1 00:00:04,160 --> 00:00:07,160 Speaker 1: Get in touch with technology with tech Stuff from how 2 00:00:07,240 --> 00:00:13,760 Speaker 1: stuff works dot Com. Hey there, and welcome to tech Stuff. 3 00:00:13,800 --> 00:00:16,720 Speaker 1: I am your host, Jonathan Strickland, and today we're going 4 00:00:16,800 --> 00:00:21,599 Speaker 1: to continue the story of Sony. This is part two 5 00:00:21,720 --> 00:00:25,239 Speaker 1: of a part series. I still don't know how many 6 00:00:25,280 --> 00:00:28,920 Speaker 1: it's gonna be, but I'm hoping for three or four. 7 00:00:30,040 --> 00:00:33,720 Speaker 1: We'll see. Uh. This part of the story gets really interesting, 8 00:00:33,880 --> 00:00:35,920 Speaker 1: you know. We we talked in the last episode about 9 00:00:36,000 --> 00:00:40,080 Speaker 1: the founding of Sony, which originally was called Totsuko, and 10 00:00:40,120 --> 00:00:45,960 Speaker 1: how they had a pretty ambitious but rough start because 11 00:00:46,159 --> 00:00:49,879 Speaker 1: they were trying to get established in a tumultuous time 12 00:00:49,920 --> 00:00:53,840 Speaker 1: in Japan's past, just after World War Two. In this episode, 13 00:00:53,840 --> 00:00:59,160 Speaker 1: we're looking at how things picked up from about nineteen forward, 14 00:00:59,560 --> 00:01:02,760 Speaker 1: so let pick up from there. Ninety eight, Sony got 15 00:01:02,760 --> 00:01:05,880 Speaker 1: an interesting start to the year. The company had shipped 16 00:01:05,959 --> 00:01:10,520 Speaker 1: thousands of radios to the United States. Now, at that time, 17 00:01:10,959 --> 00:01:14,080 Speaker 1: Sony didn't have a presence in the US, like there 18 00:01:14,160 --> 00:01:17,560 Speaker 1: was no Sony Corporation of America at that time, so 19 00:01:17,680 --> 00:01:21,880 Speaker 1: they had to depend upon other companies to end up 20 00:01:21,959 --> 00:01:26,160 Speaker 1: handling US sales of Sony products and distribution as well. 21 00:01:26,680 --> 00:01:30,039 Speaker 1: So they were working primarily with a company called agrod 22 00:01:30,080 --> 00:01:33,040 Speaker 1: A g r o d. To handle U S sales, 23 00:01:33,640 --> 00:01:38,000 Speaker 1: and they were distributing through the Delmonico International Sales network, 24 00:01:38,800 --> 00:01:42,400 Speaker 1: which was primarily based on New York. The radios from 25 00:01:42,440 --> 00:01:47,120 Speaker 1: Sony were in a Delmonico warehouse and on January nineteen 26 00:01:47,200 --> 00:01:50,640 Speaker 1: fifty eight, a group of thieves broken too the Delmonico 27 00:01:50,760 --> 00:01:57,000 Speaker 1: warehouse and stole four thousand Sony radios. And even more 28 00:01:57,000 --> 00:02:00,960 Speaker 1: interesting than that, they didn't touch the other radios that 29 00:02:01,000 --> 00:02:05,240 Speaker 1: were in the warehouse, only the Sony ones. Now, that 30 00:02:05,320 --> 00:02:08,360 Speaker 1: turned out to be great free publicity for Sony because 31 00:02:08,360 --> 00:02:11,280 Speaker 1: the thieves took Sony's radios and left all the others behind. 32 00:02:11,560 --> 00:02:15,720 Speaker 1: So something must be special about the Sony radios. They 33 00:02:15,720 --> 00:02:17,840 Speaker 1: had to be better than the others because those were 34 00:02:17,880 --> 00:02:22,040 Speaker 1: the ones that the thieves specifically targeted. Sony was of 35 00:02:22,120 --> 00:02:24,679 Speaker 1: two minds. The executives were two minds of this. One 36 00:02:24,760 --> 00:02:29,440 Speaker 1: was that, well, shucks, now we have to build replacement 37 00:02:29,600 --> 00:02:32,120 Speaker 1: units for the ones that were stolen because we still 38 00:02:32,160 --> 00:02:34,640 Speaker 1: want to sell things in the US. But also, yea 39 00:02:35,080 --> 00:02:39,200 Speaker 1: free advertising. Everyone is going to want a Sony radio 40 00:02:39,280 --> 00:02:42,400 Speaker 1: because they're good enough to steal a weird thing to 41 00:02:42,400 --> 00:02:45,880 Speaker 1: think about, but it actually did give them uh kind 42 00:02:45,880 --> 00:02:49,679 Speaker 1: of a beneficial view in the marketplace. Now late in 43 00:02:49,840 --> 00:02:54,720 Speaker 1: nine UH Sony would end up introducing a new smaller 44 00:02:54,919 --> 00:02:57,839 Speaker 1: pocket radio. You remember in the last episode they had 45 00:02:57,919 --> 00:03:01,839 Speaker 1: coined the term pocketable radio. Oh, this one was called 46 00:03:01,880 --> 00:03:07,359 Speaker 1: the t R six one zero, very catchy. Almost all 47 00:03:07,440 --> 00:03:09,959 Speaker 1: the models I'll be talking about have a letter and 48 00:03:10,040 --> 00:03:13,720 Speaker 1: number designation UM. Sometimes they would end up getting a 49 00:03:13,840 --> 00:03:19,200 Speaker 1: different name, like a nickname or a common name that 50 00:03:19,200 --> 00:03:23,000 Speaker 1: would be used. But this particular pocket radio would become 51 00:03:23,080 --> 00:03:27,320 Speaker 1: very popular, selling half a million sets globally by nineteen sixty, 52 00:03:27,400 --> 00:03:30,200 Speaker 1: so two years after it launched. This was the product 53 00:03:30,200 --> 00:03:33,240 Speaker 1: that helped make Sony a household name in in a 54 00:03:33,320 --> 00:03:37,360 Speaker 1: lot of different areas around the world. Although the biggest 55 00:03:37,360 --> 00:03:40,160 Speaker 1: successes for the company were still ahead of it, they 56 00:03:40,200 --> 00:03:43,560 Speaker 1: were also making other electronics, such as the C thirty 57 00:03:43,680 --> 00:03:47,400 Speaker 1: seven condenser microphone. It had been trying to break into 58 00:03:47,400 --> 00:03:50,360 Speaker 1: the microphone business for a while because the broadcast company 59 00:03:50,520 --> 00:03:53,160 Speaker 1: n h K. You might have remembered that I talked 60 00:03:53,200 --> 00:03:56,120 Speaker 1: about them in the last episode. Well, in h K 61 00:03:56,240 --> 00:03:59,240 Speaker 1: at that time would only use foreign made microphones. They 62 00:03:59,240 --> 00:04:02,640 Speaker 1: didn't make. They didn't use any Japan made microphones. Because 63 00:04:02,880 --> 00:04:06,080 Speaker 1: most of the microphones coming out of Japan were pretty lousy. 64 00:04:06,120 --> 00:04:09,080 Speaker 1: They were not of very high quality, and so a 65 00:04:09,160 --> 00:04:12,280 Speaker 1: lot of the equipment that the NHK Broadcast Company would 66 00:04:12,360 --> 00:04:15,680 Speaker 1: use came from places like Germany. Now Sony wanted to 67 00:04:15,760 --> 00:04:19,600 Speaker 1: change that. They said, this is a national disgrace that 68 00:04:19,760 --> 00:04:23,839 Speaker 1: our own broadcast company is using foreign technology because the 69 00:04:23,880 --> 00:04:27,039 Speaker 1: stuff that's being made of Japan isn't good enough. We 70 00:04:27,120 --> 00:04:30,440 Speaker 1: are going to change that now. Their first prototype was 71 00:04:30,720 --> 00:04:34,160 Speaker 1: less than a total success. Had had a cellul Lloyd 72 00:04:34,200 --> 00:04:38,440 Speaker 1: diaphragm with silver plating on one side, and it would occasionally, 73 00:04:39,400 --> 00:04:44,479 Speaker 1: you know, catch fire, which is exciting but not something 74 00:04:44,520 --> 00:04:48,800 Speaker 1: you want when you're broadcasting. I mean, your audience might 75 00:04:48,839 --> 00:04:51,839 Speaker 1: find it really invigorating, and so would you, but in 76 00:04:51,880 --> 00:04:55,000 Speaker 1: a totally different way. They knew that they had to 77 00:04:55,120 --> 00:04:58,080 Speaker 1: change that design. So they ended up switching from cellul 78 00:04:58,160 --> 00:05:01,279 Speaker 1: Lloyd to milar, essentially that same material you find in 79 00:05:01,320 --> 00:05:06,000 Speaker 1: those silvery balloons, and they used gold particles deposited on 80 00:05:06,120 --> 00:05:08,360 Speaker 1: the milar and they found that it worked much better. 81 00:05:08,800 --> 00:05:12,000 Speaker 1: The company produced the first C thirty seven microphones shortly 82 00:05:12,040 --> 00:05:15,840 Speaker 1: before television began to become popular in Japan. It had 83 00:05:15,839 --> 00:05:19,200 Speaker 1: a later start in Japan that did in the United States. Now, 84 00:05:20,040 --> 00:05:24,280 Speaker 1: by getting these C thirty seven microphones to broadcasters just 85 00:05:24,400 --> 00:05:28,160 Speaker 1: as TV was taking off, Sony also managed to get 86 00:05:28,360 --> 00:05:32,120 Speaker 1: more advertising because you could see the Sony brand name 87 00:05:32,400 --> 00:05:36,160 Speaker 1: on the microphones on the television screen, so Sony was 88 00:05:36,200 --> 00:05:37,960 Speaker 1: able to get another leg up. It was a very 89 00:05:38,040 --> 00:05:41,200 Speaker 1: savvy move for Sony to make at this time in 90 00:05:41,240 --> 00:05:43,640 Speaker 1: its history. By the way, if you're not familiar with 91 00:05:43,680 --> 00:05:47,799 Speaker 1: the difference between condenser microphones and dynamic microphones, in general, 92 00:05:47,880 --> 00:05:52,000 Speaker 1: a condenser mike can pick up everything in an area. Um, 93 00:05:52,680 --> 00:05:55,640 Speaker 1: these are really popular because they're very simple microphones. They 94 00:05:55,640 --> 00:05:58,680 Speaker 1: tend to be inexpensive if you're getting something like the 95 00:05:58,720 --> 00:06:01,520 Speaker 1: blue microphones, which by the way, I love the blue microphones, 96 00:06:01,720 --> 00:06:04,880 Speaker 1: but they are I think they're all condensers. They might 97 00:06:04,920 --> 00:06:06,840 Speaker 1: have a dynamic microphone as well, but the ones I'm 98 00:06:06,880 --> 00:06:11,120 Speaker 1: familiar with, they're all condenser mics, and tiny little noises 99 00:06:11,160 --> 00:06:13,560 Speaker 1: in your environment will get picked up by those microphones. 