Tag: music playback

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Sony holds 40th anniversary event for iconic Walkman music player | Japan Today

From the horse’s mouth

Sony

Walkman 40th Anniversary video – Click or tap to play

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Since the middle of 1979, there came a new way of listening to our favourite music while on the move.

This was brought about by Sony where its founder and CEO wanted a way to listen to music held on cassette tape through a highly-compact stereo cassette player that is connected to a pair of headphones. The production device that came about whose model number was TPS-L2 was based on one of Sony’s best handheld notetaker-grade cassette recorders of the time but played music in stereo through a set of headphones. In some markets it was known as the “Stowaway” or the “Soundabout” but Sony changed the product class’s name to “Walkman”.

This tape player opened up a product class based around a highly-portable stereo cassette player or radio that worked with a pair of lightweight headphones. As more of these devices came on the market, there was a huge rush to improve on their design for portability, sound quality, functionality, and affordability and they became the thing to have during the 1980s. A classic example of this was the Sony Walkman II (WM-2) which was about the size of two cassettes in their cases placed back to back.

Using these devices underscored the idea of a “personal soundtrack” that you enjoyed while you were on the move, whether it was your favourite broadcaster or one of your favourite tapes as you shut out what you didn’t want to hear. Most of these units were so lightweight that you could end up walking, jogging or running for a significant distance without them weighing you down, with this idea encouraging an increase in an interest towards physical exercise. On the other hand, travellers or those of us who had to go to hospital would take a Walkman and a collection of tapes with us to while away the time.

Today’s headsets like this JBL headset replace the headphones associated with the Walkmans

This is while you were able to hear your taped music in a manner where tape or playback faults could show up clearly. It encouraged the record labels to improve the quality of their pre-recorded “musicassette” offering with this manifesting in high-grade tape and higher-quality mass-duplication techniques for the cassettes. Examples of these include EMI’s XDR and CBS SuperSound cassettes.

Schools and parents worried about this device because it was a way for teenagers to shut out what they didn’t want to hear i.e. the lesson material or what the parents wanted them to do, then substitute it with the music that the kid preferred to listen to like the New Wave sounds of the era. As well, it brought about the expression of one being “wired for sound” when they continually used a Walkman device to listen to music, something highlighted in that 1980s Cliff Richard song “Wired For Sound” (Spotify).

With the CD came along the Discman which was a highly-portable CD player intended to he used as a Walkman but for a digital media source. There was also the DCC and MiniDisc Walkman products that used their own media kind. But these led towards file-based audio in the form of MP3 players like the Creative Nomad and Apple iPod family.

The smartphone is today’s equivalent of that Walkman

Eventually the role of the Walkman became part of the smartphone’s function set thanks to the Apple iPhone and some of the Symbian-based Nokia feature phones. You would be able to connect a headset to these phones which would be loaded with file-based audio content whether through tethered syncing with a companion app or through loading a memory card with these files. This is while it could be a navigation device, a communications device, a personal library or handheld games machine amongst many other things.

Along with this, the quality of lightweight easy-to-wear headphones improved over the years with factors like improved bass response. The different types of headphones came about such as active-noise-cancelling headphones and Bluetooth wireless headphones that removed the factor that destroyed many a set of Walkman headphones – broken wires. The headphones ended up being full-on headsets that allowed you to listen to music or make a phone conversation with the same device.

Over the past 40 years, the Walkman underscored the idea of the personal private soundtrack that you can enjoy anywhere using a small battery-operated music-playing device with a set of headphones.

Sony MAP-S1 network-capable CD receiver – an example of good CD-playing hi-fi equipment

When the idea of MP3s came along and there weren’t much in the way of online “download-to-own” music stores as a legitimate online music source, the way to build your online music source was to buy CDs and “rip” them to your hard disk.

What was this, you may ask? Here, you use a music management program like iTunes or Windows Media Player to copy the digital audio from your CDs to your computer’s hard disk and make each track its own audio file based on a certain standard. Such programs work with one or more music-metadata sources like Gracenote, AllMusic or FreeDB to obtain the details about the album and who performed on it to identify each of the recordings.Then we play the music from the computer’s hard disk using the music management program. For portable enjoyment, you would “sync” albums, playlists or tracks out to your portable MP3 player or smartphone, or to removable storage like an SD card or USB memory stick.

Software media managers like Windows Media Player can rip CDs to files

I would personally “rip” my CD collection to 192kbps WMA files which have been considered efficient yet able to come across at a quality equivalent to the 320kbps MP3 file. The WMA and AAC files use proprietary algorithms developed by Microsoft and Dolby respecitively to produce a better-sounding audio file compared to a similarly-sized MP3 file.

