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Why Sony can't bring back its classic Walkman models

obsoletesony.substack.com

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Re: Why Sony can't bring back its classic Walkman models

#91

Post by fsuts »

plorg wrote: post #63

Article is just a (wordy) recapitulation of this tweet from a former Walkman engineer: https://x.com/akiraa_tanaka/status/2080114490830680500 But fair play to OP, you'd have to bounce it through at least Google Translate to make it legible to the predominant English-speaking HM crowd: https://x-com.translate.goog/akiraa_tanaka/status/2080114490... Still would have been good for the Substack author to link to the twee…

    But fair play to OP, you'd have to bounce it through at least Google Translate to make it legible to the predominant English-speaking HM crowd: https://x-com.translate.goog/akiraa_tanaka/status/2080114490...
People still use google translate? Most browsers now have translate built in, as do llm

I imagine grok on x will do this too

Re: Why Sony can't bring back its classic Walkman models

#92

Post by rbanffy »

tonyhart7 wrote: post #83
plorg wrote: post #63

Article is just a (wordy) recapitulation of this tweet from a former Walkman engineer: https://x.com/akiraa_tanaka/status/2080114490830680500 But fair play to OP, you'd have to bounce it through at least Google Translate to make it legible to the predominant English-speaking HM crowd: https://x-com.translate.goog/akiraa_tanaka/status/2080114490... Still would have been good for the Substack author to link to the twee…

Yes, that is the primary reason people just want it but not enough people to buy the thing same happen with physical games

> same happen with physical games

And now it’s faster to get them online than to go to the store, even if the game doesn’t have to download itself again for updates.

Re: Why Sony can't bring back its classic Walkman models

#93

Post by rbanffy »

geon wrote: post #85
johncoltrane wrote: post #84

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There are lots of portable cassette players on the market, starting at 20€ or less.

Only low quality. But yes, building better quality shouldn’t cost $ 10k

They are as good as the price the market wants to pay for them. There is a match at $20, but not much more than that.

Re: Why Sony can't bring back its classic Walkman models

#94

Post by fsuts »

Most music is controlled by a few large companies.

If you could demonstrate a revenue stream higher than streaming then they may support. Without that, a struggle, as you need to have exclusives and bonus tracks to differentiate.

With vinyl there are claims of a superior listening experience, that’s not the case with casettes

If any of you are parents of young kids, buy a used book box or Walkman of eBay along with good albums and give them to a child who will love it.

Re: Why Sony can't bring back its classic Walkman models

#96

Post by tgv »

phire wrote: post #88
trencedamp wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That would be "some sort of enthusiast audiophile flac player thing that costs way too much" The entry level Walkman is $400 and only has 32gb internal storage. It's all about flac and hires audio but you're paying through the nose for the brand

I guess there just is no room in the current market for a mid-ranged product. The segment is being squeezed on at least five sides (probably more): - Cheap low-end no-name players; - Audiophile products like the Sony walkman stuff; - People who are happy using their phones; - (for the exercise "phone too heavy" use case) A smart watch, paired to bluetooth headphones; - Second hand iPods from the 2000s, often refurbis…

I had an ipod, but the battery is dead, and it still had a rotating hd, so I thought: I liked Sony Discman, back in the day, this new player must be good. I was wrong. It sucks in many different ways. I've described some of the problems before and copied them here:

My iPod Classic was in a terminal phase, and since I like to carry my music around instead of streaming arbitrary stuff, I bought a Sony Walkman mp3 (+ other formats) player. It's bad. It takes a long time to boot, the battery life is mediocre, the UI is mainly lists of things, searching always misses tracks or albums, the volume defaults to a pretty low level, and when you increase it, it interrupts you asking if you're sure.

And when I started copying my itunes collection to the "walkman" (it is branded Walkman, but not worthy of the name), it would constantly stop copying. The included software was useless, and wouldn't copy a single track, giving up after 5 to 10 minutes of scanning. I had to write a Python script to overcome problems with long directory and file names and copy them to the proper directory.

Worst of all: there's a very loud click when you stop a track (using wired headphones). It's as if they never even used it.

Re: Why Sony can't bring back its classic Walkman models

#97

Post by dijit »

fsuts wrote: post #91
plorg wrote: post #63

Article is just a (wordy) recapitulation of this tweet from a former Walkman engineer: https://x.com/akiraa_tanaka/status/2080114490830680500 But fair play to OP, you'd have to bounce it through at least Google Translate to make it legible to the predominant English-speaking HM crowd: https://x-com.translate.goog/akiraa_tanaka/status/2080114490... Still would have been good for the Substack author to link to the twee…

But fair play to OP, you'd have to bounce it through at least Google Translate to make it legible to the predominant English-speaking HM crowd: https://x-com.translate.goog/akiraa_tanaka/status/2080114490... People still use google translate? Most browsers now have translate built in, as do llm I imagine grok on x will do this too

X’s auto translate of tweets has been really awesome actually.

I wonder why its so much better than localised titles and subtitles on youtube.

Re: Why Sony can't bring back its classic Walkman models

#98

Post by rustcleaner »

lardosaurusrex wrote: post #67

I am so beyond sick of Sony right now. I didn't think they'd end right up there aongside the rest of humaniry's treasonous ilk such as Tesla/SpaceX/ChatGPT/Microsoft/Samsung/Nvidia/etc but the whole "we're not making discs for playstation because we repurposed the factory for some slop meant for ai data centres" left such a horrifically sour taste in my mouth that I wish them nothing but the absolute worst. Hell it f…

Best you can do is get familiar with peer-to-peer acquisition, and teach others. Starve the enshittifiers!

Re: Why Sony can't bring back its classic Walkman models

#99

Post by rbanffy »

bombcar wrote: post #77
cbmuser wrote: post #50

It’s really only economics, there is simply no relevant market for mechanical cassette players that would justify the investment. I don’t think it’s true that the capabilities to make these devices are lost. There are still companies like ALPS that are capable of making the necessary parts. But in the end, the market is too small to justify any investments.

There's still TAPE drives out there, but nowhere near as many as there were, and they're expensive. You could make a Walkman; it'd cost $3-10k each.

Tape now is very niche - it’s for data archival purposes, and often only exists for regulatory reasons. This is why it is ludicrously expensive- it only needs to be cheaper than the next credible commercially available alternative, which only needs to offset the risk of going to jail for malicious malpractice.

Re: Why Sony can't bring back its classic Walkman models

#100

Post by phire »

tgv wrote: post #96
phire wrote: post #88

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I guess there just is no room in the current market for a mid-ranged product. The segment is being squeezed on at least five sides (probably more): - Cheap low-end no-name players; - Audiophile products like the Sony walkman stuff; - People who are happy using their phones; - (for the exercise "phone too heavy" use case) A smart watch, paired to bluetooth headphones; - Second hand iPods from the 2000s, often refurbis…

I had an ipod, but the battery is dead, and it still had a rotating hd, so I thought: I liked Sony Discman, back in the day, this new player must be good. I was wrong. It sucks in many different ways. I've described some of the problems before and copied them here: My iPod Classic was in a terminal phase, and since I like to carry my music around instead of streaming arbitrary stuff, I bought a Sony Walkman mp3 (+ ot…

There are so many 3rd party parts available for iPods.

Pry it open, replace the battery, swap the HDD for something like the iFlash.

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