100 00:06:13,760 --> 00:06:15,960 Speaker 1: It's great if you're trying to record something in the round, 101 00:06:16,120 --> 00:06:17,440 Speaker 1: if you've got a whole bunch of people and like 102 00:06:17,440 --> 00:06:19,800 Speaker 1: maybe your musicians or you're having a conversation you just 103 00:06:19,839 --> 00:06:22,760 Speaker 1: want to have one microphone, it's great for that, but 104 00:06:22,839 --> 00:06:25,560 Speaker 1: if you are a single person talking into it like 105 00:06:25,640 --> 00:06:28,520 Speaker 1: a podcaster and you just want to have a direct 106 00:06:28,600 --> 00:06:32,239 Speaker 1: relationship with the listeners on the other side, I always 107 00:06:32,240 --> 00:06:36,400 Speaker 1: recommend dynamic mics over condensers. The downside with dynamic mic 108 00:06:36,480 --> 00:06:39,360 Speaker 1: is you have to address the microphone pretty much right 109 00:06:39,360 --> 00:06:41,400 Speaker 1: in front of it. You can't go too far to 110 00:06:41,440 --> 00:06:43,680 Speaker 1: the left or to the right, or back off too much, 111 00:06:44,200 --> 00:06:48,200 Speaker 1: or the sound drops in volume very very quickly. But 112 00:06:48,279 --> 00:06:50,160 Speaker 1: on the flip side of it, it doesn't pick up 113 00:06:50,200 --> 00:06:52,400 Speaker 1: all the other noises that happened to be in the area, 114 00:06:52,480 --> 00:06:55,320 Speaker 1: so you get a cleaner sound as farly, or at 115 00:06:55,360 --> 00:06:59,880 Speaker 1: least you hear more of what the person potentially intends 116 00:07:00,000 --> 00:07:05,760 Speaker 1: you to hear. Still getting back to Sony, at this time, 117 00:07:06,640 --> 00:07:10,880 Speaker 1: very very early late fifties, they started to experiment with 118 00:07:10,960 --> 00:07:15,040 Speaker 1: making video tape recorders. They had already made audio tape recorders, 119 00:07:15,600 --> 00:07:18,360 Speaker 1: and then they started thinking, well, how we apply this 120 00:07:18,600 --> 00:07:22,480 Speaker 1: same approach to making a video tape recorder. Now, they 121 00:07:22,480 --> 00:07:25,720 Speaker 1: were not the first company to do this. Other corporations 122 00:07:25,720 --> 00:07:28,960 Speaker 1: had already started to make video tape recorders. Companies like 123 00:07:29,040 --> 00:07:32,280 Speaker 1: our c A and Ampex were already in the game. 124 00:07:32,760 --> 00:07:37,160 Speaker 1: These video tape recorders were meant for companies like broadcast 125 00:07:37,200 --> 00:07:41,640 Speaker 1: companies or sometimes medical facilities. They weren't meant for consumers. 126 00:07:41,680 --> 00:07:45,960 Speaker 1: It wasn't like they were going to make VCRs. First 127 00:07:45,960 --> 00:07:50,200 Speaker 1: of all, they weren't VCRs because VCR is video cassette recorder. 128 00:07:50,600 --> 00:07:55,320 Speaker 1: This is before cassettes. The tape was literally reels of tape. Ah. 129 00:07:55,760 --> 00:07:58,960 Speaker 1: But Sony really wanted to get into that market, and 130 00:07:58,960 --> 00:08:01,560 Speaker 1: they wanted to be the company to create the first 131 00:08:01,720 --> 00:08:06,800 Speaker 1: VTR produced in Japan. VTR stands for video tape recorder. Now, 132 00:08:06,880 --> 00:08:09,400 Speaker 1: the early models that Sony developed left something to be 133 00:08:09,480 --> 00:08:13,120 Speaker 1: desired and were meant purely for commercial businesses, not home 134 00:08:13,240 --> 00:08:16,320 Speaker 1: use as I mentioned before, but still this became one 135 00:08:16,360 --> 00:08:21,440 Speaker 1: of Sony's early products. By the end of nineteen Sony 136 00:08:21,640 --> 00:08:25,440 Speaker 1: was listed in the first section of the Tokyo Stock Exchange. 137 00:08:26,080 --> 00:08:28,160 Speaker 1: Now this one marked a really big leap for the company. 138 00:08:28,240 --> 00:08:30,320 Speaker 1: They had already been on the Tokyo Stock Exchange, but 139 00:08:30,360 --> 00:08:33,440 Speaker 1: in a different section and the over the counter market 140 00:08:33,480 --> 00:08:36,000 Speaker 1: of the stock exchange. The Tokyo Stock Exchange was divided 141 00:08:36,040 --> 00:08:39,960 Speaker 1: up into different sections, and so the first section was 142 00:08:40,000 --> 00:08:43,400 Speaker 1: much more prestigious and uh it also included a lot 143 00:08:43,440 --> 00:08:49,080 Speaker 1: more of the larger, older Japanese companies. So now Sony's 144 00:08:49,120 --> 00:08:51,720 Speaker 1: kind of like the little guy muscling in on the 145 00:08:51,720 --> 00:08:56,160 Speaker 1: big guy's territory. Ah, and the folks over at Sony 146 00:08:56,200 --> 00:08:59,520 Speaker 1: were beside themselves. They're very happy about this because it 147 00:08:59,600 --> 00:09:03,160 Speaker 1: showed that their hard work was paying off. Now, a 148 00:09:04,240 --> 00:09:08,400 Speaker 1: Sony employee named Leo Asaki would invent a new solid 149 00:09:08,640 --> 00:09:14,720 Speaker 1: state component, the tunnel diode, also known as the Asaki diode. Now, 150 00:09:15,040 --> 00:09:18,040 Speaker 1: I'm not going to dive too far into the technology 151 00:09:18,080 --> 00:09:20,240 Speaker 1: here because I don't want to get buried in it, 152 00:09:20,280 --> 00:09:22,559 Speaker 1: but you do need to know exactly, you know, kind 153 00:09:22,559 --> 00:09:24,880 Speaker 1: of what a diode does in at least in general. 154 00:09:24,960 --> 00:09:30,120 Speaker 1: So basically, a diode directs electricity traffic. It's kind of 155 00:09:30,120 --> 00:09:32,920 Speaker 1: like a one way street. It allows current to flow 156 00:09:33,000 --> 00:09:35,400 Speaker 1: in one direction and prevents it from flowing in the 157 00:09:35,480 --> 00:09:39,560 Speaker 1: reverse direction. That's the ideal. Now, in reality, that's not 158 00:09:39,640 --> 00:09:42,679 Speaker 1: exactly how it works because at least with some diodes, 159 00:09:42,720 --> 00:09:45,520 Speaker 1: like if you get the voltage up high enough, you 160 00:09:45,640 --> 00:09:50,880 Speaker 1: can reverse current across the diode. Uh, but it's not 161 00:09:51,120 --> 00:09:55,640 Speaker 1: generally designed to do that. That's not the purpose typically um, 162 00:09:56,040 --> 00:09:58,400 Speaker 1: but you know, basically that's the idea is that's a 163 00:09:58,400 --> 00:10:02,160 Speaker 1: one way street. The Asaki diode is a semiconductor that 164 00:10:02,160 --> 00:10:05,679 Speaker 1: can work really well at very high frequencies. Now this 165 00:10:05,800 --> 00:10:10,480 Speaker 1: is apart from other other types of solid state UH components. 166 00:10:10,520 --> 00:10:12,880 Speaker 1: At the time. A lot of them worked fine, but 167 00:10:13,040 --> 00:10:18,199 Speaker 1: not at high frequencies. If you're just creating a transistor radio, 168 00:10:19,000 --> 00:10:21,920 Speaker 1: low frequencies might be fine. But let's say you want 169 00:10:21,960 --> 00:10:26,959 Speaker 1: to get into something else, like creating transistorized television or 170 00:10:27,000 --> 00:10:30,640 Speaker 1: a microwave oven, you need to have transistors that can 171 00:10:30,679 --> 00:10:34,000 Speaker 1: work at higher frequencies. So this ended up being a 172 00:10:34,080 --> 00:10:37,800 Speaker 1: huge development and Sony Sony began to look into using 173 00:10:37,800 --> 00:10:42,040 Speaker 1: the diode to make those more complex electronics. And abuca's 174 00:10:42,080 --> 00:10:45,760 Speaker 1: goal was to build the world's first transistor based television set. 175 00:10:46,640 --> 00:10:48,560 Speaker 1: By the end of the year the company had done it. 176 00:10:49,200 --> 00:10:52,920 Speaker 1: They created a prototype of the TV eight DASH three 177 00:10:52,920 --> 00:10:57,760 Speaker 1: oh one that was the first non projection type transistorized television, 178 00:10:58,120 --> 00:11:02,720 Speaker 1: and they launched it in May nineteen sixty. Now, the 179 00:11:02,720 --> 00:11:05,679 Speaker 1: transistors took up much less space than vacuum tubes, which 180 00:11:05,720 --> 00:11:09,800 Speaker 1: meant you could create a much smaller television technically, this 181 00:11:09,960 --> 00:11:13,079 Speaker 1: TV was a portable TV, and it even had a 182 00:11:13,160 --> 00:11:15,320 Speaker 1: handle on the top of the casing which was made 183 00:11:15,360 --> 00:11:18,760 Speaker 1: out of metal. Uh so you could get this, you know, 184 00:11:18,840 --> 00:11:21,320 Speaker 1: just grab it by the top and poured it around. 