Now with iTunes and Amazon on the scene and an increasing number of record companies offering access to MP3s of their albums when you purchase them on vinyl, we are seeing less importance in buying music on CD. I do still continue to buy most of my music on CD and rip it to the hard disk. I would use iTunes for purchasing music “as a single” or if it isn’t available on CD.

.. yet they can still be played on good sound systems like this one

I retain my CD collection for a few reasons. For example, I could play CDs on hi-fi equipment which, in a lot of cases with the good stuff, sounds better than what I would be using for MP3 playback. Another reason that has come to mind with FLAC and similar high-grade audio files and high-grade network-capable audio equipment coming to the fore is the ability to “re-rip” the CDs to better-sounding FLAC using a media management program that works to this standard like dbPoweramp or Exact Audio Copy. Microsoft Windows 10 even offers the ability to rip CDs to FLAC as an “out-of-the-box” feature and I have taken advantage of this feature with newly-purchased CDs and some of the older discs.

“Re-ripping” to FLAC allows systems like the Naim UnitiQute 2 that handle high-quality file-based audio to perform at their best

I could then subsequently use the media manager to downconvert selected material to MP3, WMA or AAC for transfer to most portable equipment when taking it on the road or copy the music to a NAS with a DLNA media server that streams to the good equipment or downconverts and streams to equipment not capable of FLAC sound files.

Being able to keep using CDs as a music medium will still be important to me because of the ability to play them through good-quality equipment along with being able to reuse them as sources for high-quality file-based audio.

Article – From the horse’s mouth

The XDJ-R1 all-in-one DJ system – the portable, rekordbox ready DJ unit that delivers wireless control from iPhone, iPad and iPod touch

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Pioneer have been establishing a Wi-Fi LAN-based setup to allow desktop and mobile computing equipment to work with some of their DJ equipment like the XDJ-AERO DJ console and the CDJ-2000Nexus CD player. Here, they integrated the ability to establish a small Wi-Fi network that encompasses the DJ’s table to link the devices together.

Now they have built the XDJ-R1 which is another network-capable DJ workstation that incorporates 2 CD drives so DJs can work between CDs, file-based media and other sources. This unit also exploits the Wi-Fi LAN not just for content transfer but to allow the DJ to use an iPhone or iPad as a control surface, including the ability toe manage the sound mix and effects from the iOS device. This is courtesy of the remoteBox app which provides the control-surface function for this console. With this, the DJ can keep the show going with the desired effects without being near their table, which can come in handy if they want to interact with the crowd such as to organise a social dance, or the event’s special hosts i.e. the birthday person or the lucky couple.

Of course this DJ workstation has abilities similar to the higher-end Pioneer Pro DJ mixers which allows for the DJ to pull some impressive effects and mix conditions in to the show.

But what I am impressed about is that the XDJ-R1 “all-in-one” DJ workstation has been factored not just for use in the nightclub DJ booth but is easy to setup for DJs who work many different locations like private parties, bar gigs and outdoor gigs. As well, the XDJ-R1 has “best-case” connectivity to hi-fi and PA amplifiers; and “house” sound systems through its use of the balanced XLR connections along with the RCA connections.

This shows that Pioneer is factoring in the small network as a tool for the DJ’s table when it comes to having access to file-based audio content or using a tablet as a control surface.

You may think that St Valentine’s Day is all about giving the one you love something special like roses, or inviting them out for lunch, afternoon tea or dinner because you know she lives in your town.  Of course, this isn’t the only day to show that affection.

But on the other hand, you may have used Skype to make a video call to them because they are away on business or holiday. It is worth reading this article about making sure that the Skype call goes to plan when they head on that trip. Here, I have highlighted becoming familiar with the Skype software, whether it is on the computer, mobile device or your smart TV or video peripheral. In some cases, you may have to do a “dry run” to make sure everything goes OK.

Similarly setting up a music playlist with a good variety of appropriate music on your computer or portable music player can work well for that dinner date at home or that movie date. As well, silencing that smartphone can work wonders but be sure you know how to bring the sound back on again so you don’t miss those calls.

If you have recipes in those books, scanning them to PDFs to upload to your tablet computer or laptop can allow you to have them in a more portable manner if you have to cook that dinner at another kitchen. As well, a bookstand can come in very handy if you use that tablet in the kitchen to refer to online or PDF recipes. On the other hand, that bread-bin can be shoehorned in to a temporary bookstand for that tablet.