The Smallest Portable CD Players Ever Made (That Nobody Bought)

Рет қаралды 312,904

3 жыл бұрын

In 1988 Sony flexed its engineering muscle and built the world's smallest portable CD player...then a few months later, did it again.
SJM4306's channel: / sjm4306
DIY Discman LiPo battery guide: hackaday.io/project/165088-so...
Featured music by Dan Mason (danmason.bandcamp.com).
Sources:
Popular Mechanics, September 1988.
Taobao gear listing: world.taobao.com/item/5279711...
Beatles single mini-CD photo: www.liveabout.com/the-beatles...
Madonna CD single photo: i.pinimg.com/originals/65/ff/...
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Please consider supporting my work on Patreon: / thisdoesnotcompute
Follow me on Twitter and Instagram! @thisdoesnotcomp
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Additional music by
Epidemic Sound (www.epidemicsound.com).
Intro music by BoxCat Games (www.box-cat.com).

Пікірлер: 591

@krrk6337 3 жыл бұрын

Every product that came out from Japan bubble era was high tech, high quality and well built. I miss those days.

@coolelectronics1759 3 жыл бұрын

what do you mean bubble era? curious

@var_guitar 3 жыл бұрын

@@coolelectronics1759 1986-1991 en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_asset_price_bubble

@watchbreaker1706 3 жыл бұрын

You forget the price… high price. lol

@gayusschwulius8490 3 жыл бұрын

Yes, but this particular one was a pretty stupid concept, you have to admit that.

@OhFishyFish 3 жыл бұрын

"high quality and well built", 3 out of 3 aren't working. Sure.

@adsydas 3 жыл бұрын

LGR : Little laptop TDNC : Little diskmans Me : Huge fun

@nigel-Rollercam-channel 3 жыл бұрын

I just watched that! Glad I scrolled down to avoid a redundant comment, I will find other ways to waste 1's and 0's on googles servers.

@estebanvasquez2307 3 жыл бұрын

@@nigel-Rollercam-channel Oh man, I'm gonna start using that last sentence as an insult!

@nigel-Rollercam-channel 3 жыл бұрын

@@estebanvasquez2307 Oh, Please do, I rarely get quoted🧐

@theblah12 3 жыл бұрын

Dankpods: GIANT NUGGET

@jm036 3 жыл бұрын

Diskmans? Discmen?

@maxdoes_ 3 жыл бұрын

"...connecting with the past." [Cut to a close-up of "Power of Love" by Huey Lewis and the News] This is heavy.

@cellsworth 3 жыл бұрын

Always enjoy the care you put into the extreme close-up shots. This video really exemplifies it; thank you!

@russellhale7694 3 жыл бұрын

I bought a Sony Discman D-22 with Mega Bass back in 1990 for a holiday from the UK to Australia. I still have it and is works perfectly

@surrodox 3 жыл бұрын

Also, some CD's art while spinning is quite fun to look at

@Kalvinjj 3 жыл бұрын

Nothing beats the coolness of physical media being played back through transparent windows (or just the opening itself). Before I replaced my PC case, I had cut a window into my optical drive to see it in action. Still have an optical drive on current case but I do miss that opening... May as well mod this case at some point

@lucashinch 2 жыл бұрын

I recall one of "The Spin Doctors " albums' had a spiral type artwork on the CD. during the last couple of tracks it would look especially cool at lower RPM resulting in a "minimally hypotonic cd spiral-graph " to view... I also remember Pearl Jams' CD arrwork was unique too.

@TheMrawesomest 2 жыл бұрын

I used to keep the lid on my PS1 open and push the little thingy to keep the CD spinning.

@paulbradley705 Жыл бұрын

apart from spiral cd art are there any cds that have pictures only visible when spinning ?

@sjm4306 3 жыл бұрын

Yes, glad I could make a small contribution to this video! Hope to see you fix these three beauties in the future.