185 00:11:21,800 --> 00:11:25,640 Speaker 1: It's a little hefty, weighed about twelve pounds. I measured 186 00:11:25,960 --> 00:11:29,680 Speaker 1: eight by seven by nine inches, and it cost about 187 00:11:29,760 --> 00:11:32,880 Speaker 1: as much as conventional televisions did, and of course those 188 00:11:32,920 --> 00:11:35,520 Speaker 1: were bigger and not meant to move around, and had 189 00:11:35,600 --> 00:11:39,840 Speaker 1: vacuum tube technology rather than transistors. In fact, the television 190 00:11:39,880 --> 00:11:42,960 Speaker 1: market in Japan was pretty small, and even globally it 191 00:11:43,040 --> 00:11:46,440 Speaker 1: wasn't that big. Televisions were still considered a luxury item 192 00:11:46,480 --> 00:11:48,920 Speaker 1: in a lot of places. And on top of all 193 00:11:48,960 --> 00:11:51,800 Speaker 1: of that, the TV eight three oh one wasn't terribly 194 00:11:51,840 --> 00:11:54,400 Speaker 1: reliable when it first came out. They frequently broke down. 195 00:11:54,520 --> 00:11:57,160 Speaker 1: They in fact, got a nickname. They started to be 196 00:11:57,200 --> 00:12:04,240 Speaker 1: called Sony's frail little Baby's not terribly complimentary. In nineteen sixty, 197 00:12:04,280 --> 00:12:07,160 Speaker 1: Akio Morita would make the decision to open a branch 198 00:12:07,200 --> 00:12:10,360 Speaker 1: of Sony in the United States. This would become the 199 00:12:10,400 --> 00:12:14,440 Speaker 1: Sony Corporation of America, and the reason for opening up 200 00:12:14,480 --> 00:12:18,040 Speaker 1: a branch in the US was that Sony was earning 201 00:12:18,040 --> 00:12:20,840 Speaker 1: about half of its revenue at that time from the 202 00:12:20,920 --> 00:12:24,880 Speaker 1: overseas market, so of its revenue was coming from Japan 203 00:12:24,920 --> 00:12:28,280 Speaker 1: and the other was from everywhere else. If they were 204 00:12:28,280 --> 00:12:31,800 Speaker 1: able to move manufacturing and marketing overseas, they could end 205 00:12:31,880 --> 00:12:34,760 Speaker 1: up making even more money, They could save in costs, 206 00:12:35,480 --> 00:12:38,840 Speaker 1: and they could respond faster to the market. It just 207 00:12:38,920 --> 00:12:42,800 Speaker 1: made good business sense. So Sony became the first Japanese 208 00:12:42,800 --> 00:12:46,760 Speaker 1: company to enter the American market this way, conducting business 209 00:12:46,800 --> 00:12:52,839 Speaker 1: like an American corporation but operated by a Japanese company. Also, 210 00:12:52,880 --> 00:12:54,840 Speaker 1: at that time, Sony was growing tired of selling and 211 00:12:54,880 --> 00:12:58,480 Speaker 1: distributing Sony products through other American companies. You know, I 212 00:12:58,520 --> 00:13:03,320 Speaker 1: mentioned those previous slee with Agrod being the company that 213 00:13:03,400 --> 00:13:07,040 Speaker 1: was handling sales and Delmonico handling distribution. Sony was getting 214 00:13:07,080 --> 00:13:09,720 Speaker 1: tired of that. They would prefer to be able to 215 00:13:09,720 --> 00:13:12,839 Speaker 1: handle that themselves, especially since some of those companies were 216 00:13:12,880 --> 00:13:15,920 Speaker 1: resisting Sony's push to get the products in stores across 217 00:13:15,920 --> 00:13:20,840 Speaker 1: the United States. Delmonico in particular. Delmonico was saying, well, 218 00:13:20,960 --> 00:13:23,320 Speaker 1: our market is in New York and it would take 219 00:13:23,320 --> 00:13:25,480 Speaker 1: a lot more effort for us to get this stuff 220 00:13:25,520 --> 00:13:29,960 Speaker 1: across the entire US and Sony. Sony's aspirations were to 221 00:13:30,080 --> 00:13:33,040 Speaker 1: have those products really hit the US hard, but in 222 00:13:33,160 --> 00:13:35,160 Speaker 1: order to do that, they needed to take over that 223 00:13:35,240 --> 00:13:40,200 Speaker 1: distribution part. So creating a base of operations within the 224 00:13:40,280 --> 00:13:44,280 Speaker 1: U S would allow them to do that. Uh, after 225 00:13:44,400 --> 00:13:49,400 Speaker 1: that Delmonico problem, they decided that they wanted to get 226 00:13:49,400 --> 00:13:51,480 Speaker 1: out of that contract, and that was gonna be a 227 00:13:51,520 --> 00:13:55,959 Speaker 1: hard sell, right, Delmonico had this exclusive contract with Sony, 228 00:13:56,040 --> 00:13:57,640 Speaker 1: so how do you get out of it? Sony was 229 00:13:57,679 --> 00:14:01,000 Speaker 1: actually able to get out of it because Delmonico violated 230 00:14:01,040 --> 00:14:05,360 Speaker 1: the contract agreement. Delmonico had an agreement to distribute the 231 00:14:05,480 --> 00:14:09,880 Speaker 1: radios that Sony created, but not the TVs. But Delmonico 232 00:14:10,120 --> 00:14:13,760 Speaker 1: said they would end up distributing the TV eight three 233 00:14:13,760 --> 00:14:16,920 Speaker 1: oh one in the United States. They said it without 234 00:14:17,040 --> 00:14:21,440 Speaker 1: Sony giving their approval, and that was when Akio Marita said, 235 00:14:21,440 --> 00:14:23,840 Speaker 1: all right, that's enough, We're not going to deal with that. 236 00:14:23,880 --> 00:14:27,240 Speaker 1: We're gonna cut ties with Delmonico and we're going to 237 00:14:27,320 --> 00:14:31,240 Speaker 1: start doing this ourselves. Now. It wasn't as simple as 238 00:14:31,280 --> 00:14:35,240 Speaker 1: opening up a shop in Japan. Any company wishing to 239 00:14:35,280 --> 00:14:38,000 Speaker 1: open a business in another country first had to secure 240 00:14:38,040 --> 00:14:41,560 Speaker 1: the approval from the Ministry of Finance in Japan, but 241 00:14:41,600 --> 00:14:44,280 Speaker 1: the company was able to obtain permission from the Japanese 242 00:14:44,360 --> 00:14:47,280 Speaker 1: government and open the Sony Corporation of America on February 243 00:14:47,360 --> 00:14:53,000 Speaker 1: fift nineteen sixty. Their base of operations was a warehouse 244 00:14:53,040 --> 00:14:56,720 Speaker 1: on five one four Broadway. That's where they stored their 245 00:14:56,760 --> 00:14:59,720 Speaker 1: products that had formerly been in Delmonico's buildings. There's actually 246 00:14:59,720 --> 00:15:03,080 Speaker 1: a store about how several Sony executives on one cold 247 00:15:03,200 --> 00:15:08,760 Speaker 1: night in nineteen sixty rented eight trucks loaded up all 248 00:15:08,840 --> 00:15:14,000 Speaker 1: of the electronics in Delmonico's warehouse that belonged to Sony, 249 00:15:14,080 --> 00:15:17,600 Speaker 1: and then shoot them across to five fourteen Broadway to 250 00:15:18,080 --> 00:15:20,640 Speaker 1: put them in the new warehouse, which tells you a 251 00:15:20,680 --> 00:15:23,280 Speaker 1: lot about the dedication of the executives if they're going 252 00:15:23,320 --> 00:15:26,680 Speaker 1: to take part in that kind of activity. Later in 253 00:15:26,760 --> 00:15:30,800 Speaker 1: nineteen sixties, Sony hit the one million transistors produced per 254 00:15:30,880 --> 00:15:35,440 Speaker 1: month milestone, which is incredible because again, they were still 255 00:15:35,520 --> 00:15:38,360 Speaker 1: considered a small company, one of those things that a 256 00:15:38,360 --> 00:15:41,200 Speaker 1: lot of companies just expected Sony would die off. They 257 00:15:41,200 --> 00:15:42,760 Speaker 1: didn't think that there was going to be any staying 258 00:15:42,800 --> 00:15:46,080 Speaker 1: power because they didn't have the history or the size 259 00:15:46,480 --> 00:15:51,400 Speaker 1: of the larger, more established companies in Japan, but it 260 00:15:51,520 --> 00:15:53,640 Speaker 1: had come a long way from being that first Japanese 261 00:15:53,680 --> 00:15:57,800 Speaker 1: manufacturer of transistors. And to meet demands, Sony executives decided 262 00:15:57,840 --> 00:16:01,160 Speaker 1: they needed to build a new factory. Has happened pretty 263 00:16:01,200 --> 00:16:05,280 Speaker 1: frequently throughout Sony's history. Uh, they would build factories in 264 00:16:05,280 --> 00:16:08,600 Speaker 1: different parts of Japan. They realized that Tokyo wasn't really 265 00:16:08,600 --> 00:16:11,840 Speaker 1: a good option because the city had so little available space, 266 00:16:12,360 --> 00:16:15,000 Speaker 1: and what space there was was going for a very 267 00:16:15,120 --> 00:16:18,840 Speaker 1: very high price, very high demand. So they started looking 268 00:16:18,880 --> 00:16:21,320 Speaker 1: outside of Tokyo and they found a spot forty six 269 00:16:21,400 --> 00:16:25,880 Speaker 1: kilometers outside the city, uh near Atsugi, Japan, and they 270 00:16:25,880 --> 00:16:27,960 Speaker 1: were able to get rights to a hundred sixty five 271 00:16:28,040 --> 00:16:33,360 Speaker 1: thousand square meters of space. Now, the amount they paid 272 00:16:33,400 --> 00:16:36,320 Speaker 1: for that hundred sixty five thousand square meters of space 273 00:16:36,440 --> 00:16:40,040 Speaker 1: would have only got them about ten thousand square meters 274 00:16:40,080 --> 00:16:42,680 Speaker 1: in Tokyo. That's how much more expensive it was inside 275 00:16:42,680 --> 00:16:45,960 Speaker 1: the city versus on the country. You know, it's more 276 00:16:46,000 --> 00:16:50,280 Speaker 1: than a factor of ten, which was kind of incredible. Uh. 277 00:16:50,520 --> 00:16:53,640 Speaker 1: That space went not just to a factory, but also 278 00:16:53,680 --> 00:16:56,760 Speaker 1: to male and female dormitory. So again you had the 279 00:16:56,760 --> 00:17:01,520 Speaker 1: employees living on the campus where they are working, very 280 00:17:01,560 --> 00:17:05,240 Speaker 1: different kind of world than most of America. They also 281 00:17:05,280 --> 00:17:09,200 Speaker 1: faced another challenge. At Suhi was a place still is 282 00:17:09,200 --> 00:17:11,800 Speaker 1: a place that would occasionally get dust storms, particularly in 283 00:17:11,840 --> 00:17:17,040 Speaker 1: the winter. So transistors and circuit boards in general, solid 284 00:17:17,080 --> 00:17:20,800 Speaker 1: state electronics, they are not good friends with dust. Dust 285 00:17:20,920 --> 00:17:24,240 Speaker 1: is a bad component to have mixed up with your electronics. 