Regency TR-1 — the first transistor radio

Two companies working together, Texas Instruments of Dallas, Texas and Industrial Development Engineering Associates (I.D.E.A.) of Indianapolis, Indiana, were behind the unveiling of the Regency TR-1, the world's first commercially produced transistor radio. Previously, Texas Instruments was producing instrumentation for the oil industry and locating devices for the U.S. Navy, and I.D.E.A. built home television antenna boosters, but the two companies worked together on the TR-1, looking to grow revenues for their respective companies by breaking into this new product area.^[3] In May 1954, Texas Instruments had designed and built a prototype and was looking for an established radio manufacturer to develop and market a radio using their transistors. None of the major radio makers including RCA, Philco, and Emerson were interested. The President of I.D.E.A. at the time, Ed Tudor, jumped at the opportunity to manufacture the TR-1, predicting sales of the transistor radios at "20 million radios in three years".^[5] The Regency TR-1 was announced on October 18, 1954 by the Regency Division of I.D.E.A., was put on sale in November 1954, and was the first practical transistor radio made in any significant numbers. One year after the release of the TR-1 sales approached the 100,000 mark. The look and size of the TR-1 was well received, but the reviews of the TR-1's performance were typically adverse.^[5] The Regency TR-1 is patented by Richard C. Koch, US 2892931 , former Project Engineer of I.D.E.A.

Like the transistor radio in the 1950s and 1960s, the portable CD player in the 1990s, and the MP3 player in the 2000s, the Walkman defined the portable music market in the 1980s, with cassette sales overtaking those of LPs.^[2][14] Total vinyl record sales remained higher well into the 1980s due to greater sales of singles, although cassette singles achieved popularity for a period in the 1990s.^[14]

Apart from the purely technical advances cassettes brought, they also served as catalysts for social change. Their durability and ease of copying helped bring underground rock and punk music behind the Iron Curtain, creating a foothold for Western culture among the younger generations.^[15] For similar reasons, cassettes became popular in developing nations.

One of the most famous political uses of cassette tapes was the dissemination of sermons by the Ayatollah Khomeini throughout Iran before the 1979 Iranian Revolution, in which Khomeini urged the overthrow of the regime of the Shah, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi.

In 1970s India, they were blamed for bringing unwanted secular influences into traditionally religious areas. Cassette technology was a booming market for pop music in India, drawing criticism from conservatives while at the same time creating a huge market for legitimate recording companies and pirated tapes.^[16] In some countries, particularly in the developing countries, cassettes still remain the dominant medium for purchasing and listening to music.^[17]

The world's first company to announce a portable MP3 player and the attendant system for uploading MP3 audio content to a personal computer and then downloading it onto a personal MP3 player was Audio Highway. Under the direction of founder and CEO, Nathan Schulhof, Audio Highway announced its Listen Up player on September 23, 1996,^[3] won an Innovations Award for its Listen Up player and its Listen Up Personal Audio System at the Consumer Electronics Show in January 1997,^[4] and began shipping the Listen Up player in the United States in September 1997.^[5] The Listen Up player also won a People's Choice Award^[6] at the 2nd annual Internet Showcase conference, held Jan. 30, 1998.

As the lead inventor on three U.S. patents (5,557,541; 5,572,442 and 5,841,979),^[7][8][9] as well as co-inventor on another U.S. patent (6,549,942), Schulhof is sometimes referred to as "the father of the MP3 player industry."

One of the chips used to create portable MP3 players was the Micronas MAS3507D ASIC MP3 Decoder chip.^[10] Several electronics DIY projects used this circuit as a software based approach would have limited battery time severely. This chip allowed the microcontroller to read data from a flash memory and feed the decoder chip, creating a low power solution.

The next company on the MP3 player scene was South Korea-based Saehan Information Systems which began selling its “MPMan” player in the middle of 1998. The South Korean company then licensed the players to Eiger Labs which distributed them—now branded as Eiger Labs MPMan F10—to the North American market during the summer of 1998.^[11] The flash-based players were available in 32 MB (about 6 songs) storage capacity.