@andrewstones2921 3 жыл бұрын

It’s amazing how good the build quality was on 80s and early 90s gadgets like these. I have a Technics SL-XP6 that is from that era and to my mind was the best, it’s in as-new condition and works perfectly so I make sure I use it every 3 months or so in order to (hopefully) have the best chance of surviving longer. These days I feel gadgets are not made to last. When they stopped making CD portables from metal and instead used plastics they did get a lot cheaper and more accessible, but the quality was lost.

@seriouslyinsanediva 11 ай бұрын

As with most things plastic, the quality suffers. I picked up an old Singer sewing machine from the early 50's in all metal. It works like new and its sturdy and strong and smooth to handle. I scored it for $40 including the sewing table that it comes in.

@interlace84 3 жыл бұрын

6:45 Sounds like it's ecstatically roaring out of happiness to be able to finally read something!!!

@_guillermo 3 жыл бұрын

Your content continues to blow me away. You’re a talent and this platform is lucky to have you!

@Vercus100 3 жыл бұрын

I've been watching your repair videos for a while. This video inspired me to finally get off my lazy duff and fix my long-laid up Betacam SP machine. Had a problem where the tape would get snagged while ejecting. Turned out to just need a dab of lighter fluid to free up a sticky tape guide. Now I'm finally back in action, recording music to it. Makes super quality analog recordings.

@taikomotionanimations1089 2 жыл бұрын

why a dab of lighter fluid isn't that flammable?

@ghostmouthzach56 3 жыл бұрын

Techmoan has an excellent video on this as well that came out 5 years or so ago.

@Arbiter099 3 жыл бұрын

I can't look at old electronics without thinking, "the belts have perished" anymore

@Firefoxsimp 3 жыл бұрын

@@Arbiter099 haha

@Kalvinjj 3 жыл бұрын

@@Arbiter099 Also "No I won't replace the caps even tho I know that could help before any of you type in the comments section"

@PocketPixelYT 3 жыл бұрын

Your videos are so motivating for those of us who create tech videos. You have lovely shots and great scripting / story telling. Always look forward to seeing your videos!

@bwaw1972 3 жыл бұрын

Really love your videos. A great form of informative nostalgia (at least for me). Thanks for making them!

@cornejo7934 3 жыл бұрын

I love your camera angles. Your videos are like visual ASMR. Amazing as always. :)

@RBeau 3 жыл бұрын

Fantastic video Colin. Exactly what I was looking for today!

@ipooddude 3 жыл бұрын

i found your channel during Lock down and have been hooked ever since thanks for the great vids!

@Siktah 3 жыл бұрын

Love it, thanks! I do enjoy your teardowns that are brief enough to get to the point.

@JUSTENization Жыл бұрын

A lot of us that have had these players, or first time ever saw them will find your video very fascinating and appreciate the time you took to show us. Hopefully this very video will help pay for all the parts you’ve paid to make this happen. Keep them coming. Very enjoyable video. 👍🏻cheers!

@John-jc3ty 3 жыл бұрын

0:17 you made it sound like they did a walkman + CD together

@bex-- 3 жыл бұрын

Wasn’t expecting a second, let alone third CD player. The video kept going and going lol.

@JasonBoon02 3 жыл бұрын

I mean they were right there in the thumbnail though lol

@awdx4g63 3 жыл бұрын

Very eye soothing video. Never seen someone in US so complete in collecting all accessories for a single SONY product. Good job. Your j-pop CD surprised me !

@thomasandrews9355 3 жыл бұрын

Some how seeing you have an Utada cd makes me smile. Probably because my wife is a fan of her music.

@timblake5844 3 жыл бұрын

6:43 Semisonic Feeling Strangely Fine...... Closing TIme, Every new beginning comes from some other beginnings end. One of my absolute favorite songs. Thanks again for the good video Colin!

@christopherdowling2606 3 жыл бұрын

Thank you for posting the links to those problematic gears. With that I was able to get the parts to fix my own D-88. Such a great help.

@DEVILJAW 3 жыл бұрын

love these these kind of videos thank you for providing these, a relic of my youth.

