Reborn Tokyo Golden Age

What should a portable CD player look like?

Bai Chuanfeng decided to tell them the answer with his own hands. He directly obtained a few small pieces of wood from the studio, measured them and stacked them together.

"Here, that's probably it." He pushed the small box piled up with wood chips forward.

"This?" Yasuda wondered if he had read it wrong.

Not only him, but even Nakajima Heitaro felt a little unbelievable.

This small wooden box piled up with wood chips is about 13 cm long and wide, which is not much different from the CD boxes of later generations.

The thickness is roughly equivalent to the height of 4 CD cases stacked together, and it can be held by a proper hand.

Too small, too unrealistic!

why? Just look at the CD prototype in front of them.

Shirakawa Electric's first CD prototype was about the same size as later VCD players, and even a little thicker than that.

Now it is difficult to reduce such a desktop computer into a small box of 13 centimeters.

"I know it's difficult." Bai Chuanfeng picked up the small wooden box and showed it to everyone, "But everyone, please think about it differently, when you are shopping for products.

Will you choose a CD player that can be held in your hand and can be taken out of the house to enjoy music with friends anytime and anywhere?

Still like that." Bai Chuanfeng pointed to the "big guy" on the desktop, "an expensive and bulky desktop CD player? "

How to choose, the answer is self-evident.

But the idea is one thing, how to realize it is another.

It is extremely difficult for everyone in Baichuan Electric to make the prototype that is now on the table.

Further zooming out by leaps and bounds.

"President, we will try our best to realize it. But it is reduced to such a pocket-sized portable CD player, in terms of time." Yasuda showed embarrassment.

This is still too difficult for them. Even if it can be done, there is no guarantee of time.

"I understand, but we still have to do it." Bai Chuanfeng is not an unreasonable person, but business competition is so difficult.

As far as he knows, apart from Sony and Philips in Europe, their prototypes have basically been completed.

Philips and Sony are racing against time to release the world's first CD player before the other.

In addition to them, JVC, Panasonic, and Denon are also chasing after Neon.

The progress of Baichuan Electric is not much ahead, and the situation is surrounded by enemies on all sides.

Now I suddenly want to overthrow the previous design and start over with a complete change of blood. Is this a fantasy?

Maybe, but Bai Chuanfeng had to do so.

"You guys, in the next year, at least 5-6 brands will launch their own CD players.

We, Shirakawa Electric, may be one of them, so how to stand out among so many brands is our first consideration.

The prototype in front of us is not to say that it is not good enough, but that we need something more attractive.

Of course, this prototype is not to abandon it.

Let's change the priority level of the strategy, first the portable CD player, and the background CD player!

Portable CD players understand it as a low-end model of CD players, and desktop CD players are mid-to-high-end models.

What Shirakawa Electric is currently good at is the bottom-up development model, and we must make full use of our own advantages.

Only in this way, maybe our CD players have a chance to stand out in the fierce competition. "

When Bai Chuanfeng explained it this way, Yasuda and the others understood a lot in an instant.

It's not that Bai Chuanfeng underestimated himself, competing with desktop CD players, Bai Chuan Electric is definitely not as good as Sony and Philips.

Even the local Panasonic, he may not be able to beat it.

For this point, Nakajima Heitaro is actually quite recognized.

As the inventors of CD technology, Sony and Philips naturally have first-mover and technological advantages, which everyone knows.

Since you can't compete with them on the same track, why not change it?

Bai Chuanfeng is by no means dead-headed, he is good at using any of his advantages flexibly.

And as I just said, portable CD players must be wider than desktop CD players in terms of audience and acceptance.

This kind of novelty that can be held in the hand and brought to the street will definitely be the favorite of trendy young people.

There is no question that portable CD players have the potential to become a pandemic commodity.

No one pays attention to such a golden track, and no one competes for it. Of course, Baichuan Electric has to drink the first soup.

Bai Chuanfeng understood it for the first time!

"Okay!" Yasuda gritted his teeth fiercely, and he decided to use all the time in the future to wrestle with the portable CD player.

"Don't be nervous, An Tian-san, I've found helpers for you too." Seeing An Tian's vicious look, Bai Chuanfeng was almost amused.

"Hey" The latter looked at him in confusion.

Bai Chuanfeng raised his chin and gestured to Nakajima Heitaro and the young people around him.

"Nakajima Heitaro-san, the pioneer of CD technology, you must have heard of it.

Next, Nakajima-san will fully support the development of portable CD players. "

"It turned out to be Nakajima-san!" Yasuda was overjoyed, he immediately stepped forward and enthusiastically held Nakajima Heitaro's right hand, shaking it vigorously.

The latter was dumbfounded by his excessive enthusiasm, but he was flattered in his heart.

Look, the people from Shirakawa Electric still treat people warmly, and those guys from Sony respect experts who don't understand at all.

Under the stars, Heitaro Nakajima's little vanity was greatly satisfied.

As someone who works in audio research, most of you here have heard of Nakajima Heitaro.

With his joining, everyone has a greater grasp of the portable CD player.