286 00:17:24,920 --> 00:17:27,760 Speaker 1: So it became a challenge to find ways to create 287 00:17:27,800 --> 00:17:39,960 Speaker 1: a dust free environment for the production of transistors. In 288 00:17:40,000 --> 00:17:43,159 Speaker 1: August nine, Sony would build a research lab called the 289 00:17:43,240 --> 00:17:47,720 Speaker 1: Sony Research Center. The company put Michio Hatoyama in charge 290 00:17:47,720 --> 00:17:51,879 Speaker 1: of the lab. Leo Asaki meanwhile quit Sony to go 291 00:17:51,960 --> 00:17:56,040 Speaker 1: and work for IBM. Uh and and Asaki had actually 292 00:17:56,080 --> 00:18:00,080 Speaker 1: gone to hata Yama and said, hey, uh, so he 293 00:18:00,119 --> 00:18:01,720 Speaker 1: wants to put you in charge of the lab. They're 294 00:18:01,720 --> 00:18:03,600 Speaker 1: gonna come to you and ask you to be in charge. 295 00:18:03,640 --> 00:18:07,040 Speaker 1: You should totally do it. And so Hato Yama at 296 00:18:07,040 --> 00:18:09,920 Speaker 1: first thought, well, that's impossible, why would Sony want me 297 00:18:10,040 --> 00:18:11,960 Speaker 1: to be in charge of the research center. But they 298 00:18:12,000 --> 00:18:14,520 Speaker 1: did ask him and he said okay. And then he 299 00:18:14,560 --> 00:18:17,919 Speaker 1: sees that quits Sony and goes to work for IBM, 300 00:18:17,960 --> 00:18:20,760 Speaker 1: and then he jokingly Hato Yama jokingly said he had 301 00:18:20,800 --> 00:18:25,080 Speaker 1: been duped by Asaki because Zasaki probably would have been 302 00:18:25,119 --> 00:18:27,679 Speaker 1: the head of the lab had he stayed at Sony 303 00:18:27,720 --> 00:18:31,080 Speaker 1: instead have moved to IBM. There didn't seem to be 304 00:18:31,119 --> 00:18:32,879 Speaker 1: any bad blood from what I could tell. It was 305 00:18:32,880 --> 00:18:35,199 Speaker 1: just one of those things where Hatoyama said, you know, 306 00:18:35,400 --> 00:18:37,600 Speaker 1: if it weren't for the fact that Asaki was leaving, 307 00:18:37,800 --> 00:18:40,720 Speaker 1: I never would have gotten this job. Perhaps the biggest 308 00:18:40,760 --> 00:18:43,639 Speaker 1: news around this same time was that the Japanese government 309 00:18:43,680 --> 00:18:47,640 Speaker 1: gave Sony permission to issue a d R stock. Now, 310 00:18:47,720 --> 00:18:52,040 Speaker 1: a d R stands for American depositary receipt and it's 311 00:18:52,040 --> 00:18:54,320 Speaker 1: a type of Japanese stock that can be sold in 312 00:18:54,359 --> 00:18:57,959 Speaker 1: the American securities market typically. And I'm not gonna get 313 00:18:58,000 --> 00:19:00,760 Speaker 1: into too much detail, because honestly, I don't understand it. 314 00:19:00,760 --> 00:19:03,280 Speaker 1: When you get down to a certain level, finances to 315 00:19:03,359 --> 00:19:06,880 Speaker 1: me are a type of dark magic that I probably 316 00:19:06,880 --> 00:19:09,800 Speaker 1: should not look into, or else my eyes will burn 317 00:19:09,800 --> 00:19:12,240 Speaker 1: out of my head or something. But here's how it works. 318 00:19:12,359 --> 00:19:15,840 Speaker 1: At a basic level. You have an American bank, and 319 00:19:15,840 --> 00:19:19,680 Speaker 1: the American bank would issue a d R stocks against 320 00:19:20,040 --> 00:19:24,119 Speaker 1: Sony stocks deposited in the American bank itself, so the 321 00:19:24,160 --> 00:19:26,879 Speaker 1: American bank would be in charge of handling all the 322 00:19:26,920 --> 00:19:30,719 Speaker 1: complicated issues that otherwise would cause problems for the company 323 00:19:30,760 --> 00:19:34,920 Speaker 1: back in Japan. That includes things like exchange rates, shipping 324 00:19:35,040 --> 00:19:38,639 Speaker 1: actual physical stocks to stockholders, that kind of thing, stuff 325 00:19:38,680 --> 00:19:41,840 Speaker 1: that is legitimately difficult to do if you're operating an 326 00:19:41,880 --> 00:19:47,880 Speaker 1: overseas company, especially in the era before everything goes digital, 327 00:19:48,320 --> 00:19:52,120 Speaker 1: when everything is still hard copies. Making sure you can 328 00:19:52,160 --> 00:19:56,320 Speaker 1: get the physical copies of the stock to the customer 329 00:19:56,960 --> 00:19:59,439 Speaker 1: and not have someone else steal it or have it 330 00:19:59,520 --> 00:20:02,199 Speaker 1: get law. It was a big deal. So this actually 331 00:20:02,200 --> 00:20:04,560 Speaker 1: allowed Sony to do some business in the United States 332 00:20:04,560 --> 00:20:08,879 Speaker 1: stock market, but not directly issuing stock. The Sony E 333 00:20:08,960 --> 00:20:10,720 Speaker 1: d R s hit the New York Stock Exchange in 334 00:20:10,800 --> 00:20:16,000 Speaker 1: June ninette. When it opened, they were valued at seventeen 335 00:20:16,000 --> 00:20:19,600 Speaker 1: dollars and fifty cents per share, but it would end 336 00:20:19,680 --> 00:20:22,720 Speaker 1: up going up quite a bit throughout that day. They 337 00:20:22,760 --> 00:20:26,400 Speaker 1: actually sold out of the shares in about an hour, 338 00:20:26,600 --> 00:20:29,480 Speaker 1: and they had two million shares available when it went 339 00:20:29,520 --> 00:20:32,560 Speaker 1: on sale, so people were really excited to get a 340 00:20:32,680 --> 00:20:35,240 Speaker 1: chance to invest in Sony at that time. Here in 341 00:20:35,280 --> 00:20:39,080 Speaker 1: the United States, one also saw Sony launched the first 342 00:20:39,119 --> 00:20:42,840 Speaker 1: all transistor amp tape recorder from Japan. That was the 343 00:20:42,920 --> 00:20:46,679 Speaker 1: TC seven seven seven, also known as the three seven, 344 00:20:47,280 --> 00:20:49,520 Speaker 1: and Sony also launched the s V two oh one, 345 00:20:49,560 --> 00:20:52,920 Speaker 1: which was the world's first transistor based video tape recorder. 346 00:20:53,160 --> 00:20:56,040 Speaker 1: The VTR so it's transistor base, which meant that it 347 00:20:56,080 --> 00:20:58,840 Speaker 1: was smaller like a fifth the size of your traditional 348 00:20:58,960 --> 00:21:04,200 Speaker 1: VTR uh still too big for consumers, way too big 349 00:21:04,200 --> 00:21:07,080 Speaker 1: for consumers um and to build the VTR, Sony actually 350 00:21:07,200 --> 00:21:09,560 Speaker 1: ended up working with Ampex, which was one of the 351 00:21:09,600 --> 00:21:12,520 Speaker 1: companies that was known in that space already at the time. 352 00:21:12,960 --> 00:21:16,880 Speaker 1: Sony shared its expertise and transistors, and Ampex shared its 353 00:21:16,920 --> 00:21:21,080 Speaker 1: expertise in VTR technology. Now, the s V two oh 354 00:21:21,080 --> 00:21:24,240 Speaker 1: one could record video and do slow motion playback, and 355 00:21:24,240 --> 00:21:27,520 Speaker 1: it could also capture still shots, but it also weighed 356 00:21:27,560 --> 00:21:30,640 Speaker 1: more than four hundred pounds and it only had two 357 00:21:30,680 --> 00:21:34,280 Speaker 1: tape heads, which unfortunately meant that no one really had 358 00:21:34,320 --> 00:21:36,200 Speaker 1: a good use for the s V two o one. 359 00:21:36,960 --> 00:21:40,440 Speaker 1: It wasn't versatile enough for broadcast companies, which often had 360 00:21:41,359 --> 00:21:45,480 Speaker 1: VTRs that had multiple tape heads, and it was too 361 00:21:45,520 --> 00:21:49,920 Speaker 1: big and clunky for a consumer and too expensive, so 362 00:21:50,040 --> 00:21:53,120 Speaker 1: you really didn't have a market for this particular piece 363 00:21:53,119 --> 00:21:55,840 Speaker 1: of technology, but the company didn't give up. They did 364 00:21:55,920 --> 00:21:59,600 Speaker 1: decide that was important to develop a strategy that would 365 00:21:59,680 --> 00:22:04,000 Speaker 1: be focusing just on industrial uses and another strategy that 366 00:22:04,000 --> 00:22:07,080 Speaker 1: would focus just on consumer uses rather than try and 367 