WORLD'S FIRST: Smallest Ever Cassette Player made in 1983

[douro20]

In order to make this compact enough, a new motor drive was developed using a disc-shaped brushless servo which is controlled using a quartz-locked motor control circuit. There were slimmer Walkmans made using a single servo for each reel. For the 10th anniversary, Sony introduced the WM-701C, both the thinnest and most advanced Walkman ever made. It was a full-logic design with remote control, LCD tape counter and high-fidelity stereo recording.

[kinmanyuen]

wooooooooow

[HyperBiker]

My mate bought one of these when we were still at school in 1984ish, but I seem to remember it being called a "gold". As in "Walkman Gold"; It didn't have any colour highlights on it and It cost him £100. I was well jealous.

[RetroPCDOS]

The official World's Smallest Walkman is a " SANYO JJ-P4/P5 "

SANYO JJ-P4 measurement results

Main body 104.5 x 69.7 x 18.1 = 131.8

Tape cassette bulge ( front ) 1.0 x 23.6 x 97.1 = 2.29

Hinge 1.0 x 17.4 x 85.6 = 1.49

131.8 mm + 2.29mm + 1.49mm = 135.58 cm3

Next would be Sony WM-701C then the Kenwood CP-3X and at least three other Pansonics then the Sony WM-10 with tape 155.50

[Lousypenguin]

How much would one of those bad boys cost in the day?

[eduardocolinresendiz]

Amazing...a lot of music from 1.5 volts only !!!

[EXIDEBANDENGLAND]

i want one of those

[mkkiani]

@G1DRP Thanks. Yes It's good to have a standard cassette case to make compsarisons. The first cases had a solid black back, later ones were completely clear plastic. At the end cases had all edges rounded to make them appear smaller. Best regards

[mmichaelc]

I battery Sony made another model like this one in the mid 80's it played great until the belt snapped

[mkkiani]

@mmichaelc This model was the smallest ever for a standard compact cassette. There were two colour choices in this- the blue and the red. In addition a version was made with an FM radio but the dimensions were slightly changed on that.

[mmichaelc]

Sorry half of my post didn't get posted i see. We had one just like this made from Sony back in 1984 that used 1 AA battery the sound was great. But our's was Black I wish i still had this unit, It was very small but the sound was great.

[Ibringthetruth1]

I would like to watch a tv show on the engineering that it took to design and make these.

[Ibringthetruth1]

No am/fm :(

[fflynnful]

I had one for a while. It sounded quite good with it's built in Dolby B and Eq for 120 or 70 microsecond type 1, 2 or 4 tapes. The wow and flutter was more than a home tape deck, but to be expected particularly when it's bouncing around in a pocket. It's not an iPod, but it plays almost as well as one and may have been the inspiration for the iPod. It was a marvel of engineering then and would be now, if there was a demand for small portable cassette players.

[damsig11]

That is so small it's retarted especialy for something made in the '80s.

[Jessegardner97]

there you go not so chunky now ipod enthusiasts if i get one im gonna show them the fuking awsomness

[Lachlant1984]

I take it this unit is a cassette player only and has no radio, right? What's the sound quality like with good earphones and a high quality tape in it? I don't mean to be rude by asking this, but what country are you from?

[mkkiani]

@Lachlant1984 Right, the radio version of this unit was model WM-F10. Sound quality was average for a portable hifi stereo. Distortion was still possible at high volume level and during any quick movement. A nice feature was the Dolby noise reduction. This was an exercise to reduce size and not improve quality. It was a time when Sony had little to do and came up with this awkward contraption.

Oh, I'm from Scotland in the UK. Regards

[themaritimeman]

So many feats for just one device! Sony had geniuses working for them back in the 80's!

Great video!

[mkkiani]

@themaritimeman Many thanks. Yes science has and will continue to amaze with technological breakthroughs. And I agree, genius's can work miracles.

[n0reyn]

i am so envious right now.

[mkkiani]

@n0reyn Don't be. These occassionally turn up on e-bay, search by typing Sony WM-10 and hope for the best! Good luck. mkkiani