@SuperNicktendo 3 жыл бұрын

Always nice to see your quirky collection of CD players. I really enjoyed the innovation of the 90s where almost every idea made it to market. Now everything is focus tested and bland. At least until Flex phones take off.

@coolelectronics1759 3 жыл бұрын

so true!

@gunsunnuva8346 3 жыл бұрын

Excellent choice of single: Utada Hikaru - Automatic. Fun fact: the album that single is from remains the highest selling in Japan (by millions over second place).

@s4kii 3 жыл бұрын

And this was done in 1988... Amazing stuff. Great video! 👍👍

@grandmaster1004 3 жыл бұрын

Dude, I love your stuff! Especially these CD episodes

@plagueboned5208 3 жыл бұрын

nice! I love your videos mate you always make even something as mundane as a cd player interesting great video!

@TechCoreDuo 3 жыл бұрын

That’s awesome. Looking forward to seeing the video of the display repair down the line.

@garethsnaim8174 3 жыл бұрын

I find your content fascinating, thank you!

@EsbenH 3 жыл бұрын

I love how you mix up the hands-on repair with perspectives on the tech and Sonys reputation to miniaturize component at the time. Also, the macro shots are amazing - thanks for a great video.

@ThisDoesNotCompute 3 жыл бұрын

Thank you! I’ve learned that while I find the historical/social context of retro tech to be interesting, some people just want to see the hardware. I’ve been trying to find the right balance between the two.

@alexanderbelov6892 2 жыл бұрын

Sony still makes miniature electronics even if it does not look tiny. Their Ultra HD BlueRay players like Sony UBP-X700 (or UBP-X800), so on, have very compact PCBs with tiny components, so that contemporary computer PCBs may appear bulky aged findings of electronics archeologists.

@shanapagdilao3580 3 жыл бұрын

That "Utada Hikaru" CD WOW! I Love Utadas Songs

@zapperdj 2 жыл бұрын

This type of CD players made a lot of sense when the MP3 format entered the market. I had a Philips EXP431 back in the day and it was really good, you could carry a decent amount of music with you (a bunch of minicds, the player and some rechargeable AAA fitted perfectly in a standard digital camera bag). The alternatives lacked capacity (pendrive mp3 players) or were very expensive (sd card based players)

@isaiah7617 3 жыл бұрын

I really like the three for one this time around! Excellent content as always.

@banditandsmokie 3 жыл бұрын

Thanks for the great video, helped me revive my D88 disc man. Love it

@ondrejsedlak4935 3 жыл бұрын

Good stuff. I actually got into mini CD-Rs back in the day, for audio, VCD and MP3. The MP3 option was most useful but I also used the VCD format for 24 minute TV episodes.

@ffxiikd1426 3 жыл бұрын

KZfaq recommended this channel for me ..... and i liked it awesome

@quickford 3 жыл бұрын

I would totally use the D88 to play CDs in my house, just to see the full-size discs sticking out the sides of it and spinning. :D

@lc7ineo 3 жыл бұрын

Utad Hikaru!!! I was really into that girl in the early 2ks, awesome!

@iceman8443 3 жыл бұрын

Hi I like your videos the most as far as tech and retro tech goes. Just keep up the awesome work!!

@daKaosjr 3 жыл бұрын

The shot at 15:31 shows the exact thing you need to adjust to likely get the laser working properly: the small thing with a philips head is the trim pot for adjusting the laser.

@abdulrahmanalsheikhali3162 2 жыл бұрын

I've hit that like button even before I've watched the video and I didn't regret it after I watched it thank you for your effort really good work

@williama29 3 жыл бұрын

I love watching your videos I mean it is always fascinating and just fun to watch and learn

@kylehazachode 3 жыл бұрын

I wish double-sided CDs didn’t come out so late in the CD’s lifespan. Double-sided mini cds would have definitely caught my attention and would probably curtail my first minidisc purchase. I can picture myself rocking mini-cd players throughout high school, especially if they eventually made mp3 compatible players.

@paulbradley705 Жыл бұрын

Never heard of double sided cds. I know double sided DVDs.

