Hi, I'm new in this forum, searching on the whole internet I found this interesting site, and I want to have a lot of information about the story of the personal stereo, Is part of a project for my professional development, and I know all people around here is the best in this! I want to ask for taking some pictures from here to add information about the little cassette players, with model and serial numbers, with permits of course! I still reading and make notes for a long time, thanks to all

Hello and welcome?

Glad you joined in! Very interesting project I might add.

Yes Welcome and most certainly when you finish the writing we all would enjoy very much you posting your project here ( since pictures from here just the written part probably be fine). Good luck

Hello

hello from freezing (!) South Florida!

Hi katana, feel free to browse the 'useful link' post in the Walkman Chat section. Alternatively there's a very useful bunch of folks here awaiting your questions.

I hate to be a bore but can I urge you to study the copyright details of the sites shown on here, just to be on the safe side.

Hello Agent Orange (nice nick) I know about copyrighted material on the internet, but two points: 1. I never try to use images to have a direct benefit or to sell information. 2. I only want to obtain "genuine photos" from the private collections of members here. With permission each one. Thaks for all te info!

Hi Katana, getting back to your original query. We would be more than happy to help you with your project. I for one would be more than happy for you to use my pictures (see below links) & you'll probably find that other members would also, obviously seek permission first.

The Wikipedia page for the Sony Walkman gives a concise history, the Walkman Central site is the best for giving detailed history of 'some' specific models & the PocketCalculatorShow site lists every Walkman sold between 1979 & 1990.

Feel free to give us more specific requirements.

Thanks a lot! I came to this forum directly from the pocketcalculator's page. I have visited already the walkmancentral ans the sony's site, but this is the more amazing internet site for serious an mad collectors like you! I see what you have under your bed !!! crazy.... I have seen the huguest collection of Walkgirl, the AA Fuzzy fine walkmans, the rarest with John Edward, the funniest and rarest too with Transmetal, The DR 2000 amazing machines, Tuna, Gregory botha, NGA, Milosancho... Thaks to all, this is the more complete and greatest collection in the world, I think, I love original pictures of each one, I hate "catalog" photos on brochures.

Kisssssssses to all !!!! With all my love !!!

Very interesting question. The Stereobelt was without doubt the first fully portable cassette player which created stereo sound for the user to use with headphones but sadly the day Sony established the Walkman as a marketable entity in 1979 was the day history dictated that it was officially 'invented'.

I have info when Pavel patents the Stereobelt in 1977 in Italy, but nobody was interested in the "portable device" in fact, the Stereobelt NEVER go out to the market, this is right? Otherwise, Sony brings the TPS from a earlier cassette recorder the TCM600? In this case:
1)The stereobelt never was a merchandising product, and according to original drawings, the device is a cassette player divided in "two" parts, cassette player and amplifier section) attached in a belt.
2) In 1978 when Sony launch the TPS based on the older TCM600 probably never knows about the existence of another cassette player.
3)The design of the TPS walkman (mechanics, electronics and appareance) is nothing about the Pavel's invention, so is not a "copycat" of nobody.

My veredict: Sony TPS is for me the first walkman in the shape i know and everybody knows.

Agree?

Pavel went to several mfg. they turned him down. He did build several prototypes but correct was never merchandised. It was divided into two parts but was built as a single player like the sony walkman TPS-L2. I believe Sony DID know of Pavel's stereobelt.
Sony did not invent the world's first personal stereo. That honor belongs to Andreas Pavel, a German-Brazilian inventor. In 1972, he invented the prototype for the Stereobelt, a portable stereo cassette player, and patented it five years later.

Though Sony commercialized the invention with the Walkman, they refused to acknowledge Pavel as the original inventor. This lack of recognition led to a protracted series of lawsuits between both parties that finally ended in a multi-million dollar settlement in 2003.


The world will always know the cassette player made portable by Sony and the Walkman name.

Katana, thanks for joining and thanks for your interest. Twothings about your last question:
1- The Stereobelt was the first "portable stereo cassette player"
2- the TPS-L2 "The first Walkman"
Two things different in those days. In the beggining of the 80's to our days, any "portable stereo cassette player" is recognized like a "walkman" by popular assigment.

Hello Tranxmetal! I receive the hidden clue! thanks!

The stereobelt is not a walkman!

It is a "portable stereo cassette player"

Are you from mexico?
Thanks again for make me open my eyes. Kisses!!!

Hi! I hate to be blunt (towards Pavel in particular) but I have to give it to Sony. Sony was able to make a substantially more effective (and perhaps more simple, look at all those switches 0_o on the Stereobelt), smaller stereo player than the Stereobelt.

