Reborn Tokyo Golden Age

Just after the New Year in 1983, Bai Chuan Feng, like the general public, had already started working in Bai Chuan Building on the first day after the holiday.

The first thing that needs to be solved in the new year is the development of the next-generation CD player. This is one of the main products of Baichuan Electric, and he must personally check it.

Hearing Bai Chuanfeng's inquiry, Nakajima Heitaro straightened his sitting posture slightly, "According to the progress, there should be no problems in July and August."

The second-generation CD player does not need to be redesigned. Its goal is to improve the shortcomings of the first-generation CD player, so the time is not particularly urgent.

But when it comes to shortcomings, Bai Chuanfeng also slightly frowned, "Brother Nakajima, let's talk about the main problems we have collected from users so far."

As a new type of music player, CD players always have various problems at the beginning.

This is true of Shirakawa Electric, and so is Sony.

"The most common complaint about our CD player is its shock resistance. If it is just standing still, there will be no disc jumping or jamming.

But as long as you are in the process of exercising, such as fast walking, running, jumping, there is a high probability that the CD will jump.

This greatly affects the user experience. Many people complain that the portable CD player is not as convenient as they imagined.

At best, compared with a desktop CD player, it can be taken out as a mobile audio equipment outdoors.

However, the active speakers that match it have won wide acclaim from the public. "

To be honest, Heitaro Nakajima is not surprised that users will complain about the earthquake resistance of his own CD player.

Of course, complaints are complaints. The cheap price and real portability of portable CDs still have great advantages over desktop computers.

To put it bluntly, it is all based on peers, even if there are some shortcomings, it still sells well.

In addition, Shirakawa Electric's three-dimensional active speakers seem to be showing signs of becoming a bestseller unexpectedly.

This kind of compact speaker does not need a power amplifier, and a low-end walkman can drive it, which is simply a black technology for many people who like music.

Of course, the most important thing is that it is cheap. A single pair can form a stereo system for less than 40,000 yen.

The stereo sound system of less than 80,000 yen instantly became the favorite of street youths.

Those bamboo shoots with flamboyant personalities no longer need to carry half-person-high speakers to gather on the street. A pair of small active speakers in a backpack can solve everything.

At the same time, active speakers, which are much cheaper than the standing audio system of hundreds of thousands of yen in the family, have also become the choice of many middle-class families.

It is too expensive to afford the whole, but the active speakers with weaker effect are still no problem.

Therefore, at the beginning of the sale, the sales volume of active speakers was far lower than that of CD players. After two or three months of fermentation, there is now a trend of latecomers taking over.

It has to be said that this is indeed a pleasant surprise. The profit earned by more than 400,000 pairs of active speakers is more than that of CD players.

However, although it seems that the profits of the speakers seem to be more, Bai Chuanfeng has always focused on the CD player.

He knows that this will be the mainstream in the future, and one cannot favor one over another just because of temporary market feedback.

"The earthquake resistance of the next generation of CD players must be improved, even if the phenomenon of disc jumping cannot be eliminated, the frequency of their occurrence must also be reduced.

The anti-seismic solution can be concentrated in the two directions of the optical head and the turntable, which are the main mechanisms for the work of the CD player. "

The so-called disc jumping is nothing more than the instability of the turntable caused by the vibration, or the loss of information capture due to the shaking of the bald head.

If you want to completely solve it, it may not be possible with the current technology, but it is still possible to reduce the impact of vibration.

"Turntable and bald head?" After listening to Bai Chuanfeng's reminder, Nakajima Heitaro was thoughtful.

As an expert in this field, he already had a few vague ideas in his mind.

"First consider the physical level, such as optimizing the structure of the turntable and strengthening its cooperation with the disc.

The same is true for the bald head, but it is more suitable for the improvement of digital informationization.

In order to reduce the difficulty of implementation, give priority to the turntable.

A caliper structure is designed to strengthen the contact area between the disc and the transmission system, which can effectively reduce the resonance of the turntable system. "

Speaking of which, Bai Chuanfeng has already taken out a blank piece of paper and started to write and draw. He also studied science in his previous life, and he still has a little basic knowledge of mechanical structures.

At the same time, the precision design of machinery has always been the strength of Shirakawa Electric, and this tradition has been passed down from the Walkman a few years ago.

At this time, everyone below saw the schematic diagram drawn by Bai Chuanfeng, and their eyes lit up.

There are many things that people didn't expect at the beginning, but after seeing the face clearly, they immediately understood the principle.

"An Tian, ​​this task is entrusted to you."

"Hay, this turntable system will definitely go into production before July."

In terms of thinking, Bai Chuanfeng has already given the direction. Yasuda, who is an expert in mechanical design, already has a specific design idea in his mind.

"In addition to the problem of earthquake resistance, our portable CD player needs to be further optimized in terms of miniaturization."

Shirakawa Electric's current CD player has an additional power supply box. Although it is a great improvement compared to the desktop CD player, there are not many users who complain.

But that doesn't mean that Baichuan Electric is satisfied with the status quo and rests on its laurels.