00:22:07,160 --> 00:22:10,160 Speaker 1: walk a middle line and down between the two, because 368 00:22:10,160 --> 00:22:12,320 Speaker 1: if you walk the middle line, you get squished, just 369 00:22:12,400 --> 00:22:17,040 Speaker 1: like grape, as Mr Miyagi would say. The company also 370 00:22:17,080 --> 00:22:20,960 Speaker 1: took another shot at developing an even smaller portable television, 371 00:22:20,960 --> 00:22:23,680 Speaker 1: this one with a five inch screen, and in order 372 00:22:23,720 --> 00:22:25,399 Speaker 1: to do that, they had to find various ways to 373 00:22:25,440 --> 00:22:27,639 Speaker 1: manaturize all the different components to fit them into a 374 00:22:27,680 --> 00:22:31,879 Speaker 1: small form factor that included a cathode, ray tube and 375 00:22:31,960 --> 00:22:36,439 Speaker 1: the TV electron gun, as well as finding ways to 376 00:22:36,480 --> 00:22:40,080 Speaker 1: fix the problems that the older television set had, primarily 377 00:22:40,119 --> 00:22:42,840 Speaker 1: those temperature tolerances I was talking about. Those old sets 378 00:22:42,840 --> 00:22:46,200 Speaker 1: had synchronization issues. If you expose them to heat, then 379 00:22:46,320 --> 00:22:50,320 Speaker 1: the audio and video signals wouldn't match up anymore, so 380 00:22:50,520 --> 00:22:53,119 Speaker 1: everything would be it would look like a really badly 381 00:22:53,200 --> 00:22:57,160 Speaker 1: dubbed movie all the time. And since the uh TV 382 00:22:57,320 --> 00:23:00,280 Speaker 1: eight three oh one went on sale in May, it 383 00:23:00,320 --> 00:23:03,440 Speaker 1: wasn't long before those problems began to pop up because 384 00:23:04,160 --> 00:23:07,639 Speaker 1: the again technology was developed in the colder months. It 385 00:23:07,720 --> 00:23:10,919 Speaker 1: goes on sale in in late spring, and then the 386 00:23:10,960 --> 00:23:13,480 Speaker 1: summer rolls around, and that's where you end up seeing 387 00:23:13,520 --> 00:23:17,320 Speaker 1: all these issues. In response to this, Sony actually ended 388 00:23:17,400 --> 00:23:20,840 Speaker 1: up building a test chamber in its uh Ins factory 389 00:23:20,880 --> 00:23:24,520 Speaker 1: and subjected new designs to high heat and humidity. Actually, 390 00:23:24,520 --> 00:23:26,919 Speaker 1: I guess technically this was in the research center. So 391 00:23:26,960 --> 00:23:29,600 Speaker 1: they have this chamber and they would increase humidity by 392 00:23:29,600 --> 00:23:34,080 Speaker 1: boiling water inside the chamber. That would end up creating 393 00:23:34,080 --> 00:23:37,199 Speaker 1: steam and raise the humidity. They used electric heaters to 394 00:23:37,240 --> 00:23:40,359 Speaker 1: increase the temperature, and then they started to develop the 395 00:23:40,440 --> 00:23:44,440 Speaker 1: components for the new TV, and the new components worked 396 00:23:44,520 --> 00:23:47,640 Speaker 1: much better in high heat and humidity, but then they 397 00:23:47,640 --> 00:23:50,399 Speaker 1: found out that lower temperatures caused similar problems, so they 398 00:23:50,400 --> 00:23:52,840 Speaker 1: were back to the drawing board. They also tested the 399 00:23:52,840 --> 00:23:55,720 Speaker 1: television's performance when subjected to vibrations, and the way they 400 00:23:55,800 --> 00:23:58,640 Speaker 1: did this was they have one of these old portable TVs. 401 00:23:59,359 --> 00:24:02,480 Speaker 1: They put in a car and they turned the television 402 00:24:02,520 --> 00:24:06,120 Speaker 1: on and they'd have people driving up and down the highway, 403 00:24:06,240 --> 00:24:09,800 Speaker 1: sometimes quite quickly, and in fact researchers were pulled over 404 00:24:09,840 --> 00:24:12,840 Speaker 1: for speeding at one point, and the cat was nearly 405 00:24:12,840 --> 00:24:15,720 Speaker 1: out of the bag. Sony had kept this tiny five 406 00:24:15,800 --> 00:24:19,560 Speaker 1: inch screen television quiet, but now the police had pulled 407 00:24:19,560 --> 00:24:24,160 Speaker 1: over employees with one of these televisions. But fortunately that 408 00:24:24,200 --> 00:24:28,000 Speaker 1: did not end up spoiling the secret. Two people who 409 00:24:28,040 --> 00:24:31,360 Speaker 1: got to see it before anyone else did outside of Sony, 410 00:24:31,480 --> 00:24:35,000 Speaker 1: We're pretty important. They were the Emperor and Empress of Japan. 411 00:24:35,600 --> 00:24:38,560 Speaker 1: They came to visit Sony's HQ and they were allowed 412 00:24:38,600 --> 00:24:42,880 Speaker 1: to go into a uh quiet room and see this 413 00:24:42,960 --> 00:24:47,200 Speaker 1: five inch screen and they were told, please don't tell 414 00:24:47,240 --> 00:24:50,440 Speaker 1: anyone about it, and they kept the trap shut. Once 415 00:24:50,440 --> 00:24:52,439 Speaker 1: it was ready, the TV had the designation of the 416 00:24:52,440 --> 00:24:55,399 Speaker 1: TV five Dash three oh three, but it was better 417 00:24:55,440 --> 00:24:58,199 Speaker 1: known as the micro TV, and it would go on 418 00:24:58,280 --> 00:25:02,720 Speaker 1: sale in nine Now over in New York, Sony opened 419 00:25:02,800 --> 00:25:05,359 Speaker 1: up a showroom on October one, nineteen sixty two, and 420 00:25:05,359 --> 00:25:07,600 Speaker 1: it was a real chaotic mass leading up to that 421 00:25:07,680 --> 00:25:12,560 Speaker 1: opening because they discovered that construction policies in the United 422 00:25:12,600 --> 00:25:15,600 Speaker 1: States are different than they are in Japan. They did 423 00:25:15,680 --> 00:25:18,439 Speaker 1: not expect to run into the problem of having to 424 00:25:18,560 --> 00:25:22,400 Speaker 1: hire various contractors for all the different types of systems 425 00:25:22,480 --> 00:25:25,359 Speaker 1: within a building. You know, they would usually end up 426 00:25:25,840 --> 00:25:30,040 Speaker 1: hiring one construction company in Japan, and then that construction 427 00:25:30,040 --> 00:25:32,879 Speaker 1: company would be responsible for getting all of the various 428 00:25:32,920 --> 00:25:37,399 Speaker 1: systems installed, even if that meant working with subcontractors. In 429 00:25:37,440 --> 00:25:40,119 Speaker 1: the United States, Sony had to do all that hiring itself, 430 00:25:40,160 --> 00:25:43,960 Speaker 1: so they had different people there to work on electricity, 431 00:25:44,040 --> 00:25:46,840 Speaker 1: on plumbing, as well as construction, and everyone was trying 432 00:25:46,840 --> 00:25:48,720 Speaker 1: to work in the same space at the same time 433 00:25:48,760 --> 00:25:53,640 Speaker 1: at different rates of work, and it was chaos. There 434 00:25:53,680 --> 00:25:57,040 Speaker 1: was also a language barrier that made things even more difficult, obviously, 435 00:25:57,400 --> 00:26:00,439 Speaker 1: but Sony managed to hold a popular but somewhat crazy 436 00:26:00,600 --> 00:26:04,480 Speaker 1: opening on October one, nineteen sixty two. When the micro 437 00:26:04,560 --> 00:26:07,600 Speaker 1: TV went on sale on October four, it sold out 438 00:26:07,640 --> 00:26:11,880 Speaker 1: almost immediately. And there's actually a cute story about this 439 00:26:12,040 --> 00:26:15,480 Speaker 1: portable television before it ever went on sale in the 440 00:26:15,600 --> 00:26:19,679 Speaker 1: United States. So Frank Sinatra, if you don't know who 441 00:26:19,720 --> 00:26:23,560 Speaker 1: Frank Sinatra has asked your parents, was in Japan and 442 00:26:23,640 --> 00:26:26,200 Speaker 1: he visited Sony's headquarters and he got a chance to 443 00:26:26,240 --> 00:26:28,240 Speaker 1: see the micro TV because at that time it was 444 00:26:28,280 --> 00:26:30,280 Speaker 1: already being sold in Japan, so it was no longer 445 00:26:30,320 --> 00:26:33,080 Speaker 1: a secret in Japan, but it wasn't on sale in 446 00:26:33,119 --> 00:26:36,200 Speaker 1: the United States yet. So he sees this little television, 447 00:26:36,240 --> 00:26:38,480 Speaker 1: he asks, could I take one of those back with 448 00:26:38,520 --> 00:26:42,800 Speaker 1: me because this thing is amazing. But the Japanese engineers 449 00:26:42,840 --> 00:26:45,359 Speaker 1: explained the channel settings in the United States and in 450 00:26:45,480 --> 00:26:47,960 Speaker 1: Japan are different, so you wouldn't be able to tune 451 00:26:48,040 --> 00:26:51,399 Speaker 1: into channels back in the US. You would be on 452 00:26:51,440 --> 00:26:54,119 Speaker 1: the wrong frequency, so you wouldn't be able to get 453 00:26:54,160 --> 00:26:58,159 Speaker 1: the the feed that you would want. But Akio Marita 454 00:26:58,240 --> 00:27:01,440 Speaker 1: promised Frank Sinatra he would send one of these sets 455 00:27:01,880 --> 00:27:05,000 Speaker 1: to Sinatra as soon as the American versions were produced. 