A great difference in size I guess must be due to the use of the then latest technology of Integrated Circuits (the TPS-L2 uses several customized Single Inline Pin chips which reduce the size and weight of circuitry with smaller transistors). The Stereobelt you say required a seperate "amplifier" unit, but this was integrated along with a full-fledged PWM feedback servo for motor speed on the TPS-L2. Not that you can blame Stereobelt's design: tape reproduction requires many stages of amplification since the signal is pretty weak, and commodity chips were not small at all. The bulk of Stereobelt looks rather unattractive and not cool, lol compared to Sony.

I'm not sure of the Stereobelt but I have the impression it has a much more older design - take a look at the headphone connections: both have dual headphone connections but the Stereobelt uses dual mono minijacks for stereo (haven't seen that for a while!) while TPS-L2 uses stereo minijacks (like on today's earphones.)

Have you checked out Walkman Central? You will notice that Sony has much more experience in designing portable cassette units (though all were mono) since the Apollo missions.

Again, I hate to be blunt but the concept "Stereo" to me is simply the physical: it is that the reproduction system has two channels of sound, by splitting cassette tape side's track in two. This means an identical pair of amplifier circuitry for reproduction into audible sound. You already know the story behind the TCM-600 to TPS-L2 I believe? The idea is very simple but patents, just sometimes end up as something like Cadbury trying to patent the colour "purple" or trying to patent "DNA". Not that I have anything against Pavel, he should be acknowledged but his demands after second lawsuit seemed rather on edge? Hahaha!

EDIT: Ok, now I found and read the patent. It seems Sony got the "Hot-line" from here =P. Go figure. I admit I never owned the TPS-L2 but its TCM-100 brother (TCM-600 sold in Japan and Asia.) Why claim Hi-Fi? High fidelity technically means stereo with excellent, low distortion reproduction (low wow/flutter and near 20-20,000 Hz frequency response, the human hearing range.) Forgive my bluntness but I myself never filed a patent before, lol.

BRAVO !!!! KKZEDER !!! Two thumbs up! All you say is true and I agree with your ideas for the first "portable" is interesting you mention the Apollo missions (NASA) because is well know they carry SONY portable cassette recorders (too much time before Pavel's bi-ampliers invention. The things relative to patents is true, the concept of the Stereobelt was too much "old" in comparison to TCM portable mono-recorders/players from the same period.
the general idea, for many people, may be like mine: the first was the TPS-L2
Hello again Katana, thank for your comments, and thanks for the private message asking for my TPS-L2 photos, you can take it all my photos posted if you like.
Oh! And yes, I am from Mexico, Where are you from?

Hi again. Spot on Tranxmetal!
Yes, ok. I would credit Pavel's Stereobelt as the first "practical", body-wearable and as close to pocketable portable stereo cassette player. But I have to say this can be still open to debate. First, the splitting of the unit in half gives a rather deceptive view of the size no? I have to say (following the patent) that its smaller than the smallest boombox and much more portable but when you compare it to something like Sony's TC-D5, it is very similar in bulk. The TC-D5 runs off only 2 D sized cells (already a great achievement) and is pretty portable already save for a shoulder strap. Plus it provides full stereo from cassette tapes. We can't classify it as a "Walkman" but its not that bad (only slightly bigger than the WM-D6C, which is a brick).

Are there any similar machines to TC-D5? I think there where but can't remember. Thats because TC-D5 was actually released in 1978. I know Marantz made an excellent line but don't know of any.

Just a thought.

Edit: sorry for my poor English in previous post, was in a hurry. I have fixed up the grammar now.

thak you very much for your valuable info KKzeder! I really appreciate the idea of the "walkman" concept by Sony, I think Pavel's invention is great, but in two parts is no "wearable" for anybody. I agree with Tranxmetal too, the first in the way we know, was the TPS. Thanks for your photos Tranxmetal, nice walkmans you have. Are you the only mexican collector? I' am from mexico too!

Not at all.

I do think its fair to say Pavel and his Stereobelt were the first with this idea, but then again, the idea could be thought of in two different places at very similar times.

I got more interested and searched around on Google and found this article from the TIME magazine. Funny, the Sony co-founder apparently did lug a TC-D5 around to enjoy his cassettes =P. Imagine what could have been possible if Pavel and Sony joined forces! By the way, I also found Sony's side of the story.

