Chapter 264 Portable CD

Author: Jing Jing

Chapter 264 Portable CD

What should a portable CD machine look like?

Shirakawa Kaede decided to tell them the answer with his own hands. He directly found a few small wooden pieces from the studio, measured them and then stacked them together.

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

"This?" Yasuda doubted whether he had read it wrong.

Not only him, but even Hirataro Nakajima felt it was a bit incredible.

The small wooden box piled up with wood chips is about 13 cm long and wide, which is about the same as the CD box in later generations.

The thickness is roughly equivalent to the height of 4 CD boxes stacked together, and it can be held with one hand.

Too small, too unrealistic!

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

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

Now you can imagine the difficulty of reducing such a desktop computer into a 13-centimeter box.

"I know it's difficult," Shirakawa Kaede picked up the small wooden box to show it to everyone, "But please think from the perspective of others, when you are purchasing goods.

Would you choose a CD machine that can be taken out of the house and enjoy music with friends anytime, anywhere?

Or is it like that?" Shirakawa Kaede pointed to the "silly big guy" on the desktop, "an expensive and bulky desktop CD machine?"

How to choose, the answer is self-evident.

But ideas are one thing, but how to achieve them is another.

It is already a huge difficulty for everyone in Shirakawa Electric to be able to make the prototype on the table.

Further leap forward shrinking.

"President, we will do our best to achieve it. But reducing it into such a small portable CD machine, time-wise, Yasuda looked puzzled.

This is still too difficult for them. Even if it can be done, the time cannot be guaranteed.

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

As far as he knows, in addition to Sony and European Philips, their prototypes have also been basically completed.

Philips and Sony are racing against time to work, both wanting to release the world's first CD player in front of each other.

In addition to them, Neon locals, JVC, Panasonic, and Tianlong are also chasing each other.

Shirakawa Electric's progress is not much ahead, and the situation is surrounded by enemies.

Now I suddenly want to overturn the previous design and start over in a completely blood-changing manner. Is this a fantasy?

Perhaps, but Shirakawa Kaede had to do so.

"Everyone will have at least 5-6 brands launching their own CD players next year.

We Shirakawa Electric may be one of them, so how to stand out among so many brands is the first issue we need to consider.

The prototype in front of us is not saying it is not excellent enough, but we need something more attractive.

Of course, this prototype is not about giving up on it.

Let’s change the priority level of strategy, first portable CD machine and back-end CD machine!

You can understand portable CD machines as low-end models among CD machines, and desktop CD machines are mid-to-high-end models.

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

Only in this way can our CD machines have the chance to stand out in the fierce competition."

Yasuda and the others understood a lot in an instant when Shirakawa Kaede explained this.

It’s not that Shirakawa Kaede is self-deprecating and competing for desktop CD machines, Shirakawa Electric is definitely not as good as Sony and Philips.

Even the local Panasonic is not sure that he can beat it.

Nakajima Hirataro actually quite recognized this.

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

Since I can't compete on the same track as them, why not change one?

Shirakawa Kaede is definitely not a stubborn mind. He is good at using any of his advantages flexibly.

And as I just said, portable CD machines must be more widespread in terms of audience and acceptance than desktop CD machines.

This novel thing that can be held in your hands and brought to the street will definitely be the favorite of trendy young people.

There is no doubt that portable CD machines have the potential to become a popular commodity.

No one has noticed such a golden track yet and no one has competed for it. Of course, Shirakawa Electric has to take the first taste of it.

Shirakawa Kaede understands the first time!

"Okay!" Yasuda gritted his teeth hard, and he decided to use all the time to harden the portable CD machine.

"Sang Yasuda, don't be nervous, I've also found a helper for you." Shirakawa Kaede almost got amused when he saw Yasuda's vicious look.

"Hey" the latter looked at him with some clues.

Shirakawa Kaede raised his chin and signaled to Hirataro Nakajima and the young man beside him.

"San Nakajima Hitarosan, a pioneer in CD technology, I believe you have all heard of it.

Next, Nakajima San will fully support the development of portable CD machines."

"So it's Nakajima Sang!" Yasuda was overjoyed. He immediately stepped forward and enthusiastically grabbed Hitaro Nakajima's right hand and shook it hard.

The latter was amused by his excessive enthusiasm, but he felt happy.

Look, it’s still our Shirakawa Electricians who treat people enthusiastically, and those guys at Sony don’t know anything about respecting experts.

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

As a member of the audio research work, most people here have heard of the daimyo of Hitaro Nakajima.

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

"The other one" Shirakawa Kaede walked to the young man next to Hitaro Nakajima and patted him on the shoulder.

"Hasan Ogawa, once studied in Europe and specialized in digital technology.

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

"Please take care of me." Hiroshi Ogawa was a little shy and owed her body.

He was specially introduced by Shirakawa Kaede and was watched by everyone, which made him feel flattered.

"I have also heard of Ogawa Sang's name.

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

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

The names of these two people are well-known in the circle. I didn’t expect that the president could actually get them to Shirakawa Electric. It’s so amazing.

"The next thing we have to do is to slim down for the big guy in front of us. I will leave it to you how to miniaturize it.

As for desktop CDs, after the portable CDs are completed, we will consider how to make it more perfect.”

First use portable CD machines to occupy the market, and then slowly plan for high-end models. The road must always be taken step by step.

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

Where is the SIC and the CD storage format research center, they should stay.

However, in order to commercialize the CD machine as soon as possible, Shirakawa Kaede could only temporarily transfer the two of them to support Shirakawa Electric.

"By the way, Nakajima San, according to your estimates, when will Sony and Philips expect to launch their own CD machines?"

These two companies will undoubtedly be Shirakawa Electric's rivals. Understanding the timing of their products will also be 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 Hitaro Nakajima's answer, Shirakawa Kaede quietly breathed a sigh of relief.

If you calculate this, Shirakawa Electric should be able to catch up, and it will not be too late even if you can't catch up.

"Jusan Nakajima just said that Sony's desktop CD phone is likely to be more than 150,000 yen?"

"That's right" Hirataro Nakajima nodded, and he could roughly calculate the information himself.

"It's too expensive" Shirakawa Kaede still insisted on his own idea, "Our portable CD machine pricing must be controlled within 50,000 yen."

"Ah?" The difficulty of dropping from 150,000 to 50,000 was shocked by Yasuda and the others.

"It is impossible for portable CDs to become popular above this price." Shirakawa Kaede's idea was very clear, "I position it as comparable to the high-end Walkman model."

Shirakawa Electric's high-end model now costs about 40,000 yen, and the price of a portable CD should be in the same range as it.
To be continued...