It is now 30 years since the release of the first portable player in Japan and Walkman's «Soundabout» abroad. Japanese engineer Nobutoshi Kihara specially formulated for its general director of Sony Akio Morita, who was often in flight and are deprived of opportunities to listen to their favorite musical opera.
Trademarks of Sony is also a: «Pressman», «Watchman», «Scoopman», «Discman» and «Talkman», which were used for the names of a wide range of portable devices for entertainment. After the «Discman» for CD players came out of use in the late 1990's, Sony began to use the name «Walkman» to most portable audio devices company.
The first Walkman model TPS-L2 came on sale in Japan 1 July 1979. In the UK, was released player with stereo playback and two jacks for headphones, enabling two people to simultaneously listen to music (although the player is sold with only one pair of headphones, MDR-1). Where the Pressman had a record button, the Walkman was the button «hotline», which has stepped up a small built-in microphone, the sound of which partially overlaps the sound of music, allowing the listener to communicate with one another. A little later in the devices and the possibility of a record.
Professional Sony Walkman, making the tape was Walkman Professional WM-D6C. He was released in 1984 and was comparable in sound quality to many of the best audio players. Unusual for a portable device, Walkman Professional had the bright lights and hand control of the recording. It was equipped with quartz and amorphous tonvalom heads. Powered by 4 batteries AA, apparatus is widely used by journalists and has received the distribution to the Hi-Fi enthusiasts, unusual for consumer electronics product, it sold for almost 20 years.
Every five years 1 July, with the release Walkman in 1979 until 1999, the company Sony releases a new model for the tape player with an unprecedented new opportunities. Each new model has a new interface, while retaining the characteristics of previous models. The latest Walkman series NWZ-A820 for sale entered in April 2008.
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