@Kewbee : I'm still looking for that book, prices are going the DD9 track! I actually found it for a decent price and directly ordered it.. happy you reminded me with your post!
Thank you for your kind words @Kewbee , congrats for the book , also @Emiel , it feels great to see this book in the hands of real enthusiasts ! Paul Kunkel had the rare privilege to access Sony Design studios and talk with the Designers , that makes this book an invaluable source of information. All the models you mentioned are the subject of a book by themselves ! But hats off to your observation about the button difference between WM-50 and WM-51 , similar mechanism but not the same , you can see a patent gif I made with the mechanism that uses the WM-51 in this very thread just one page back . As a rule of thumb different button arrangement - different transport mechanism , obviously does not apply to logic controlled walkmans . Well I wouldn't say competing teams among Sony but competing ideas/ proposals among the designers most likely there were. Sony's studios around the world were designing walkmans for the local market needs (although not exclusively) in that sense there were multiple collaborating teams . Not sure that will help much !
Thanks @Machaneus . Without the book, free to access information about the Walkman and design are 3 YouTube links I posted in the Walkman Archaeology thread. These 3 make up a BBC documentary from 1990, and a lot of key people at Sony are in it! Here is the link to the post: http://stereo2go.com/forums/threads/walkman-archaeology.1522/page-30#post-55048
There's so many different Walkmans Variations, some with just minor differences. I think Machaneus nailed it, they had different design groups, either internally or externally, coming up with different mock-ups. I can see Sony handing out the internals and saying, design the case for us, the best one wins. They liked different versions so much they added them to the mix even though they were redundant, which would also make retailers happy since they all didn't have the same model, even though the internals were the same, they were slightly different. Back when I was a student designer in the 80's a lot of Japanese Cars were surprisingly being designed out of California. I've noticed on the boombox patents a lot of the early designers were mechanical engineers, their other patents were mostly electronics or mechanical parts. Hartmut Esslinger designed a lot of the early models, somebody should shoot him an email at Frog Design and pick his brain if he's open to conversation.
I suspect that just like the cars it was a case of "We need a new model range for next year. The existing mechanisms are fine so design a new set of cases for them. Just like cars there were different trends in different decades, the 1980s being very square while the 1990s onwards going for curves. I wonder if any of the models were made for one specific region or retailer. I have commented before that that definitely happened with Canon camera models that were exclusive to Curry's. I guess it avoids problems with retailers like John Lewis who promise to price match competitors. Back to Sony the only real difference between the ICF-SW2010 and ICF-Sw2001D is that the former was for the USA while the latter was sold in Europe at significantly higher European prices.
A company like Braun can have a limited range of audio as they only ever made high end, expensive products. Interestingly the same doesn't apply to their shavers. How many different models have they made? Having used them for at least twenty years I asked my wife to get me a new one last Christmas. While it works well I would say the styling is the worst of the three I have have being more Fisher-Price than Braun. A company like Sony in audio (and maybe Braun in shavers) wants to cover as many price points as possible. You could imagine them briefing the designers "Take this mechanism and produce something looking cheap and horrible for the people who aren't prepared to pay $15 more for the next model up and might otherwise buy a Sanyo". Casio had it easier with calculators. In the early 1980s by comparing two calculators we proved that the only difference between a cheap and more upmarket one was the number of functions printed the front. The production cost must have been identical but it meant they could have a £12 and £18 calculator sat in the shops and a handy table in the Argos catalogue showing that your extra £6 was buying you another 23 functions which were actually inside the cheap one but not publicised. This doesn't even consider the fact that for a decade or so after the Philips Roller it was thought that you had to have a separate range for "Yoof". When it comes to MP3 Walkmans there is at least one model aimed at the Hannah Montanna fans. Interestingly that doesn't seem to have happened with phones. I guess their styling is now so bland there isn't scope to do anything, and the Ariana Grande fan is just expected to put her wallpaper on the phone. Outside Japan it is interesting that the Audio Manufacturers never seemed to go into sub-brands which are a favourite of the car manufacturers. Here in the U.K . VAG seem to have gone mad and you can buy cars from V.W. Audi, Seat, Cupra, and Skoda all using the same powertrains. p.s. On that last point I forgot that Sony bought Aiwa and tried to reposition it as the range for Cash strapped but streetwise "Yoof". On that note I am just imagining the derision a kid turning up at school with a TPS-L2 in 1990 would have faced.
My main point was against @CDV s comment about the number of different Walkman models. A couple of points about that Back in the 20th Century the Japanese employment model was of Salarymen who would join a company and expect to stay there until retirement. I have read that about 20% of the workforce weren't actually needed but it did have the advantage that if a problem occurred (like the Chromatron or the initial CCD design not working) they had plenty of people to look into the problem. If there weren't problems maybe the answer to the question "What do you want be to do boss?" was always "Go and design next seasons Walkmans". "I would like to think that there would be a follow up "And once you have done ten Walkmans you can design something cutting edge like Rolly" I wonder what Dieter Rams would make of these?
It's ok my friend , my point was that nobody noticed the false statement that Sony DD series has logic control buttons , exception being the dd9 and maybe dx100 if you count that as a DD and certainly the beautiful photo that CDV posted have mechanical controls. Not everybody must collect and have first hand experience of any walkman but when deep analysis is attempted at least expect a more thorough research from what meets the eye.
The feather touch controls in the newer Walkmans, like the DD9, DX100 and many others, provide designers with more freedom in terms of exterior design. It allows them to position the controls away from the mechanism, on any surface or even only in a remote, in an arguably more logical order than just following the levers or gears of that mechanism. In that sense, the buttons on the DD might be laid out more logically or user friendly than the even earlier TPS-L2, but the choices were more limited back then than in the newer Walkman series.