@BLUE_OCTOBER-TRIX Жыл бұрын

They did make MP3 compatible minidisks i used to use them all the time I still have my minidisk player with some minidisks

@bloodsuckinflea 3 жыл бұрын

Seeing these players does bring back some memories. Only reason physical CDs continue to be purchased, for me, is that it is difficult to find lossless music without ripping it from the CD. Bandcamp is a good source for musicians who use it, but it is still an admittedly small catalog.

@lucashinch 2 жыл бұрын

I once had the Sony D-828 K car discman featuring anti-shock , mega-bass , dual illumination , remote and a plethora of other unique and useful features. I always have great memories of that discman.

@FatBlokeDoingStuff 3 жыл бұрын

I haven't listened to Feeling Strangely Fine for ages. Thanks for the reminder!

@Evercade_Effect 3 жыл бұрын

Totally geeking out over this and very educational.

@kennethconnors5316 3 жыл бұрын

well made video , interesting and informative brought back memories

@Kylefassbinderful 3 жыл бұрын

I really miss the old Sony logo that looked like an S made up of dots, it almost looks like braille.

@Kalvinjj 3 жыл бұрын

I have it on my wireless headphones transmitter - good old analog infrared, use the headphone's circuit as a receiver for my better headphones to play games on headphones on the living room TV, let me tell ya that any rhythm game works flawlessly with those as they have downright zero delay from their analog nature (yeah, almost zero, of course they probably have theoretically some nanoseconds or what). The logo on the tall rounded 90's looking transmitter (which it in fact is, older than me may I add) really is a nice touch from the past, when Sony specially had the balls to try anything. And: ye they still worked flawlessly even if I got them 2nd hand... other than one old electrolytic cap. It's so much "built to last" that you can actually find a fully detailed service manual for it with all the circuit board traces laid down and the schematic, with full Bill of Materials. Then nowadays some manufacturers hide the service manuals as much as possible so you really can't repair it...

@technicalmachine1671 3 жыл бұрын

That's how you know It's a Sony

@coolelectronics1759 3 жыл бұрын

so cool! I am visually impaired I wonder if you can feel it? or was it printed on and kinda like what IBM does with there logo?

@Gadgetman1989 3 жыл бұрын

Love your channel!!!

@De.therapist 3 жыл бұрын

The Art of playing with old gadgets love it dude. 👌

@NicksStuff 3 жыл бұрын

17:20 "It can illustrate..." the stubbornness of the Japanese

@weesta 3 жыл бұрын

THANK YOU! I just removed cleaned and lubed that same gear on my D15 and it finally works!

@Mr_L1n4x 3 жыл бұрын

Man to think that when my grandpa died my uncles wanted to toss to the trash his discman, I'm so glad that I recover it model D-171 in mint condition

@Verdoux007 3 жыл бұрын

I don't know how to fix anything, but for some reason these kinds of videos are fascinating.

@valkasolidor6727 3 жыл бұрын

I bought my Sony D50 in mid 1985 while stationed in Germany (then West Germany) and it is still completely functional. I also have the battery case that I bought along with it. As you are probably aware it operated on 5 "C" cells which as I recall would last well under two hours. For what it's worth the first CD I purchased was the newly released Dire Straits album Brothers in Arms.

@coolelectronics1759 3 жыл бұрын

I always think its so cool that you can play a 2021 brand new cd on some old wood grain CD player from the early 80s!

@josephwood499 3 жыл бұрын

I had one of the first Discman with a card size remote control. It sounded great and never failed to read a disc.

@migalito1955 3 жыл бұрын

Good luck Colin on an eventual total repair or one that allows useable to be fitting. I must say you have more persistence than I would have showed for each of the three devices. Somehow I think hammer labeled "take that" would have been sorely tempted to have been implemented.

@sophist1cated 3 жыл бұрын

I had this Mini-Crown-Player back in the days. Never thought that it will become so value.