"Everyone, this is the latest achievement of Baichuan Energy, the chewing gum battery."

Bai Chuanfeng took out a flat and slender battery from the storage box handed over by the assistant beside him.

"Hey" everyone present showed a look of surprise.

Bai Chuanfeng passed the chewing gum battery on and let them observe it with their own hands.

"This new type of battery has gone through tens of millions of formula screenings before finally reaching the current capacity of 1350mAh."

"1350mAh?!" Everyone exclaimed subconsciously.

"That's right." Bai Chuanfeng nodded affirmatively, "It will be a special battery for our future electronic products."

The No. 2 battery used in portable CD players now has a capacity of about 2000mAh.

It looks like the gum battery is still a long way off, but the #2 battery is too big.

The reason why the first-generation portable CD player was made into a split structure was because a few AA batteries couldn't fit into the compact CD player.

Now that there are chewing gum batteries, the real integrated design of the CD player is no longer an obstacle.

"We will get rid of the battery box in the next generation of portable CD players. Four sticks of chewing gum are laid flat on the bottom of the CD player, which can completely replace the battery box."

Bai Chuanfeng took the chewing gum battery and gestured at the bottom of the CD player, everyone's eyes lit up.

The thickness of less than two centimeters is really a trivial matter for a CD player.

"At the same time, the chewing gum battery can also be used in the Walkman. We have tested that a single chewing gum battery can support the Walkman to work continuously for more than 2 hours."

I have to say that although it is the first generation of chewing gum battery, Bai Chuanfeng is very satisfied with its performance.

It not only solves the battery life problem of the Walkman, but also solves the miniaturization problem of the portable CD player.

"If this is the case, perhaps our future products can completely abandon the traditional AA battery design."

Yasuda is very aware of the advantages of this new type of battery, and it may not be impossible for it to replace the general-purpose AA and AA batteries in electronic products in the future.

"It doesn't have to be so radical." Bai Chuanfeng never thought that his own chewing gum batteries could replace international standards.

"We can do both and make the Walkman's battery compartment into a detachable module.

Both the AA battery and the chewing gum battery have special battery compartments, and the switching of the battery type can be completed very simply by lightly buckling it. "

He has already considered this aspect, and he took out a small long box.

"Similar to this design, in the new Walkman accessories, we provide free storage boxes for chewing gum batteries, and the storage boxes for AA batteries need to be purchased additionally.

Of course, I believe that after users experience the strong battery life of chewing gum batteries, it will be difficult to refuse its existence.

After the public's usage habits are cultivated, then consider the integrated design of chewing gum batteries in the future. "

Bai Chuanfeng has always preferred a step-by-step approach in market promotion, and if it is too aggressive, it is easy to suffer complaints from users.

And everyone here is also impressed by this small battery compartment design, it is really full of creativity.

"In the same way, the portable CD player will also retain the interface of the original battery box. Users can change the power supply method at will according to their own choice."

Bai Chuanfeng wants to vigorously promote the use of chewing gum batteries, but is also worried about user acceptance.

Therefore, in the way of large-scale promotion, this relatively compromised design method is adopted.

Everyone nodded in agreement with this, after all, many Neon people are very stubborn.

You can see that in the era of smart phones, flip phones are still widely used in small days.

The stubbornness of the neon people seems to be driving history backwards.

"By the way, what is the service life of our chewing gum batteries?" Heitaro Nakajima is more concerned about the durability of the new batteries.

"It's okay to charge and discharge 500 times, and when the Walkman goes on the market, we'll put the gum batteries in the vending machines.

Several clubs in this area are currently negotiating, and if there are no accidents, there should be no problem. "

Using Shirakawa Electric's products to promote chewing gum batteries is a way. Of course, for the convenience of users to purchase, vending machines are also a powerful tool for promotion.

Even at Sony and Panasonic, Bai Chuanfeng wanted to meet them.

Rather than being reckless alone, it is better to get these two giants to do it together, so as to accelerate the development of Baichuan Energy.

But this matter is not urgent, it is best to wait until Baichuan Electric's chewing gum batteries are sold for a period of time.

"In addition to the improvement of portable CD players and the application of chewing gum batteries, it is time for us to launch our own desktop CD player this year."

After finishing speaking, Bai Chuanfeng looked at Heitaro Nakajima, "Brother, you still need to pay more attention to this work."

He took the task of "no problem" without hesitation.

Although Sony has launched a desktop CD player, sales have not surpassed Shirakawa Electric's portable CD player.

But in order to enrich the product line, Shirakawa Electric also wants to launch its own desktop.

It exists as a high-end product in CD players. For some music lovers, the sound quality of desktop computers is indeed better than that of portable CD players.

And because of the higher selling price, its profit is also very considerable.

In addition, as a high-end product among CD players, if you don't occupy it, others will.

So for desktop computers, Shirakawa Electric has never planned to give up.

"Considering the level of difficulty, the portable CD player will be launched in July, and the desktop will be launched in October.

But in addition to these two CD players, we also need to develop a third CD player. "

"The third type of CD player?" Everyone present was taken aback. They never thought that there is a so-called third type of CD player.