All about players

Players and their varieties are the type of technology that has brought a lot of new things into human life. Although users do not think now, this term itself includes more information than you might imagine. It is about this type of equipment that will be discussed.

The notation "player" is in English, so to understand the original meaning it is useful to refer to the translation. Player from the word play - that is, to play, respectively, this type of device can be called players. Initially, the players played music, and in different versions. Then there were models capable of working not only with audio, but also video materials.

Now a considerable number of people are so accustomed to the players that they do not even attach importance to them. and does not think about how long mankind has traveled in order to have modern devices in the form they are at the moment.

The Sony Walkman is considered to be the first usual player in the modern concept.which went on the mass market on July 1, 1979 and was produced in various lines until October 25, 2010 as cassette equipment. It is worth saying that the Japanese company is still making such players, but in a different format.

The Walkman story is quite interesting and begins with the production of cassette recorders. In 1978, Sony employees assembled the TC-D5 reportage model, which became popular both at home and in many countries around the world. The device turned out to be so breakthrough that top managers of the Japanese manufacturer used it. But one of the founders of the corporation Masaru Ibuka, due to his age, could not use the tape recorder due to its size. He told about this to the entrepreneur Norio Oge, who conveyed the idea to the leading engineers of the company for the subsequent development of a new model.

The TCM-600 voice recorder was taken as a basis, having a smaller size and weight, which made it possible to use it on the road and air travel, which were part of the work for Sony representatives on their trips around the world. After 4 days, the first prototype was created, which pleasantly surprised with the quality of its sound. The director, Akio Morita, was so impressed with the model that, under the threat of his own resignation, he demanded that the Walkman be mass-sold by introducing it to the domestic market.

At that time, Sony was inferior to its main competitors in the video format equipment market, so creating a breakthrough device was the primary goal. The Walkman TPS-L2 went on sale in July 1979, but from the outset it had a progressively growing success. It is also interesting that this player was renamed before the world premiere due to its grammatically incorrect name as Japanese-Anglicism. Marketers have come up with other names that can convey the essence of the device and its main advantage in the form of small size and weight.

The Japanese corporation did not want to pay the German money for each model sold, in 1986, on its own terms, insisted only on deduction from sales in Germany without recognizing Andreas as the creator of the first player. Pavel went to British courts, and after 8 years of litigation, he owed $ 3.6 million in legal costs. The final agreement was reached in 2003, after which Andreas received more than $ 10 million from Sony and ultimately officially became the first inventor of such a device as a cassette portable audio player.

Decades later, Walkman devices have become more popular than Stereobelt. It was the TPS-L2 and subsequent models that became part of the culture of the 80s, 90s and zero. It was the Walkman that was seen in films and books as devices of some characters, some performers even recorded songs and compositions with this name.

The first type of players, as noted earlier, are cassette counterparts. The essence of their work boils down to making a record with the help of a magnetic tape. Some models have a reverse function, so you can use them to listen to music on either side without rewinding or rearranging. Basically, such players allowed to contain audio recordings up to 3 hours long.

The playback and sound quality is extremely low, as the tape itself becomes less and less effective over time. A special layer crumbles, which reduces the clarity of the sound. And also the disadvantages include the design itself, which is more fragile in comparison with the technology of the next generations.

FM-players in their very original form appeared a little later and began to enjoy success with radio listeners. Frequency broadcasting itself was an earlier phenomenon, but was used as a means of communication, not for listening to music. At the same time, the equipment was large, which made it simply impossible to carry with you. But the experience of creating radio equipment led to the fact that FM players had good sound quality at the time when they were especially popular.

CD players also became cult in the 90s of the twentieth century and especially in the 2000s, when it was not only convenient to have such a device, but in a sense it was also fashionable. The main element of these players are MP3 and other discs on which music is recorded. Opening the lid with the appropriate button, the user inserted the disc, and it was read. Small displays show the name of the song and the status of their work. Most common CD players at the bottom or side are equipped with buttons that allow you to rewind a song, increase its volume, stop, shuffle and much more.

An important advantage of this type of player is that they support a large number of audio formats, which increases their versatility. Not all people use CDs due to their own preferences and other factors, so such devices allow you to enjoy music of a wide variety of types of recording.

The most modern are MP3 players. This type of player is used now and is popular, despite the fact that phones have similar functionality. The main advantage is the very small size, due to which you can walk on the street with such devices, which was difficult with full-size CD-players, the dimensions of which included not only the disc, but also the rest of the unit. MP3 products are used by sports enthusiasts as they do not interfere with their workouts.

Multimedia players are also relevant, which, as the name implies, can play not only audio, but also video materials. They are set-top boxes located at home, at work and elsewhere. The most iconic ones have become DVD counterparts, working at the expense of a disk on which you can store music, films, photographs of different formats. With the transition to flash media, manufacturers began to produce equipment with USB support, which is more convenient than a disk due to its size and greater capacity.

Digital set-top boxes now look like small boxes and are very small in size, making them easy to install and use. All control is carried out through the remote control with the necessary buttons, while some of them are also on the player's body in cases where remote control is impossible.

And the last, most common players are special programs. They are everywhere - on computers, telephones and other equipment. With the help of such software, people can listen to music, watch videos and use other files in the device's memory. The most famous of them are Adobe Flash Player, Windows Media Player, Apple QuickTime and many others. Variety and the possibility of detailed customization allows these players to be the most user-friendly and fully meet his requirements.

At the moment, there are a large number of player manufacturers. All of them are presented in a variety of types and models, depending on their price, versatility, technical characteristics and other features. One of the largest companies in the production of turntables is the already mentioned Sony, which has been creating and determining the trends of this type of technology for several decades.

Their assortment includes full-size equipment, sports MP3 players, Walkman and many more. Earlier models with CD support can be found on the market, and even cassette ones, considered a rarity.

Apple plays an important role in the development of this type of technology. It is their iPod Touch, which looks like smartphones, that are popular among consumers of the company's products. These players have support for a large number of programs, for example, the iTunes Store in its simplified version. Naturally, you can use accounts with subscriptions to various audio services.

Other manufacturers, such as Aceline, Ritmix and Digma, rely on the simplicity of their devices, and therefore they are inexpensive. It is the low price, small size and clear control that the mass consumer likes. Nothing superfluous and direct implementation of the necessary functions with the possibility of a small variety of music playback.

The Hi-Fi player niche is represented by a considerable number of Fiio products. The cost of these devices is in the middle range, and the functionality makes it possible to install a spacious memory card and switch between modes using a digital equalizer. The batteries allow you to work continuously throughout the day, and the touch control eliminates such problems as malfunctioning or sticking buttons.

The selection of the player should be careful, since this type of device is used constantly and, if you purchase an unsuitable device, its shortcomings will always interfere with listening to music.

First, you need to decide what specific type of player you are interested in. At the moment, the technology market allows you to select a variety of equipment, including both multimedia analogs and MP3. Dimensions and weight are of no small importance, which directly affect the ease of use. Of course, compare the technical characteristics of those models that you like the most.

It is the individual parameters such as sound power, reproducible frequency, continuous operation time, maximum memory card capacity and many others that form the basis of the players. Pay attention to the number of functions, control system, structural reliability.An important parameter is moisture resistance and its degree.

Do not forget to study the reviews of other consumers, since the quality of products ends not only with the declared characteristics. Real people who have tested the technique in action can share their operating experience and point out certain disadvantages, as well as ways to avoid them. Thus, you can learn about the nuances of operating different models.