@clamssssssss 3 жыл бұрын

Respect. 10/10 creators won't admit they couldn't fix something these days. Proud of u

@williamschneider3355 3 жыл бұрын

I used to have a D-88, and regularly used it as a portable CD player (for 5 inch discs) when I would walk to the video store. It was a great conversation piece, but sadly I moved on from it when I wanted a player with ESP and an FM radio.

@SeifEddineB 2 жыл бұрын

I loved this episode. I personally would like to own some of my audio devices I grow up using. Specifically an Aiwa casette player with radio, a cheap common CD player from Sony which reads mp3 and an MZ R55 mini disc player. I wish I can find these.

@purplegill10 3 жыл бұрын

I'm usually someone super into more modern-looking tech, but there's something about that 90s Sony black-square-rugged-minimalist-whatever design that I just LOVE.

@KRAZEEIZATION 2 жыл бұрын

I had a Sony Discman in 1990 and it was heavy, huge battery that didn’t last very long! I love Sony’s amazing innovations. Parts can add up for old devices!

@Wawrzino 3 жыл бұрын

SJM4306 :) nice to hear about him here

@Kumimono 3 жыл бұрын

Urgh, the crunching sounds those make... Great video. :)

@ahmedp800 3 жыл бұрын

I love your videos, so much.

@rafaelsuarez3059 3 жыл бұрын

One major characteristic of the D80 that you forgot to mention: it's all-plastic; the solidity of the previous metal designs is clearly missing, as well as the sober sophistication that made Sony the king of cool tech in the 80s. In pursuit of lower price tiers, Sony went from an all-metal design in the D88, to a plastic & metal D82, to an all-plastic D80, losing along the way what made Sony-branded gadgets desirable. By the late 90s there was nothing special about Sony portable tech.

@ThriftyAV 3 жыл бұрын

You keep having to fix tiny little electronics! Thank you for this video!

@xero110 3 жыл бұрын

13:07 I had the same player (on the right) back in the day. I used a cheap'ish set of Sennheiser headphones. I used that setup to fall asleep for a long time.

@villeelomaa7836 3 ай бұрын

Thanks for the video. I have a D50 which my dad bought in 1985 or 1986. It still works fine.

@ahyonvlogs 3 жыл бұрын

Greatly done!!!

@RaymondJohnson 3 жыл бұрын

Not sure why the KZfaq algorithm brought this to my attention, but I'm glad it did! I happen to have a Crown CD-10 that was passed down from my sister and now I understand why it would half-heartedly spin the discs but never quite read them. I never thought about repairing it but it's good to know it may be possible.

@phatoni 2 жыл бұрын

I had a top loading Sony Cassette CD recorder CFD-11 which struggled with reading CDs like shown in this video after a few years. Since I was a kid and had no clue what could cause the problem, I moved the lens forcefully left to right and back a few times, which helped in the beginning. Of course, this likely caused more damage at the end and the cd unit was completely broken soon after. I threw the player away a few years ago. Only now I learned what likely caused the issue thanks to this video.

@LaurenGlenn 3 жыл бұрын

I bought that little CD player too. :) Loved it. It was back when 3" CDs were trying to be a thing... Of course, that didn't last long... but this worked fine... just make sure not to touch the disc

@FalbertForester 3 жыл бұрын

12:30 ... Only an instrumental version? No, no, that was a Karaoke version, very important in Japan, where karaoke is so popular!

@hernanj1599 Жыл бұрын

I still have the sony discman dnf 401. Incredible sound!! Looks new!!!🥰🥰🥰🥰

@Crazyreviewer123 Жыл бұрын

I wouldn’t mind getting one of these D88 portable cd players one day in the future. It wouldn’t be my daily cd player for obvious reasons but I’d defiantly use it for fun on weekends and see if it catches people’s attention when I start playing my cds in places like Starbucks restaurants and during outings with friends. It looks unique and fun to use.

@emancaindec9731 3 жыл бұрын

Techmoan reviewed this exact model few years back... Awesome piece of tech!

