Sony Data Discman: The First eBook Reader!
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- Опубликовано: 6 июл 2023
- In the early 1990s, plenty of people didn't even own computers yet -- but that didn't stop Sony from trying to take books into the digital realm.
Sources:
"Portable Data Discs," Popular Mechanics, January 1992.
Data Discman photo pool on Flickr: www.flickr.com/groups/1882912...
Electronics Boutique catalog scan: huguesjohnson.com/scans/ebspr...
Data Discman DD8 authoring software: www.robotsandcomputers.com/com...
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Music by Epidemic Sound (www.epidemicsound.com).
Intro music by BoxCat Games (freemusicarchive.org/music/Bo.... 
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The idea of storing eBooks on CDs is so retro yet futuristic. I love it!
A new technology that allows to write data directly on rectangular paper cards would be amazing haha maybe a small dot printer and you just QR the entire thing, I would totally have thousands of tiny paper-ebooks
Retrofuturism is dumb. It was always dumb. It was always based on bad ideas.
"Futurists" get everything wrong every time.
Too true.
"a stack of printed pages twice the height of the empire state building".. the people that killed this are the same people that sue school boards for photocopying textbooks when there aren't enough..
For a while Baen would include CDs loaded up with eBooks of many of their older titles along with other content like cover art and audiobook samples in their first-edition hardcopies. They found that when they included an older title this way, it would often boost sales for that title. I got the entire Honor Harrington series up through the tenth book this way. I don't know if they still do that, but they do have a section of their online bookstore dedicated to free eBooks, especially of older titles.
I remember ebooks in the 2000s. We downloaded them from secret places in IRC, and the p2p networks. Had to - there was no legal source for ebooks back then. We had teams of pirates working on scanning, OCRing and proof-reading books.
I was a proofer.
I've noticed over the last few months you've dropped the CTA's at the end to like/subscribe etc. I'm not sure what brought you to make that decision and I hope it's not having a crazy effect on the algorithm - but it's *damn* nice to just hear the outro music.
Great video as always!
It's 2023 -- pretty much everyone knows how RUclips works at this point ;-)
I (and many others) use an addon called sponsorblock that automatically skips all the unnecessary parts of a video like the CTAs, VPN ads and stuff like that because, like colin said, people should know how youtube works and its just annoying to hear the same sentence over and over again :)
@@DangerousPicturesthere are many MANY RUclipsrs however that integrate call to action as graphics in videos. Maybe that could be a good compromise?
Hi ! I am new to RUclips , Do I paid to subscribe to your channel? If so, how much does it cost?
As a bonus, this makes the video both timeless and platform agnostic.
It turns it into just another documentary, which is very welcome.
I'm a big Utada Hikaru fan. Was so pleased to see her single used for the music demo!
I'd never heard of this intermediary format between the CD and the Minidisc. Old Sony was the best Sony.
It's not an intermediary format, it's just a CD - only smaller in diameter with a corresponding reduction in capacity.
The Sony units may have been listed as the first dedicated hardware for electronic books, but one could get electronic books for devices like the 'Atari Portfolio' numerous years earlier.
That second one bears a striking resemblance to the description (and some illustrations) of the titular Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy!
Hikaru Utada on the Audio CD! I love her music
Me too!
I can see a market for long lasting apocalypse technology. I've watched your videos for a while, and like with my own retro hunting, a lot is beyond repair. A device with modern parts designed to last that can be easily exchanged as modules or something, might sell really well to technology buyers and doomsday preppers alike
I remember some of my classmates at the intensive Japanese course I took before entering to the university having these kinda devices but a little bit more advanced, with USB functionalities and a neat crystal display working as a pad to draw japanese characters with a plastic pen. Because i couldn't stand the unreadability of these screens I just took the easier route: bought a galaxy note one (yes the first one) and installed every japanese learning app i found back then.
Really love that low-key outro, repacking the box. Great visual style. Thanks for all the vids through the years.
Ah old tech, beautiful isn't it. These "in between" solutions are something else.
I think one problem is just how small the screen is. Sure this is for the rich and the offices. But, what if they had a bigger screen one, one that was a bit sturdier build, for schools... how long could the format last then?
Yeah, you can tell it isn't marketed at people like me, just by looking at the ads for software... Wine directory's, etc...
A low contrast, unlit LCD seems like an awful way to read a book.