The Rio PMP300 from Diamond Multimedia was introduced in September 1998, a few months after the MPMan and also featured a 32 MB storage capacity. It was a success during the holiday season, with sales exceeding expectations.^[12] Interest and investment in digital music were subsequently spurred from it.^[13] Because of the player's notoriety as the target of a major lawsuit,^[14] the Rio is erroneously assumed to be the first DAP.^[15]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digital_audio_player

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IPod

1967's Stylophone

The Stylophone is a miniature stylus-operated synthesizer invented in 1967 by Brian Jarvis and going in to production in 1968. It consists of a metal keyboard played by touching it with a stylus — each note being connected to a voltage-controlled oscillator via a different-value resistor - thus closing a circuit. The only other controls were a power switch and a vibrato control on the front panel beside the keyboard, and a tuning control on the rear. Some three million Stylophones were sold, mostly as children's toys.

The Stylophone was available in three variants: standard, bass and treble, the standard one being by far the most common. There was also a larger version called the 350S with more notes on the keyboard, various voices, a novel 'wah-wah' effect that was controlled by moving one's hand over a photo-sensor, and two styluses.

In the mid-70s a new model appeared which featured a fake wooden effect on the speaker panel, and, more importantly, a volume control. (Previous Stylophones had been infamous for being too loud in quiet situations). This was shortly before the Stylophone ceased production altogether in 1975.

Rolf Harris appeared for several years as the Stylophone's advertising spokesman in the United Kingdom, and appeared on many "play-along" records sold by the manufacturer. - Wiki

60s Mosrite FUZZ rite Guitar (Fuzz/Distortion) pedal

Mosrite introduced the Mosrite FUZZ rite in 1962. It was designed by Ed Sanner, who also designed pedals for Rosac. The Ventures, and Dave Allen and the Arrows were early adopters of the FUZZ rite. Jimi Hendrix used the FUZZ rite as well.

version 1: 250 units that used Germanium transistors.

version 2: Thousands made with discrete parts on a paper phenolic circuit board, using silicon transistors.

version 3: About 20,000 were made with the orange Sprague module.

In general, the FUZZ rite was capable of the fuzziest sounds.

The Arbiter Fuzz Face was designed and built by London's Arbiter Music, starting in 1966. Its most famous user was Jimi Hendrix.

Ike Turner & His Kings of Rhythm recorded what is widely accepted as the first distorted guitar sound, heard on the single “Rocket 88” in 1951. A guitar amp had been accidently dropped and a tube output stage shorted out, creating the distorted sound.

Another early first fuzz tone on a recording was Link Wray's 1950s hit "Rumble". Link Wray poked holes in his amplifier's speakers to make the recording sound more like the live version of the song.

Radio Shack's Classic Flavoradio

In the 70's when cheap pocket-sized transistor radios were king, manufacturers were competing on style. For example, Panasonic had a bunch of colorful models, so Radio Shack wanted their own version for their Realistic house brand. They rolled out the Flavoradio line - pocket transistor AM radios in six colors. The colors were named after fruit flavors, (much like a line of Macintosh computers I seem to recall from the last century). There was Pistachio, Plum, Lemon, Orange and Blueberry. Mine is a 2nd generation strawberry... though "mauveberry" is probably more accurate.

The Flavoradio was available exclusively at Radio Shack from 1972 to 1986, an astonishing 15 years - the longest running production radio ever built. Radio Shack retooled the case twice more, offering models up until 2001. At that late date, the Flavoradio was the last AM-only radio available anywhere.

http://www.retrothing.com/2010/04/radio-shacks-classic-flavoradio.html

WM-10

Despite being a fairly early model, the WM-10 was the smallest of all the cassette-playing Walkman models. Its tiny size is amazing even now, and represents a considerable achievement in the context of what was possible in the early 80’s. The WM-10 was smaller even than the cassette it played and had to be slid open to make the cassette compartment large enough to take the tape. This of course meant that it became considerably larger before it was useful. Such practical shortcomings miss the point of the WM-10 however, as its main function was to demonstrate Sony’s continuing technical leadership by producing yet another “world’s smallest” product. 

http://www.walkmancentral.com/products/wm-10