is a mobile operating system initially developed by Palm, Inc., for personal digital assistants in 1996. Palm OS is designed for ease of use with a touchscreen-based graphical user interface. It is provided with a suite of basic applications for personal information management...
- Sony Ericsson XPERIA X10
The Sony Ericsson Xperia X10 is a smartphone in the Xperia series designed by Sony Ericsson. It is the first Sony Ericsson smartphone to utilize the Android operating system. The phone was shipped with Android 1.6, but an upgrade to 2.1 was made available starting October 31, 2010, with a gradual...
- Android (operating system)
- Walkman effect
The Walkman Effect refers to the way music listened to via headphones allows the user to gain more control over their environment. It was coined by International Research Center for Japanese Studies Professor Shuhei Hosokawa in an article of the same name published in Popular Music in 1984...
External links