One thing that my indirect experience with educational technology has shown me is that they frequently have limited interest in cutting-edge technological solutions to anything, particularly when common and/or better-performing solutions exist - especially when they are much cheaper. Even with industrial-grade hardening, the reading experience on this would be pretty limited in scope, not to mention expensive and terrible on the eyes
Another great video on my favourite era of Sony products love this stuff thanks Colin!
Any chance the first unit with 6xAA was unhappy with the lower voltage of NiMH rechargeable batteries instead of alkaline?
yea i was thinking the exact same thing
I had the same thought. A lot of my older devices will not run properly with NiMH cells while working fine with alkalines.
Screen failure is a very common problem with those early Data Discman players. It still seemed to be powering on and reading the CD, and was probably still usable with the composite video-out connected to a monitor. Which Colin didn't try in this video.
Techmoan also made a video about Sony Data Discmans, and his early examples also had non-functioning screens, but worked with a monitor connected
I assumed he would try using the composite output to see if anything came up that way.
In theory it shouldn't be an issue, since electronic devices like this should have power supply circuitry to handle a range of input voltages.
In practice, I don't know.
Sony did changed the tech industry and they were leaders on product design way out of its time.
But everyone has to remember that Sony didn’t make money from their products but their patents, like the CD/DVD/BlueRay and more.
Would be nice if you make a video about the history of Sony, they became to what they’re today.
I have one of these still in the box. it was pretty interesting at the time.
Well done! Great product shots!
Love it. I remember seeing these and subsequent models in the same store I went to spend every last penny on MiniDisc stuff.
Finally somebody is doing a video on these! They're so cool!
Video out?! Did you try it out with the first machine? Kinda defeats the purpose of an eReader, but it would at least let you know if the first unit had a working drive. I'm also curious if they added any color to the video output, or just left it monochrome.
There is a video by Janus Cycle on RUclips that shows the video out. It is indeed just monochrome. Which is the better choice even despite it being lower cost, because monochrome composite signals are far cleaner and thus easier to read. Color video takes more bandwidth, and that's why color composite signals are far lower quality, as more needs to be crammed down the same single wire.
I was hoping to tear down and repair the first broken one. I love the design! I have the discman dvd player. Still works!
This could've been awesome product if it was released as ebook/audiobook device. One could have whole book and audio version of it on one CD (sure, using mpeg compression)
Well, the release of the first model in Japan predates any kind of MPEG compression by a year and a half, and product development must have taken place like a couple of additional years prior, so...
OK the Utada disc was simply beautiful!
6:20 aw hell yeah, hikaru utada. one of my favorite artists lol
love it
My cat loves your videos. 🐈⬛
Another piece of tech I was completely unaware of.
Utada Hikaru - Automatic. Nice choice of music for the Sony Data Discman haha
Hi Colin, I've found that some 90's portable equipment are not happy with rechargeable batteries. A Sharp minidisc I have (IM-D400) will only record with standard batteries but will play fine with rechargeables.
My first ebook reader was a Toshiba Pocket PC, a nice little device with more functionality than the Sonys you showed.
Great production value. You need your own cable show 👍
Interesting and informative. I do wonder, with the audio CD, why does the case have, those, square holes in it? Just to save weight, while still being rigid?
I just adore the aesthetic of 90s/20s tech.
wow no other words thanks for this video, by from Ardea Italy
I got two clamshell version with larger screen and slot-in CD mechanism... I'll need to dig it up when i get home.
That middle non-clamshell unit reminds me of the Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy.
Interesting item
One interesting thing is that Sony has its own online bookstore today and works with PSN account you can read on smartphone, PC, and even some of books, PS Vita.
Curious to see how the composite video out looked.
I like the idea of putting a small CD in a floppy disk sleeve
I really miss those days of weird form factor tech. I wish that the caddie mechanism for containing optical discs had won out and stuck around, too.
Utada Hikaru! Nice choice 😊
I miss physical media so much.
Cool
Hikaru Utada's Automatic is a great single.
Cool.
I was reading Cory Doctrow books converted to notes on my iPod Nano. People thought it was cray, cray.
Sony was always the pioneer in these strange but cool devices
Could the one with the broken screen work over the AV out?
Wasn't there a minidisc version of this, too? I think @techmoan showed it once...
As a Sony collector I still want one even though they're way cooler to look at than actually use...