@VectrexForever 3 жыл бұрын

I've had my D-88 for about twenty years now, along with other famous Sony Discman players, like the D-555, D-515 (first one with shock protection), D-303, D-25 and others. It did have some trouble playing, I adjusted the tracking, which helped somewhat. Good to know about that gear. I did clean and re-lubricate the worm gear on these players. Also good to know about that replacement battery. I also have a Sony D-EJ2000, which is the last purely CD playing Discman Sony made (other models had compressed audio playback as well). This model is hardly larger than a CD and might actually be the smallest portable CD player ever, volume-wise. And the display problem could (hopefully) be a matter of cleaning the zebra strips.

@Deanster101 3 жыл бұрын

Seeing standard size cd played on mini CD player....mind blown.

@HansBaier Жыл бұрын

I love the design of that time. Such a quality feel of those CD players.

@stephendevore3902 3 жыл бұрын

Many of the laser mechanics only had one laser to control the ability for the laser to read correctly. Then they came out with the separate control to keep it in check and playing then they added the buffer feature for skipping to all players as was advertised??? I have used these players at one time and in store displays . I think Sears advertised one. Memories. Showing the build quality on the second player was really fascinating to see. It almost look like it was built today with obvious limitations. Amazing to see how far we have come and to see the cd is still hear and Note The DVD format spun into Bluray and now 4k.I know Im very Punny🤣

@jimmyyaoharbin 3 жыл бұрын

Seeing the Utada Hikaru's 'Automatic' single disc really takes me back to the better days...

@MinusNoir 2 жыл бұрын

In terms of (small) size, I would mention absolutely gorgeous Panasonic SL-J900 / 910 Square Portable CD Player. While it had a footprint slightly larger than a CD disc, it was extremely thin and thus very portable. I owned a few of them, and they are a work of art. Still available on ebay, some of them in mint condition, it's worth to check them out.

@quantumleap359 3 жыл бұрын

We had a dollar store here in the States back in the late 90's that had a big selection of CD-3 music discs. They were blowing them out at 2 for a dollar, so I bought one of each. Fats Domino, The Vogues, and several other artists were on these discs. Only a few songs per disc, but very cool. My Technics drawer loading CD player has a position in the drawer that will accept the 3 inch discs. Audio Magazine, long gone (sadly) offered a 3 inch CD as a promo thing. I forget what was on it, but just one more added to my collection.

@JohnMedved 3 жыл бұрын

I owned a D-88 back in the day. I was so excited to get it, but it just wasn't portable at all. You had to put it down on a desk/table in order to play it because 1. it was dangerous to carry while playing, and 2. it had NO buffer to prevent song skipping. I ended up returning it, although I do wish I still owned it today for the nostalgia. I also owned the original Sony portable CD player from 1984. Man was that thing cool back then!

@christophsuess7646 3 жыл бұрын

Great Video!

@mvShooting 3 жыл бұрын

Hikaru Utada? Great!

@ShiggitayMediaProductions 3 жыл бұрын

I was hoping I wasn't the only one to notice that... and it's not the first time he's shown an Utada CD in his videos lol

@RaimarLunardi 3 жыл бұрын

8:51 Utada Hikaru disk!!!! love it!

@yaerukun 3 жыл бұрын

in 1:17 too

@petershorrock3191 3 жыл бұрын

Amazing work legendary simply the best 🥰

@stroomratxd2862 3 жыл бұрын

Man i love the 80 s portable music players i still use them today!

@GeekTherapyRadio 3 жыл бұрын

Just a heads up that I can provide Delorean B-roll if you ever need some pizazz to add to "blast from the past" dialogue ;)

@SteveBrandon 3 жыл бұрын

Today I learned that Sony used the "CD Walkman" branding on a handful of players made before the year 2000, the year "Discman" officially became "CD Walkman". My CD Walkman D-NF430 from 2004. that I legitimately still use because I'm a total physical media guy and also because it's also a radio, isn't close to being as small as the units shown in this video but it's still pretty small, 137.8 x 137.8 x 31.1mm, and it's only 31.1mm thick because the housing for the single AA battery (and possibly also the AM antenna?) bulges out several millimetres from the rest of the body. It's still slender enough to easily fit in the lower pockets of any jacket I have.