456 00:27:06,000 --> 00:27:09,480 Speaker 1: So then October four, Sony begins to sell these micro 457 00:27:09,520 --> 00:27:13,120 Speaker 1: TVs in the United States, and on October five, Marita 458 00:27:13,200 --> 00:27:18,560 Speaker 1: would go to Paramount Pictures in California personally and deliver 459 00:27:18,680 --> 00:27:22,360 Speaker 1: a micro TV to Sinatra as promised. I think that's 460 00:27:22,359 --> 00:27:26,040 Speaker 1: pretty awesome. I've got a similar story about a computer game, 461 00:27:26,080 --> 00:27:28,119 Speaker 1: but it's not quite as impressive. It wasn't delivered to 462 00:27:28,119 --> 00:27:32,840 Speaker 1: me by hand. The micro TV actually really put Sony 463 00:27:32,920 --> 00:27:34,840 Speaker 1: on the map. The transistor radio had done a lot, 464 00:27:34,880 --> 00:27:37,240 Speaker 1: but the micro TV was the first product that everyone, 465 00:27:37,760 --> 00:27:40,240 Speaker 1: even if they didn't have plans to buy one. They 466 00:27:40,320 --> 00:27:44,040 Speaker 1: wanted one because it was just such an interesting, cool product, 467 00:27:44,160 --> 00:27:47,000 Speaker 1: a tiny television you could take with you. It was 468 00:27:47,040 --> 00:27:49,520 Speaker 1: the first truly successful product that the Sony Corporation of 469 00:27:49,520 --> 00:27:52,119 Speaker 1: America I got to handle. The tape recorder, which was 470 00:27:52,160 --> 00:27:56,000 Speaker 1: also successful, was still managed by another American company that 471 00:27:56,080 --> 00:28:00,359 Speaker 1: was with Agrod. I think so while the tape recorder 472 00:28:00,480 --> 00:28:03,560 Speaker 1: was a success in America, Sony Corporation of America didn't 473 00:28:03,560 --> 00:28:06,280 Speaker 1: have anything to do with it because that that's still 474 00:28:06,960 --> 00:28:11,320 Speaker 1: was dependent upon a prior relationship with a a an 475 00:28:11,359 --> 00:28:16,119 Speaker 1: agent here in the US. The micro TV was the 476 00:28:16,160 --> 00:28:19,160 Speaker 1: first successful product that the Sony Corporation of America got 477 00:28:19,160 --> 00:28:22,280 Speaker 1: to handle all in its own. Also in nineteen sixty two, 478 00:28:22,280 --> 00:28:26,520 Speaker 1: Sony marketed its second transistor based VTR. You remember that 479 00:28:26,560 --> 00:28:29,240 Speaker 1: first one was four hundred pounds and nobody wanted it. 480 00:28:29,760 --> 00:28:32,760 Speaker 1: This second one was called the p v DASH one hundred, 481 00:28:32,800 --> 00:28:35,720 Speaker 1: and it was again meant for industrial and academic use, 482 00:28:35,800 --> 00:28:39,800 Speaker 1: not home use. It was considered to be portable, though 483 00:28:39,800 --> 00:28:44,520 Speaker 1: it's still pretty hefty v VTR. It wasn't like easy 484 00:28:44,640 --> 00:28:46,360 Speaker 1: to move around, but it was considered to be more 485 00:28:46,360 --> 00:28:49,040 Speaker 1: portable than your typical VTR, and its price was two 486 00:28:49,120 --> 00:28:53,200 Speaker 1: point four eight million yen, which was pretty expensive. One 487 00:28:53,240 --> 00:28:56,720 Speaker 1: of the first big customers of this particular type of 488 00:28:56,800 --> 00:29:02,040 Speaker 1: video tape recorder, however, were airlines, specifically American Airlines and 489 00:29:02,120 --> 00:29:07,880 Speaker 1: Pan American airlines. At the time, they wanted these VTRs 490 00:29:07,960 --> 00:29:12,520 Speaker 1: to replace film systems for in flight films because films, 491 00:29:12,640 --> 00:29:15,480 Speaker 1: they you know, when you're actually using film, it has 492 00:29:15,520 --> 00:29:17,680 Speaker 1: a tendency to break over time and get damaged. The 493 00:29:17,760 --> 00:29:21,840 Speaker 1: film quality can degrade. Video was a little bit more robust, 494 00:29:22,120 --> 00:29:26,400 Speaker 1: although the early implementations of Sony VTRs meant that uh, 495 00:29:27,040 --> 00:29:29,400 Speaker 1: it wasn't like a cassette. It was still real to reel, 496 00:29:29,880 --> 00:29:33,280 Speaker 1: so it's still easy to cause damage to the stuff. 497 00:29:33,320 --> 00:29:37,000 Speaker 1: And often while they had projected that these reels would 498 00:29:37,040 --> 00:29:41,760 Speaker 1: last for forty viewings, the reality was more like one, 499 00:29:42,360 --> 00:29:45,120 Speaker 1: so a little bit short of the mark. But that 500 00:29:45,160 --> 00:29:48,040 Speaker 1: was largely because of the way people were loading the 501 00:29:48,200 --> 00:29:51,720 Speaker 1: video into systems. It wasn't that the product was faulty, 502 00:29:51,920 --> 00:29:55,640 Speaker 1: it was that it was hard to use without causing 503 00:29:55,720 --> 00:29:58,520 Speaker 1: damage to the tape if you weren't being careful. And 504 00:29:58,640 --> 00:30:02,200 Speaker 1: often if you're or flight attendant, I mean, you've got 505 00:30:02,240 --> 00:30:04,720 Speaker 1: so many things you have to worry about, and most 506 00:30:04,760 --> 00:30:07,280 Speaker 1: of them are way more important than the in flight 507 00:30:07,400 --> 00:30:13,240 Speaker 1: entertainment system. Um So asking people to set aside extra 508 00:30:13,320 --> 00:30:17,160 Speaker 1: time to very carefully manage the entertainment system was not 509 00:30:17,200 --> 00:30:19,120 Speaker 1: a high priority for a lot of flight attendants and 510 00:30:19,120 --> 00:30:30,280 Speaker 1: thus it ended up having some issues. Meanwhile, back over 511 00:30:30,320 --> 00:30:33,280 Speaker 1: in the Sony research department, Sony engineers were busy developing 512 00:30:33,320 --> 00:30:37,200 Speaker 1: an electronic calculator. Now, like other Sony products, they were 513 00:30:37,280 --> 00:30:39,920 Speaker 1: using a trial and error approach. They found that the 514 00:30:40,160 --> 00:30:43,440 Speaker 1: Esaki diodes, which were so great in the transistorized television, 515 00:30:43,880 --> 00:30:47,960 Speaker 1: were not suitable for calculators. They had to develop an alternative, 516 00:30:48,720 --> 00:30:51,440 Speaker 1: and in the summer of nineteen two they developed a 517 00:30:51,440 --> 00:30:55,120 Speaker 1: prototype calculator and it was actually an electric typewriter connected 518 00:30:55,200 --> 00:30:59,600 Speaker 1: to a calculator. You would feed your equation or whatever, 519 00:31:00,000 --> 00:31:04,240 Speaker 1: your different figures into the calculator and it would actually 520 00:31:04,240 --> 00:31:07,040 Speaker 1: print the results on paper. So it'd used the electronic 521 00:31:07,120 --> 00:31:10,440 Speaker 1: typewriter to or electric typewriter, I should say, to print 522 00:31:10,480 --> 00:31:14,280 Speaker 1: the results. They would do some more prototypes after that, 523 00:31:14,400 --> 00:31:17,560 Speaker 1: and eventually Sony executives, who at first were really reluctant 524 00:31:17,600 --> 00:31:20,440 Speaker 1: to even invest the resources into making a calculator they 525 00:31:20,440 --> 00:31:22,959 Speaker 1: didn't see the value in it initially. They changed their 526 00:31:23,000 --> 00:31:26,120 Speaker 1: minds after they started seeing the prototypes that were coming 527 00:31:26,120 --> 00:31:29,960 Speaker 1: out of this research, and the A team rededicated itself 528 00:31:30,640 --> 00:31:35,440 Speaker 1: to building a working consumer model, and in Sony would 529 00:31:35,440 --> 00:31:38,239 Speaker 1: show off the m D five calculator at the New 530 00:31:38,320 --> 00:31:40,520 Speaker 1: York World's Fair and it was a big hit. The 531 00:31:40,520 --> 00:31:43,720 Speaker 1: calculator could handle numbers up to eight digits in length, 532 00:31:43,840 --> 00:31:45,960 Speaker 1: which was a big deal at that time, and they 533 00:31:45,960 --> 00:31:49,600 Speaker 1: could also do multiplication, which was something earlier calculators could 534 00:31:49,600 --> 00:31:53,240 Speaker 1: not do. They could do addition and subtraction, but not multiplication. 535 00:31:53,280 --> 00:31:55,720 Speaker 1: In fact, if you wanted to do a multiplication problem, 536 00:31:55,760 --> 00:31:58,120 Speaker 1: you really just had to do an addition problem over 537 00:31:58,160 --> 00:32:01,120 Speaker 1: and over and over again to find the answer. O Now, 538 00:32:01,160 --> 00:32:04,320 Speaker 1: the M and m D five stood for Minerva, the 539 00:32:04,400 --> 00:32:07,520 Speaker 1: Goddess of wisdom, and it was followed by the m 540 00:32:07,640 --> 00:32:10,360 Speaker 1: D six, which improved upon its predecessor by adding a 541 00:32:10,400 --> 00:32:15,240 Speaker 1: decimal point. Following models improved the forearm factor so it 542 00:32:15,520 --> 00:32:19,080 Speaker 1: got smaller over time, and they also added more functionality, 543 00:32:19,440 --> 00:32:22,480 Speaker 1: and Sony managed to establish itself as a player in 544 00:32:22,480 --> 00:32:26,560 Speaker 1: the calculator and eventually computer space. Around that same time, 545 00:32:26,560 --> 00:32:30,640 Speaker 1: Sony was debuting the nineteen inch chroma Tron color TV 546 00:32:31,200 --> 00:32:33,920 Speaker 1: that was in September nineteen sixty four. It became the 547 00:32:34,000 --> 00:32:38,080 Speaker 1: fifth Sony product n sixty four, and we're only talking 548 00:32:38,080 --> 00:32:43,720 Speaker 1: about the fifth Sony product. The other four would include 549 00:32:43,760 --> 00:32:47,400 