Man, Sony made some really cool quirky stuff back in the day.
Do you get video out from the first unit, which would verify the screen is the issue
This is basically the first verison of the Sony UMD for the PSP
0:17 anyone know what is that 3 button sega stick? a custom stick?
Can somebody answer a question for me. Why did they release music on full sized cds. I mean full sized cds have 470mb may have been a bit lower back then. But the mini cds would have had at the least 150 mbs. Each song is around 10 to 20 mbs so they should have been able to fit a entire cd onto a mini cd. Having music releases on mini cds instead of full sizes ones would have been far more convient. You could fit more of them in a case, they would take up less room on a shelf or cd case, they could have made the portable cd players a fraction of the size and would be able to fit in your pocket. Also battery life would be improved since they could use less powerful motors to spin the disk since it weighed less. They would save money on materials creating the players so their would have been more profit for the company or cheaper devices for the consumer. Also less material would be used on the cds and the cases they came in. For the average consumer using full sized cds makes no sence.
These older devices can be sensitive to the input voltage, so the the use of rechargeable cells may not be appropriate.
The DD-8 clearly is the Hitchiker's Guide to the Galaxy. Did it come with a cover that says "Don't Panic"?
idk man i just love when a plastic square goes into a slot
This is one of the best ebook it' is very lightweight
I would have tried alkaline batteries in the 2nd one, just in case it needed more voltage to get the drive working.
The LCD failing is apparently a somewhat common problem on that model of Data Discman
Good thinking. eBooks are a thing as we know it today for the Digital Age…
This was cool, ebooks on CDs, but optical media isn’t well suited for ebooks, since people move around a lot with books, and it’s not like the Kindle which are paperweight and don’t have much mechanical parts!
Sony is number 1
Surprised they didn't use MD
This looks less like an e-book reader, and more like an electronic dictionary with a CD reader slapped onto it. The title selection would seem to confirm as much. If you do a Google image search for ‘denshi jisho’ (Japanese for ‘electronic dictionary’), you’ll see a lot of these kinds of devices, just without the CD part.
Спасибо очень интересный обзор
“sometimes technology is ahead of the times” i feel like a lot of what Sony has done could be described like this
Ah, the "It's A Sony" branding. Miss those days.
I owned one of these. I remember that they were very slow. I had an encyclopedia disk if I remember. It was very basic,
I've always thought eBooks should've come out in 1890! Would've been really handy on a long voyage across the Atlantic... in 2023 I actually still prefer paper. Maybe I'm just a luddite? I don't really travel all that much, or far, so it's never been an issue for me to take one or two in the suitcase. But hey, that's just me. It's cool we can buy both now, everyone is happy!
I prefer reading text on paper and turning real pages. But I have to say that holding an eReader with one hand while lying down is pretty nice. Some larger books are kinda heavy, and keeping the pages open can tire out my fingers. Both mediums have strengths and weaknesses.
For me having an eReader (currently a Kindle Scribe) is like having an iPod - not that I’m going to listen to 1000 songs in a day, just access to choice when I want it depending on my mood. I usually have several books “in progress” at the same time (usually 1-2 professional development, 2-3 classics (Verne, Wells, Bradbury), history, Fiction, and humor). When I sit down to read (be it at home, outside, Starbucks, in the park, etc.) I don’t have to worry about not having a book to match my mood. Sometimes I will change moods a few pages in, then switch books at the end of the chapter. I would have to do a crazy amount of planning to make that happen with paper books!
On the other hand, I also collect paper books (first editions, autographed) that mean something to me personally.
My Dad holds a patent for an early eBook reader but the way they wrote up the patent, he got screwed out of royalties from anyone creating one after him.
Makes one wonder why, when ebooks did become a thing, Sony didn't attempt to jump back on the bandwagon. Maybe it was just a case of "Been there, done that and lost money." I've discovered over the years of watching videos by Techmoan and the like that Sony seems to have been willing to try their hand at just about any technical gadget just to see if it would sell or not.
I think the best way to describe them is "The book that fell asleep before you do"
Sony loves to get into the market of everything, except for automotives.
4:29 is usually caused by faulty contacts if I know these dot matrix screens.
