Since a few months I am contributing to Walkman.land. Together with the admin we made quite a few updates, not just by adding more models. A sticky menu (on mobile), tagging a model in more than 1 gang or series, performance updates, etc. July '23: we added the 200th model. July '24: 372 models are available on the site and the price now calculation has been rewritten. October '24: 500 models are available! Thanks to instagrammers (boxedwalkman, tech nostalgism, and world of walkman), and @walkman archive we can reuse their beautiful photos. We try to provide where possible references to the origin of the photos, like we do for (service) manuals, descriptions, etc. We will be adding more functionality the next months, as well as many more models. Next up, we will be improving the availability of documents - service manuals, operating instructions, etc. - per model. After that, repair guides and articles are on the list. Feedback, a specific model to add (and pictures)? Please send me a message
why the hell is everybody just going for the "big names" ? again no no-names, Clonemen etc. if it's of interest, i can contribute my incomplete list of Clonemen plus pics of the ones i own
We have simply not reached that level of detail yet @autoreverser ! Happy to feature any Walkman / tape portable, as long as there are enough quality pictures (including a full frontal for the thumbnail) and specifications (operating and/or service manual) to make it a complete record. Contact me via a private message. Creating new manufacturers, carry types, colors, the sky is the limit.
5 models added, Philips and Grundig. We are also changing the document storage, which is now on a separate Google Drive. Soon we will change hosting package to include more space to host documentation directly on the main site.
Another update: 3D size comparison and weight graph are coming up. We decided to take a staging environment and move over all new functionality later in August. Adding more tech info, like pictures of the mechanism and PCB, etc. and I am unloading all documentation I have collected over the years - service manuals, operating instructions. Catalogs are a bit of an issue, because we still lack a tagging mechanism -> instead of uploading per model, we want central documents linked to multiple models. Nevertheless, we keep improving!
Emiel, You are doing a great job. I can tell that you spent a lot of time creating this site with a lot of valuable information. I have a question for you. I checked several units with the "price now" section. How do you calculate today's price for the specific walkman? For example: Dolls and Guys" priced at 347 (Euros maybe) but the actual price of this unit is much higher.
I wanted to make that remark as well, as the "Today" wording can be misleading in my opinion. Think what the site is actually reffering to is the original retail price adjusted to inflation (meaning what the MSRP is in today's money), which is very different than the market price. @Emiel please shed some light onto what "Today" is actually reffering to. If it is indeed reffering to MSRP adjusted to inflation, I think a more suggestive name should be given. Overall, the website is looking great ! Thanks for the hard work put into it !
Hello @Boodokhan and @Valentin . I joined a running train, the owner and admin did most of the programming so far. I contributed 40+ models, and corrected attributes that I knew could be improved. Edit Aug. 08: the price today is indeed corrected for inflation, using information from statbureau.org. Edit Nov. 19: we are still looking into the price after conversion, corrected for inflation. We now have some examples of for instance the Sony WM-EX88. In this video from the a 1993 catalog, it was offered 'tax-free' for 277 USD. That is ~580 USD (inflation corrected), like a very decent mid-to-high end phone or personal DAP nowadays.
This week we passed a milestone of 250 models on the site! In collaboration with boxedwalkman, technostalgism, and walkmannostalgism on Instagram, some nice models have recently been featured. To name a few: How do you like your faux wood, on a gold colored Hitachi CP-S3G? Let me know if you know which Sony they have copied, the WM-150? Or the only (?) portable cassette player that came with both a wired as well as wireless remote control, Hitachi CP-T30? If you have another example of a Walkmand that came with both remotes, reply here. The very compact, and very red, Panasonic RQ-JA100, with some details from the Lion @ the Personal Hifi Blog, per the notes on the page. Do you have a model you would like to have featured, and you have good quality pictures, service manuals, catalogs or ads? Send them to me in a direct message here on S2Go.
Per the Hitachi CP-T30 specs (PDF on the Walkman page on WML), note that using the wireless remote control and headset is limiting the sound quality and output power: 1. Output: 2x5mW (wired) vs. 2x4mW (wireless), 2. Frequency range: 20-18000Hz (wired) vs. 40-15000Hz (wireless). Is 1 for to limit the power draw, and 2 as a result of limited bandwidth of the wireless transmission?
The 15kHz bandwitdh limit is indeed in order to limit the RF bandwidth of the FM transmission, but also in order to not interfere with the 19kHz pilot tone used for stereo de-multiplexing. This is not a technical limitation, but rather driven by standards and regulatory requirements. If the RF spectrum is not crowded (don't know if this uses VHF or UHF band), obviously higher bandwidths could have been be used. Also, the pilot tone can be at a higher frequency, above 20kHz. But off-the-shelf ICs will be built around this typical value. One thing I wonder about these walkmans with wireless audio is how many of them could be used in the same space without interference.
Thanks for the clarification. I can only assume that Sony wireless units had the same limitation, perhaps not as clearly specified in the manuals. The units + receivers can be set to 2 bands, so at least 2 users can sit close to each other on the subway without interference.
I've also been boxed out, my new to me Hitachi CP200RC is not on the list or ANY Marantz/UNIX Models....... Of course my little Sony XRM-10 lives a life of obscurity https://stereo2go.com/forums/threads/sony-wasnt-afraid-to-try-new-things-one-of-the-oddest.4737/ And some of my favorites, the Sony WA "Brick" Series are noticeably missing. Otherwise it's a great source for information. One thing I'd add is a link list at the top so you can go backwards, you know "Home>Manufacturers>Sony>WA-100" I'd love to see this on wikiboombox as well!
There is not enough time for 2 admins to keep adding all models, while improving the back-end ! Finding pictures, renaming them, specifications (when lucky from service manuals), etc. WA bricks are present, at least 3. Try the 'louder' gang @Mister X : https://walkman.land/gang/6
Just giving you a hard time Emiel, I know the great resource websites are a TON of work! At the same time, it is fun to hunt down the obscure models that have slipped through the cracks. Keep up the great work!
I changed the title of the thread: today we uploaded the 300th Walkman! Behind the scenes some changes took place as well, not done enough to impact the front-end, although some changes are visible. Service manuals and operating instructions I’m adding retrospectively when I notice one is not yet present. Downloading from the site is not possible, as most of the manuals come from free sites with their own download links. Do you have documents you want to have added, or did you spot a mistake? Let me know, happy to keep the records as accurate as possible. For 25% of the units also essential parts have been added: motor, ICs, remote, headphones, head, belt, etc. The goal is to see part reuse over time, next generation ICs, etc.