Speaker 1: the tape recorder, the transistor radio, the transistor TV, and 550 00:32:47,440 --> 00:32:53,800 Speaker 1: the video tape recorder. However, that chromotron wasn't perfect out 551 00:32:53,800 --> 00:32:55,840 Speaker 1: of the gate, like many Sony products that had some 552 00:32:55,880 --> 00:32:59,320 Speaker 1: bugs in it. Um early Sony products, I should say 553 00:32:59,560 --> 00:33:03,000 Speaker 1: sometime mine flaws made mass production impractical of the Chromotron, 554 00:33:03,120 --> 00:33:05,000 Speaker 1: so the team had to go back and try and 555 00:33:05,320 --> 00:33:09,280 Speaker 1: figure out how to engineer around those and uh so 556 00:33:09,680 --> 00:33:12,560 Speaker 1: it while it had been unveiled, it wasn't hitting the 557 00:33:12,600 --> 00:33:15,280 Speaker 1: market yet. They needed to fix these problems so that 558 00:33:15,320 --> 00:33:19,080 Speaker 1: mass production would become possible, thus allowing for producing enough 559 00:33:19,120 --> 00:33:21,720 Speaker 1: sets to meet demand and also not have the price 560 00:33:21,800 --> 00:33:26,040 Speaker 1: be astronomical. The actual set based on the Chromotron wouldn't 561 00:33:26,040 --> 00:33:29,360 Speaker 1: go into mass production until night and by then they 562 00:33:29,520 --> 00:33:33,320 Speaker 1: renamed it the Triny tron Um. Also around that time, 563 00:33:33,320 --> 00:33:36,240 Speaker 1: the company announced that it was developing a videotape recorder 564 00:33:36,280 --> 00:33:39,320 Speaker 1: for home use. This one was called the CV DASH 565 00:33:39,360 --> 00:33:43,160 Speaker 1: two thousand. It weighed fifteen kilograms, which is about thirty 566 00:33:43,200 --> 00:33:46,840 Speaker 1: three pounds, and according to Sony's history, it wasn't that 567 00:33:46,960 --> 00:33:50,000 Speaker 1: much heavier than the average tape recorder, So that tells 568 00:33:50,040 --> 00:33:52,920 Speaker 1: you how heavy these electronics were at the time. Thirty 569 00:33:52,920 --> 00:33:56,720 Speaker 1: three pounds is pretty hefty. Uh. This was a real 570 00:33:56,800 --> 00:33:59,880 Speaker 1: to real machine, so it was not again, not a 571 00:34:00,000 --> 00:34:03,680 Speaker 1: a set. It was real to real um and it 572 00:34:03,680 --> 00:34:05,880 Speaker 1: would take some time before home consumers would start to 573 00:34:05,920 --> 00:34:09,360 Speaker 1: adopt the CV two thousand. Usually, just like some of 574 00:34:09,360 --> 00:34:14,960 Speaker 1: the other technologies, you first saw it an industrial use hospitals, factories, schools, 575 00:34:15,320 --> 00:34:19,520 Speaker 1: and then eventually making its way into consumer homes. Uh. 576 00:34:19,560 --> 00:34:22,720 Speaker 1: And it was able to reproduce black and white images, 577 00:34:22,840 --> 00:34:27,400 Speaker 1: not color. In Sony lands a contract with IBM to 578 00:34:27,440 --> 00:34:30,239 Speaker 1: develop magnetic tape for computer data storage and use. Now 579 00:34:30,280 --> 00:34:33,840 Speaker 1: this seems like it's nothing, but it was huge news. 580 00:34:34,520 --> 00:34:38,319 Speaker 1: Enormous news that IBM, which had previously been using three 581 00:34:38,680 --> 00:34:44,560 Speaker 1: M as its provider for magnetic tape, would turn to Sony, 582 00:34:44,760 --> 00:34:48,520 Speaker 1: a foreign company that just a few years previous had 583 00:34:48,560 --> 00:34:51,400 Speaker 1: been so small that most companies didn't even consider it 584 00:34:51,480 --> 00:34:55,960 Speaker 1: a competitor. IBM was a much larger company with a 585 00:34:56,040 --> 00:34:59,760 Speaker 1: much longer history. This was a huge deal. In fact, 586 00:35:00,160 --> 00:35:05,000 Speaker 1: Thomas Watson himself, the chairman of IBM, traveled to Japan 587 00:35:05,200 --> 00:35:08,640 Speaker 1: and visited Sony's office in Tokyo to meet with executives. 588 00:35:08,680 --> 00:35:13,319 Speaker 1: This is the guy the Watson computer is named after. Now. 589 00:35:13,360 --> 00:35:16,080 Speaker 1: The following year, the two companies partnered to build a 590 00:35:16,080 --> 00:35:20,160 Speaker 1: production facility for magnetic tapes in the United States, which 591 00:35:20,239 --> 00:35:22,160 Speaker 1: of course meant that Sony first had to get approval 592 00:35:22,239 --> 00:35:25,359 Speaker 1: from Japanese government, because that was still a thing at 593 00:35:25,400 --> 00:35:28,120 Speaker 1: the time. Now, at this time, both the US and 594 00:35:28,200 --> 00:35:32,760 Speaker 1: Japan were in economic recessions. It was a tough time 595 00:35:33,040 --> 00:35:36,799 Speaker 1: all over the place. Sony stock price had dropped, as 596 00:35:36,800 --> 00:35:38,880 Speaker 1: did a lot of other companies. It wasn't that Sony 597 00:35:38,920 --> 00:35:41,920 Speaker 1: had done something wrong, It's that this economic depression was 598 00:35:41,960 --> 00:35:46,520 Speaker 1: affecting lots of people, and now of desperation, Sony sent 599 00:35:46,560 --> 00:35:49,520 Speaker 1: a representative to IBM to see if the company would 600 00:35:49,520 --> 00:35:52,880 Speaker 1: be interested in investing in Sony by purchasing some stock, 601 00:35:53,440 --> 00:35:55,759 Speaker 1: and IBM actually jumped at the chance to do it, 602 00:35:56,239 --> 00:35:59,520 Speaker 1: and Sony ended up making three hundred million yen in 603 00:35:59,560 --> 00:36:02,759 Speaker 1: the trans action, which alone was enough to keep the 604 00:36:02,800 --> 00:36:07,200 Speaker 1: company going and to start kind of an avalanche effect 605 00:36:07,200 --> 00:36:10,680 Speaker 1: where more and more companies began to invest in the 606 00:36:10,800 --> 00:36:14,400 Speaker 1: Japanese economy and it really turned things around for Japan. 607 00:36:14,520 --> 00:36:18,560 Speaker 1: So Sony's move kind of was the initial event that 608 00:36:18,680 --> 00:36:24,040 Speaker 1: caused a greater investment into Japanese corporations and really turned 609 00:36:24,080 --> 00:36:27,520 Speaker 1: things around. It was pretty impressive. In nineteen sixty seven, 610 00:36:27,520 --> 00:36:30,640 Speaker 1: Sony would launch the I C C Dash five hundred 611 00:36:30,719 --> 00:36:34,080 Speaker 1: so backs S O B A X. It was an 612 00:36:34,080 --> 00:36:37,120 Speaker 1: electronic desktop calculator. It's kind of a predecessor to a 613 00:36:37,160 --> 00:36:39,960 Speaker 1: personal computer, and so backs, by the way stood for 614 00:36:40,239 --> 00:36:45,600 Speaker 1: solid Abicus Sexy. In nineteen sixty eight, Sony would enter 615 00:36:45,640 --> 00:36:49,680 Speaker 1: a fifty fifty venture with CBS Incorporated to create CBS 616 00:36:49,800 --> 00:36:55,640 Speaker 1: Slash Sony Records Incorporated. This particular entity changed names and 617 00:36:55,680 --> 00:36:59,080 Speaker 1: brand branding several times. In nineteen seventy three, it became 618 00:36:59,120 --> 00:37:03,960 Speaker 1: the CBS owned Sony Incorporated. In three became CBS Slash 619 00:37:04,080 --> 00:37:07,800 Speaker 1: Sony Group Incorporated. And then eventually Sony would purchase the 620 00:37:07,800 --> 00:37:10,560 Speaker 1: company and make it a wholly owned subsidiary. In nineteen 621 00:37:10,880 --> 00:37:16,799 Speaker 1: seven and in they renamed it Sony Music Entertainment Incorporated. 622 00:37:17,320 --> 00:37:20,360 Speaker 1: And here's where history gets really super complicated. I mentioned 623 00:37:20,360 --> 00:37:22,400 Speaker 1: this at the beginning of the first episode of this 624 00:37:22,520 --> 00:37:27,560 Speaker 1: We're not just talking about Sony anymore. Sony had merged 625 00:37:27,680 --> 00:37:30,680 Speaker 1: with this or created division, and then that division merged 626 00:37:30,719 --> 00:37:33,680 Speaker 1: with an existing entity, and that existing entity actually was 627 00:37:33,800 --> 00:37:40,719 Speaker 1: older than Sony, wash the CBS Incorporated entity. And I'm 628 00:37:40,719 --> 00:37:44,680 Speaker 1: specifically talking about their music, not not CBS, not the 629 00:37:44,680 --> 00:37:48,480 Speaker 1: television company, but the music branch of the company. It 630 00:37:48,520 --> 00:37:51,279 Speaker 1: had been around since nineteen twenty nine. Back then it 631 00:37:51,360 --> 00:37:54,920 Speaker 1: was called the American Record Corporation, and then it became 632 00:37:54,920 --> 00:37:58,719 Speaker 1: the Columbia Recording Corporation in nineteen thirty eight. CBS bought 633 00:37:58,719 --> 00:38:02,920 Speaker 1: it in nineteen sixty six. Nineteen sixty eight, Sony creates 634 00:38:02,960 --> 00:38:06,000 Speaker 1: this division and merges it with the CBS division. And 635 00:38:06,600 --> 00:38:11,880 Speaker 1: so it's funny because Sony traces history to but this 636 00:38:11,880 --> 00:38:15,399 Speaker 1: particular branch that now is a wholly owned subsidiary under 637 00:38:15,440 --> 00:38:19,759 Speaker 1: Sony dates back to nineteen twenty nine. And I could 638 00:38:19,760 --> 00:38:22,440 Speaker 1: do a full episode just on Sony Music as well 639 00:38:22,480 --> 00:38:26,000 