Loved Sony kit back in the day, but not their love of proprietary formats. If they'd done away with the entirely superfluous caddy and used full-sized CDs, they could have had a whole line of interchangeable audio / data Walkmans and made a fortune in hardware sales, especially as CDs were a (joint) Sony invention to begin with. Same goes for Minidisc tbh - you'd think they'd have learned their lesson with Beta! Still a cool product, but not at those prices (especially in 1990s dollars.)
No drawn out repairs of the first two? You can't be getting old on us now Colin?
Sony used to be soo innovative
retro device is bizzare & cool it's look like you can launch a nuke from that thing
[Flips a digital page]
-INTENSE CD DRIVE NOISES-
I assume the name "Bookman" was already trademarked.
Surprised Sony didn't try this with mind discs. Either was they were ahead of their time
Someone more talented than me could turn that Gameboy-looking one into a cool deck
Why have a keyboard on an e reader ? Just for search?
Early 90s and Sony in the same sentence always leads to one outcome: Leaky caps. Thats likely whats going on with your other two units.
三省堂辞典＋宇多田ヒカル=90’s❤
I don't remember these at all!
Sony alway make people surprised by theirs products
Send it to my mate Vince maybe he will try to fix it 😊
A weird product, yet at the same time still oddly innovative for it's time. Textbook Sony in those days.
I’d be happy to take the ‘Religious-Material’ VGR Disc off your Hands!
that book of sermons wasn't from the year 2000, it was sub-titled '2000'.. religious books in general increased in publishing and sales up to but not through the year 2000.. that really was the end of print publishing.. it took 5 more years after Y2K for newspapers to 'fold' permanently.. no cottage industry, the religious publishing industry is huge.. you couldn't purchase a cd burner that would accomodate 3" discs nor could you acquire the 3" discs until about 2005.. funny enough, they no longer put standalone cd drives or any optical drives that could read 3" discs after 2005.. it really was the industry itself that screwed itself over.. i started getting cd business cards from people just when we could no longer load them in anything new.. the leading edge syndrome.. sony really should've pushed th emini disc format for these, and the memory stick.. instead, we have.. LL Cool J.. and that's it..
Ladies' Love Cool James never worked a 'real' job in his life.. every dollar came from Sony..
Chick used to print 'Chick Tracts' by the million.. there would be piles of them on the street.. worst literature i've ever read besides the KJVB.. unreadable, non-sensical, non-sequiters..
Странно, как это я пропустил это видео. Столько информации за 9 минут, если б я так умел...
но ничего. я запишу свое видео. как умею, но чуть с большим количеством информации и реквизитом.
23 years ago ffs 😂
I have dv 8. Well it’s not perfect it’s for sale. Let me know. Downey California ❤❤❤
WE have Techmoan at home!
I wonder why they didn't use minidisc later on? 🤔
7:23 "it got weird quick" 😵💫
"religious" eww eject that 🙏📿
fun fact, I had a gameboy cartridge that was a pocket Bible around 1994
It's not the laser that's failed, it's the disks themselves. Optical media has a shelf life.
You missed the part where he put the same disc in the other player and it worked fine.
This was a bad product for the most part. For truly useful stuff this could do, like language discs, there were dedicated machines that cost a lot less even before this came out. There were dictionaries and thesauruses which fit in your pocket.
This was a very mediocre solution looking for a problem. Ebooks, even today, are shitty solutions looking for a problem. The people who really want ebooks are generally not book buyers, but publishers who want to turn their profits to near 100%. A screen cannot replace the printed page. But the sweet, sweet cash from near free distribution is just so desirable by publishers that they just won't give up.
Ebooks have largely turned into the DVD at the Dollar store with old out of date B movies nobody wants. Amazon has their kindle program loaded with self-published trash. Books worth getting are nearly always as much or close to as much as the printed version.
@@nooneinpart There are definitely upsides to ebooks and you point some of them out. Being able to highlight a word and get the definition is definitely far more convenient than looking it up in a paper dictionary or having to look it up online on your phone or something. Also, you don't end up with bookshelves full of books and they are easily searchable.
OTOH, the e-reader is more or less dead. Cell phones are too small, IMHO. Yes, the DRM and the price sucks.
I do read a lot of ebooks. But, I generally read old stuff (or books I can find free) with ebooks. I have a separate device for reading them (A Kindle Fire 10). Some of the free books you can get, because they are out of copyright are great. My youtube handle is based on a character in a book written in 1901 or so.