I actually think the Stereobelt's design is not bad (Pavel must have given a lot of love and care). Sony used their expertise to simply redesign the already reliable TCM-600, with another channel to make Stereo. I think the Japanese market (combined with aggressive marketing) was a major key in TPS-L2's success - they are always open to the latest technology.

the idea of the Stereobelt is in fact, a good idea, but I can't imagine carrying two bulk bricks around your waist... If Pavel was closer concentrate in the form of the earlier cassette recorders the Stereobelt in one piece it would have been better and the number one. Looks what happened with Sony's first "portable CD player" the D-5, a giant apparatus, and with a heavy carrying case for batteries,with a shoulder strap, but IN ONE PIECE. Since it would have been seen in two separate units hanging from your shoulders???

Gracias Katana por la replica, puedes tomar todo lo que gustes, requieres de mas material? solo escribeme tranxmetal @ hotmail y a la brevedad te mando fotos e informacion.

KKzeder: The links to the Time Magazine is very interesting, note they never mention the Stereobelt or Pavel name in the beginnings of the walkman era, I know, and everybody here knows that Pavel needs honors for his job, but sadly the world outside the walkmans collectors may never knows it. Please Katana, be careful in the info you provide, and give to Pavel's invention some of the glory for the building of that portable stereo cassette player...

Katana, you are welcome to use any picture I've posted. And if you require high res, let me know. It's good the get the stash out once in a while and it gives me the opportunity to try out my new camera. Good luck on your project.

Thank you Milosancho, I can feel a great family here with your collections. Thank you Tranxmetal, you are in my msn messenger now. Special thanks for the links to the Time Magazine article to my other friend KKzeder, your comments are very precise and the links so good. The Sony's story of the beginning of the first walkman was like a romantic novel, I love it! One thing may be true between the Stereobelt and the Walkman creation: Two similar ideas at same time, but by different autor and location.

Let me put in troubles again.... What was the last cassette walkman from Sony? And when?

Alas, Sony still make cassette playing walkmans, but they aint priddy.

There one other model Sony made that newer then that model showen here, release only in Japan has full logic control dobly B and black metel and ETC...will have to look for it later, do have it and the last Aiwa made. But then again Sony may still may made another unit for all we know?

cassette walkmans still in fabrication? Amazing... Long time ago I don't seeing any one.

Over here, I think the last cassette Walkman that was popular was the WM-GX677. It has a full logic, solenoid-operated auto-reverse deck, stereo recording, Dolby B, AM/FM Radio, metal cassette door (but plastic case), LCD remote and was delicate as ever. I remember this because I bought one for my grandfather and he accidentally dropped it once, and then the solenoid was done for (transport doesn't engage properly.) =-b...

Anyway, the last Sony Walkman GX listed on www.css.ap.sony.com (Sony Asia-Pacific) is the WM-GX822 (at least in Asia.) The PDF manual for this from the site is (c) 1996. I don't know about the FX series, but the last listed here was WM-FX900, but I found a WM-FX999 on Google (a cool fully logic one.) There is also a newer budget line which is listed up to WM-FS595 and a few oddballs like WM-RX822 (which I have never seen.) Hopefully Sony didn't do another WM-2 to WM-1 to WM-3! This is not very reliable sourcing unfortunately (I also checked the Sony esupport and it had even less walkmans).

Edit:
By the way, on my Google crawl I came across this interesting blog (ugh, its in simplified Chinese.) What a catalogue!

Also this site has some of the walkmans including later ones (sorry, more simplified.) The cassette walkmans are mostly on pages 8-12.

According with information found in many places of the internet, at least the two "last" cassette Sony Walkman in America was the WM-FX290 until 1996, but only in Canada continues the WM-FX197, a very basic Walkman. In other countries, like Korea, Japan, Vietnam, Sony continue to selling Walkmans but no in "deluxe" models, (metal, autoreverse, dolby, logic, etc.) only some cheap plastic Walkmans are available until today.

interesting stuff - i didn't know about the StereoBelt.

I guess it's a little bit like the mp3 player & the iPod.
The iPod wasn't the first mp3 player but now, who wants anything else to play mp3s on?

You're right Isolator, I'm amazed too with the Stereobelt. I love your huge entire collection of Hitachi boxes.

Ya tengo la info tranx. te mando mas fotos despues, nos vemos hasta entonces.

Ya pusiste en camino el DD? Platicame.

Gracias por todo, recibe besos y abrazos, nos vemos el fin de semana en el MSN.

Hola preciosa! El DD ya esta en camino, mande mas fotos a tu email, revisa y me avisas que onda.

Lindas fotos tuyas eh? Gracias.