"Another one" Bai Chuanfeng walked to the young man next to Nakajima Heitaro, and patted him on the shoulder.

"Hiroshi-san Ogawa, who studied in Europe, specializes in digital technology.

One of the developers and standard makers of the CD-DA format will fully support the development of portable CDs in the next period of time. "

"Please take care of me." Hiroshi Ogawa bowed shyly.

Being specially introduced by Bai Chuanfeng and being watched by everyone made him feel flattered.

"Ogawa-san's name, I have also heard of it.

Now I finally dare to assure the president that next year Shirakawa Electric's portable CD player will definitely be available. "

With the assistance of two powerful technical masters, Yasuda finally felt that Bai Chuanfeng's plan to change the track was no longer a luxury.

The names of these two people are very famous in the circle. I didn't expect the president to get them to Baichuan Electric. It's really amazing.

"The next thing we have to do is to slim down the big guy in front of us, and how to miniaturize it will be left to you.

As for the desktop CD player, after the completion of the portable CD player, we will consider how to make it more perfect. "

First use the portable CD player to occupy the market, and then slowly figure out the high-end models, the road always needs to be taken step by step.

In fact, what Heitaro Nakajima and Hiroshi Ogawa are really good at is the development of CD technology, that is, the development of the format.

SIC, the CD storage format research center, is where they should be.

However, in order to realize the commercialization of CD players as soon as possible, Bai Chuanfeng could only temporarily transfer the two of them to support Bai Chuan Electric.

"By the way, Nakajima-san, according to your estimate, when will Sony and Philips launch their own CD players?"

These two companies will undoubtedly be strong rivals of Shirakawa Electric, and understanding the timing of their products' launch is also important business information for Shirakawa Electric.

"It is expected to be in the second half of next year, not too early. After all, it is a brand new product, and verification and debugging will take a lot of time."

Will it be the second half of next year? After hearing Heitaro Nakajima's answer, Bai Chuanfeng also breathed a sigh of relief.

Based on this calculation, Baichuan Electric should be able to catch up, even if it can't catch up, it won't be too late.

"Just now Nakajima-san said that the price of Sony's desktop CD player is likely to be more than 150,000 yen?"

"That's right." Heitaro Nakajima nodded, he could roughly figure out this information himself.

"It's too expensive." Bai Chuanfeng still insisted on his own idea, "Our portable CD player must be priced within 50,000 yen."

"Huh?" The difficulty dropped from 150,000 to 50,000, which stunned Yasuda and the others.

"Higher than this price, it is impossible for portable CD players to become popular." Bai Chuanfeng's thinking is very clear, "I position it as comparable to high-end Walkman models."

The high-end model of Shirakawa Electric's Walkman currently sells for about 40,000 yen, and the price of a portable CD player should be in the same range as it.

Although the price may have shrunk a lot compared with desktop computers, it will still kill Walkmans in terms of sound quality, even if it is a high-end model.

However, although the sound quality of the portable CD player is better, the workmanship is definitely not as exquisite as the latter.

The two sides balance each other, and the price of 50,000 yen is reasonable, and such a price is easier to be accepted by the public.

Think about it, Sony and Panasonic sell for more than 150,000 yuan, but the same thing from Shirakawa Electric is only 50,000 yuan!

Just ask if you are tempted or not, not only that, Shirakawa Electric's products can also be taken out to pretend to be X~

That's right, Bai Chuanfeng is going to be a price butcher again.

"In terms of cost, the portable CD player should be replaced with an 8-bit SIC chip, and the 16-bit chip should be used on a desktop computer.

As for the laser head, it is also developed by ourselves, after these two core components are determined.

You decide the rest of the materials by yourself. In short, the price must be controlled within 50,000 yen.

Even if the first generation of portable CD players reduces profits, it must be promoted.

The cost of the production process will continue to decrease as the shipment volume increases in the future.

So don't worry about temporary gains and losses, and take a long-term view. "

As for the two cores of the CD player, Baichuan Electric can satisfy itself.

This has an absolute advantage in cost control.

SIC's 8-bit chips are under development and will definitely catch up next year. According to the current production cost, at most one or two thousand yen.

Even if it is replaced with an 8-bit enhanced version of SIC8089, the cost is only five to six thousand. Including the two to three thousand yen of the laser head, the sum of the two can basically be guaranteed to be within 10,000 yen.

If some other components and metal casings can be controlled within 20,000 to 30,000 yen, then the price of 50,000 yen is not a luxury.

Originally, Bai Chuanfeng planned to use a 16-bit chip directly. After all, the stronger the decoding ability, the better the sound quality.

But the portable CD player has already been positioned as a low-end player, so it is only natural to replace the chip with a cheaper one.

After roughly determining the direction, Yasuda and the others said that they can work hard in this direction.

"By the way, President, what should our CD player be called?" Hasegawa from the marketing department was more concerned about the promotion of the product after it was launched.

Choosing an appropriate name for a new product will undoubtedly be a plus.

What is the name of the CD player of Shirakawa Electric? A gleam of light flashed in Bai Chuanfeng's eyes.