Why did Sony stop using the Discman trademark?
Mar 31, 2004 at 7:11 PM Thread Starter Post #1 of 9

Thrasher

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I thought Sony was proud about owning this title, but suddenly they started putting "Walkman" on their PCDP....
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Mar 31, 2004 at 7:37 PM Post #2 of 9
If you look at their website... there are a number of different device formats selling under the walkman brand. It's probably just a corporate/marketing thing.
 
Mar 31, 2004 at 8:00 PM Post #3 of 9
What's with the man in that title?
My sony CD player (it's vintage, but it's also $10) isn't a man (as far as I know) nor does it walk... or is it a device for a man to walk with? Hell I don't know. It sounds weird from the start.
Same thing with discman...
 
Mar 31, 2004 at 8:16 PM Post #4 of 9
It's a leftover from the Paleolithic 1980s (or was it the late, late 1970s) ... man
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Discman was probably too specific; walkman is kind of generic because it just implies portability. And it sounds less weird than "walkperson"
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Mar 31, 2004 at 8:22 PM Post #5 of 9
couldn't they just call it CD player? and like stick adjectives in front?
Oh whatever man.

Guess that's sony for you.
 
Mar 31, 2004 at 8:34 PM Post #6 of 9
The Walkman name comes from the original model that Sony introduced. Walkman was the rough english translation of the actual japanese product name.

Morita the head of Sony Japan liked it and it stuck. Because the Walkman was so successful they tried applying the -man name to many products including the Discman.

Then about two or three years ago they settled on walkman as being the designation for portable audio with other names underneath. So says an aquaintance of mine that has worked for Sony USA for about 20 plus years

Thus now you have minidisc walkman, S2 walkman and so on.

Other companies like Nintendo (gameboy) have tried to do the same thing.
 
Mar 31, 2004 at 9:57 PM Post #8 of 9
Quote:

Originally posted by Thrasher
But in our country, if you say "discman" everybody knows you're talking about a PCDP. By "walkman" we understand the portable cassette player.


Same with the US, still
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