Nov 24, 2010 12:27 PM
34323 Views
(Updated Dec 01, 2010 05:31 PM)
Look at the growth of technology today. We have so many miniature electronic products that have flooded our lives. iPods, Thumb Drives, Mobile phones and many more...... As we come across newer and newer technology, older products look obsolete and useless right? Not really !
Digital Technology - A Glimpse : In the late '90s, we saw the digital revolution due to which playing music became very easy. Remember the time when Audio CDs arrived ? The digital clarity of CD music was like heaven to us after listening to cassettes with that irritating hiss sound. CD Players started to sell like hot cakes. Brands like AKAI, SONY and AIWA entered Indian market and unleashed Hi-Fi CD Systems. Then came another new trend when one CD could store 150 songs. Yes...the MP3 technology. It was a revolution! So one had to play an Audio CD (or MP3 CD) to enjoy the songs. Since the huge CD Players were expensive, there was one popular gadget that caught the attention of many : The CD Walkman(Discman).
Goodmans CD Mp 352: By late 90s as the prices of CDs started to fall, Discmans started to become common and popular. I too needed a walkman in my college days as Hi Fi CD systems costed a lot and I could not afford them. My cousin got me a Discman from UK...it's name was Goodmans. It is a popular UK Brand, just as Videocon in India. It was a basic Walkman that plays Audio and MP3 CDs. Its price was around 50 UK Pounds. I used it frequently in the past but not after I bought Transcend TSonic MP3 Player. As my TSonic has some battery backup issues, I thought of playing my good old Goodmans. I just thought of listening to some old CDs on my good old Goodmans. I plugged in my cool Philips headphone and voila ! I was marvelled to listen to the sound it delivered : it was far more powerful than my TSonic. I burned my fav MP3s onto a blank CD and play them on this baby. All songs from Ilaiyaraja's hits to modern Pop sound fabulous on this walkman. The bass is deep, full and bodied on a powerful headphone, though lacks treble.
Features and Looks: The walkman looks really cool with its blue and metallic painted body. Just like in other walkmans we need to open a door and 'lodge' a CD inside it. It has all basic features of a walkman like next track and previous track, Skip to next Album(Folder), play modes(repeat file/album/all, random etc.), and also an Anti Shock Protection to not interrupt playing when walkman is shaken while playing CDs. Its biggest advantage is it's BASS BOOST setting which boosts bass and gives superb bass. Works very well with my superb Philips SHP 2700 headphones. It also has a battery charger to charge rechargeable batteries. It came with RCA stereo Cables and also with an AC-DC converting adapter. There are two separate ports on the side of the walkman for external connections: one for headphone(with controllable volume knob) and another for external amplifier. Definitely a gadget that raises my eyebrow in these days of iPod. This is another non Japanese product entertaining me these days !
Disadvantage: CD walkmans lack one feature : Battery backup. If we carry a CD Walkman with us, we need a pair of batteries to run the motor that rotates CDs to play songs. A normal Eveready battery lasts only forabout 30 mins. Whereas iPods provide upto 22 hours of backup ! To overcome this I use an AC-DC adapter when I need not carry it with me.
Punchline: My suggestion to you guys is: do not discard your old gadgets considering them useless/obsolete. They may be far better than even more expensive ones available now in market !