Let's put it that way Emiel , in your DD file you must add : DD9 and Dx100 have LOGIC controls while ALL the others have MECHANICAL controls. It was so obvious to me that I didn't notice before , I'm sorry.
Whoa, I'm out of my league! :-D I should make additional disclaimers - I'm not an engineer and barely know the difference between electrical and electronic. Also, I am only beginning to get into DD (against the death stares of the missus ). But back on that topic, what about the WM-7? It was the first with a line control and it had a "feather-like" touch sensitive buttons. I love the spectrum of views presented so far: @CDV - Those are very cool insights on the button arrangement of DDs that must have been so effective that the front-panel design was preserved throughout all DD models, and even strictly conserved from WM-F5 (what a landmark model!) to ... I dunno...DD33? The caveat in that statement is WM-2, which pre-dates WM-F5 but was a non-DD model. In no small ways, this underscores your point that the surface-mounted buttons were a design-driven decision, though I haven't made a side-by-side comparison between the mechanisms of WM-2 and WM-F5. Concerning the TPS-L2 being a box, I thought one should take into consideration its genesis as a "cross-over" product, with a genealogy tracing back to the TCMs (TCM-100, specifically) that were "non-consumable" machines. One simply does not place a high expectation on a work machine's aesthetics, or the delivery van wouldn't be looking so "meh", as you put it. The side-mounted buttons were probably an engineering decision, but that might have followed a "upright" design specification, possibly to reduce footprint on a busy presser table. Lastly, we mustn't ignore the parallel evolution in manufacturing capability and material science. @Emiel - thanks for the links. I haven't had the time but will take a close look. @MisterX and Longman - I imagine a lot must have been written about how product proliferation eventually led to a loss of lustre of Walkmans. Personally, it is the biggest reason why I am not really into post-1987 models. Your points about maintaining (milking) as many variants as inventory allowed are well made. In fact, my very first Walkman, the WM-F65 which I still fondly refer to as my "high school sweetheart", was purchased in one of the "mom and pop's" shops at the old Peninsula Plaza. You are absolutely right @MisterX - the variants helped shops with limited stocks distinguished themselves. One of my mates bought the WM-F55 from a different shop. These days, we live in Japan where we can definitely see the point @Longman made about Salaryman. Anyone who has tried to buy a vacuum cleaner can relate to the somewhat absurd level of product proliferation, seemingly manufactured to "meet the KPI's" of employees. But I wish to highlight two driving forces behind that:1) expectation of the stockmarket/shareholders; 2) it's just the way life plays out. For the first, consider the simplicity of the Project P mechanism, which lies beneath all the spray-moulded plastic models with two rows of buttons, that made it cheaper to manufacture at cheaper offshore factories. This was a massive boost to profit margins and the bottomline. For the latter point, consider how gushing streams inevitably merge to form large rivers that meander slowly towards the sea. Not exactly exciting like white water rafting, but moving a deceptively huge volume of water. In the book "Digital Dream - Inside the Sony Design Center", the author used the metaphor of "time of day" to describe the natural life cycle of a genre, where the WM-20 is pleasingly referred to as the "high noon" model. Apologies for the wordy post!
Let me make this clear , I spot errors everyday but I'm not eager to correct anyone it's not my thing . These days DD's prices have been skyrocketed , that mistake would have been potentially a decisive factor for someone to spent hundreds of dollars or euros to buy a DD walkman and eventually be disappointed , a dedicated forum should be trustworthy . I have a request to make to old and new members alike : Please be gents and stay on topic , you know what this thread is for. Who made What walkman . This thread is not for : Sony walkman design ,Walkman design , Walkman marketing planing , Walkman scale economy , Walkman design moaning , Industrial design , all very interesting topics that someone should make a dedicated thread(s) This is the third page in a row that is off topic , I wanted this thread to be information oriented with brief dense posts , I can assure you nobody reads text walls or checking web links just to see your point , people spend a couple of minutes reading , picking up info and continue their search elsewhere. I'm responsible only for my own posts and have control only on them therefore from here on I won't respond to off topic posts no mater how interesting they are , nothing personal to anyone . Thanks for your attention , Machaneus
Thanks @Emiel for reminding this great documentary , years ago it was posted also in the old forum , definitely a must see . That would be great @Mister X but I don't think they respond to individuals , I had a couple of attempts in the past with other designers but with no reply. Maybe Hartmunt Esslinger is different , it seems that besides a designer he is also a walkman enthusiast but my decision is not to bother them anymore. I think he was first mentioned in one of your post in your walkman archaeology thread with examples of his work .
I realise now that I might have gone "off topic" and I will stay silent for now. I _am_ interested in who design what, but I am equally interested in _what_ they designed and how they injected their own philosophies into their works. And how specific elements of generations of Walkman's carried their philosophies like fossils recorded natural history. I am not a designer and I have yet uncovered the topic sufficiently to be posting side-by-side a name, a face and a design - which seemingly is the topic of this thread. One last point, a vibrant group discussing topics that are offshoot / inspired by the original topic is better than a silent group, imho. I will look around for a more suitable thread, or to pluck up enough courage to start another one, hoping that there are kindred spirit in this sea of aficionados. Thank you once again, Machaneus!
Let’s enjoy the discussion and side discussions! While we are doing that, I am still looking for information on plenty of the DD line walkmans. Any help is appreciated, and as always, the results will be shared on the forum by means of an updated overview! Once I have the book, I’ll be scrutinizing it for links and bits of info for the DDs.
I just got the book, really nice overview! Only looked at the Walkman overview so far and I noticed the WM-DD33, and the release year mentioned is 1988. Info I have is it was released in 1991, I don’t have catalog scans to verify though. The DD33 service manual was released in January of 1991 too.