Speaker 1: as the other big entertainment divisions in Sony, and maybe 640 00:38:26,040 --> 00:38:29,200 Speaker 1: someday I will. But instead of going into the full 641 00:38:29,280 --> 00:38:33,640 Speaker 1: history of Sony Music, which would extend this series out 642 00:38:33,760 --> 00:38:36,399 Speaker 1: like by three episodes or something, and I don't want 643 00:38:36,400 --> 00:38:39,440 Speaker 1: to do that to you, guys. Here's some highlights instead. First, 644 00:38:39,800 --> 00:38:43,280 Speaker 1: Sony Music became one of the only few major players 645 00:38:43,520 --> 00:38:46,840 Speaker 1: in music publishing. If you've ever looked into the music 646 00:38:46,840 --> 00:38:50,400 Speaker 1: publishing world, you realize that when it comes to big labels, 647 00:38:50,440 --> 00:38:52,680 Speaker 1: there are only a few of them, and that is 648 00:38:52,719 --> 00:38:55,080 Speaker 1: not always great. Right. If you've only got a few 649 00:38:55,160 --> 00:38:58,880 Speaker 1: big companies, then you have the potential for shenanigans. And 650 00:38:58,920 --> 00:39:03,120 Speaker 1: in fact, that did happen. In the nineties, music companies, 651 00:39:03,160 --> 00:39:08,719 Speaker 1: including Sony were accused of price fixing music CDs. I'm 652 00:39:08,760 --> 00:39:12,600 Speaker 1: sure some of you remember c d s. Anyway, Eventually, 653 00:39:13,040 --> 00:39:16,200 Speaker 1: these companies were fined more than sixty million dollars in 654 00:39:16,200 --> 00:39:18,640 Speaker 1: a settlement, although as part of that settlement they did 655 00:39:18,680 --> 00:39:23,680 Speaker 1: not admit to any wrongdoing. They also had to distribute 656 00:39:23,719 --> 00:39:26,480 Speaker 1: something like seventy million dollars worth of CDs to various 657 00:39:26,520 --> 00:39:31,880 Speaker 1: public and nonprofit organizations. So that was not a great 658 00:39:31,960 --> 00:39:35,360 Speaker 1: mark for any of those music companies, including Sony. And 659 00:39:35,400 --> 00:39:39,040 Speaker 1: another controversy that included Sony Music happened when it back 660 00:39:39,040 --> 00:39:41,880 Speaker 1: when it was Sony b MG. And that's another complicated 661 00:39:41,880 --> 00:39:43,760 Speaker 1: story that I'm not going to go into here again. 662 00:39:43,880 --> 00:39:47,280 Speaker 1: If I if you guys want, I will do uh 663 00:39:47,400 --> 00:39:51,680 Speaker 1: episodes about Sony music to tell you more. But here's 664 00:39:51,719 --> 00:39:54,560 Speaker 1: what I think is important, and it really plays into 665 00:39:54,640 --> 00:39:58,720 Speaker 1: the tech stuff space. In two thousand five, people found 666 00:39:58,719 --> 00:40:01,520 Speaker 1: out that the copy protects and on some Sony B 667 00:40:01,719 --> 00:40:05,799 Speaker 1: M G c d s was atrocious. Not only was 668 00:40:05,880 --> 00:40:12,920 Speaker 1: it uh invasive, it actually caused real problems. Uh See, 669 00:40:13,200 --> 00:40:14,960 Speaker 1: if you were to put one of these CDs into 670 00:40:15,040 --> 00:40:19,440 Speaker 1: a computer, it would copy over DRM software onto your computer, 671 00:40:19,480 --> 00:40:23,160 Speaker 1: which would change your computer's operating system. Now, the reason 672 00:40:23,200 --> 00:40:26,680 Speaker 1: for this was to attempt to block any any way 673 00:40:26,719 --> 00:40:29,759 Speaker 1: of copying the c D. They wanted to prevent piracy. 674 00:40:29,920 --> 00:40:34,120 Speaker 1: But the software was not easy to uninstall. It would 675 00:40:34,160 --> 00:40:36,239 Speaker 1: install itself on a computer and you couldn't easily take 676 00:40:36,280 --> 00:40:39,600 Speaker 1: it off. And it created a security vulnerability, which meant 677 00:40:39,600 --> 00:40:42,640 Speaker 1: that hackers could get remote access to a person's computer 678 00:40:42,920 --> 00:40:46,759 Speaker 1: through that vulnerability. So, in other words, Sony's actions punished 679 00:40:47,040 --> 00:40:50,799 Speaker 1: legal customers people who actually bought the CD by making 680 00:40:50,840 --> 00:40:54,120 Speaker 1: their computers vulnerable to remote hacks, which is not a 681 00:40:54,120 --> 00:40:57,600 Speaker 1: good thing. This is also one of those classic arguments 682 00:40:58,000 --> 00:41:01,640 Speaker 1: that people point to and say a lot of DRM 683 00:41:01,719 --> 00:41:06,520 Speaker 1: digital rights management strategies end up hurting the legal customer 684 00:41:07,040 --> 00:41:10,080 Speaker 1: and ignores the actual problem of piracy. In fact, what 685 00:41:10,160 --> 00:41:13,879 Speaker 1: it does is it encourages people to go through the 686 00:41:14,000 --> 00:41:18,160 Speaker 1: route of getting a pirated copy because typically your priorateed 687 00:41:18,200 --> 00:41:21,560 Speaker 1: copies have all of this protection stripped away from it, 688 00:41:21,600 --> 00:41:24,560 Speaker 1: so it won't affect you in a negative way. Uh. 689 00:41:24,680 --> 00:41:26,480 Speaker 1: This is one of those stories that people point to 690 00:41:26,560 --> 00:41:29,239 Speaker 1: and say, this is what I'm talking about. Well, by 691 00:41:29,239 --> 00:41:32,080 Speaker 1: two thousand seven, Sony had changed its tune on this 692 00:41:32,239 --> 00:41:34,839 Speaker 1: DRM and pade a massive amount of money in a 693 00:41:34,880 --> 00:41:37,759 Speaker 1: series of legal settlements and recalled some but not all, 694 00:41:37,880 --> 00:41:42,640 Speaker 1: of the CDs. Anyway, the important thing to remember is this, Uh, 695 00:41:42,760 --> 00:41:46,560 Speaker 1: when Sony began to branch out beyond developing electronics and 696 00:41:46,600 --> 00:41:49,240 Speaker 1: got into the publication business, that was a big deal. 697 00:41:49,400 --> 00:41:52,920 Speaker 1: Like they were no longer just an electronics company. This 698 00:41:52,960 --> 00:41:55,720 Speaker 1: goes back to that strategy they had when they first 699 00:41:55,800 --> 00:41:58,240 Speaker 1: named the company Sony. They decided to call it Sony 700 00:41:58,280 --> 00:42:01,759 Speaker 1: Corporation and not Sony elect Toronic Industries or something like that, 701 00:42:02,280 --> 00:42:05,200 Speaker 1: specifically because they knew this would be a possibility that 702 00:42:05,239 --> 00:42:09,440 Speaker 1: they would branch out into other markets besides electronics. Now 703 00:42:09,520 --> 00:42:12,520 Speaker 1: let's get back to the technology and to nine. So 704 00:42:12,600 --> 00:42:17,080 Speaker 1: that same year Sony opened up Sony United Kingdom in 705 00:42:17,120 --> 00:42:21,560 Speaker 1: the UK, where you'd expect it to be. And since 706 00:42:21,600 --> 00:42:23,799 Speaker 1: the development of the CV two thousand reel to reel 707 00:42:23,880 --> 00:42:27,000 Speaker 1: video tape recorder, Sony had begun to work on creating 708 00:42:27,040 --> 00:42:30,320 Speaker 1: a video cassette recorder, which was a pretty tough challenge, 709 00:42:31,200 --> 00:42:34,920 Speaker 1: but they identified the potential of a huge market for it. 710 00:42:34,960 --> 00:42:37,319 Speaker 1: Because see, real to real tape is tricky, and you 711 00:42:37,360 --> 00:42:40,240 Speaker 1: have to take the film from one reel it's wound 712 00:42:40,320 --> 00:42:41,920 Speaker 1: up on the reel. You have to take the end 713 00:42:41,920 --> 00:42:44,720 Speaker 1: of that film feed through the head of the video 714 00:42:44,719 --> 00:42:47,920 Speaker 1: tape recorder out the other side, and then you have 715 00:42:47,960 --> 00:42:51,759 Speaker 1: to thread it onto the the second reel. And then 716 00:42:51,840 --> 00:42:54,600 Speaker 1: when you operate the device, it means that the reels 717 00:42:54,680 --> 00:42:57,640 Speaker 1: turn in such a way so that, uh, the tape 718 00:42:57,719 --> 00:43:02,480 Speaker 1: is pulled by the an initially empty reel and it 719 00:43:02,640 --> 00:43:05,440 Speaker 1: unwinds on the other one while it winds on what 720 00:43:05,640 --> 00:43:08,160 Speaker 1: used to be the empty one. Right, So you've got 721 00:43:08,200 --> 00:43:10,640 Speaker 1: this whole thing and you just connect the two onto 722 00:43:10,719 --> 00:43:14,840 Speaker 1: the device. But it means that you know, handling that film, 723 00:43:15,000 --> 00:43:18,759 Speaker 1: you decrease the lifetime of it. You you increase the 724 00:43:18,880 --> 00:43:22,920 Speaker 1: chance that you're going to damage the film. H cassette's 725 00:43:22,920 --> 00:43:25,440 Speaker 1: had a real big advantage. All of that stuff would 726 00:43:25,480 --> 00:43:28,960 Speaker 1: be contained within a cassette, and then that means it 727 00:43:28,960 --> 00:43:32,760 Speaker 1: would be protected from your grubby hands or from dust. Um, 728 00:43:32,800 --> 00:43:37,239 Speaker 1: it would remain viable longer. But on the other hand, 729 00:43:37,280 --> 00:43:38,799 Speaker 1: you would have to figure out, well, how do you 730 00:43:38,840 --> 00:43:42,240 Speaker 1: make it work. What's the mechanism that gets the tape 731 00:43:42,600 --> 00:43:46,319 Speaker 1: to feed through the head of the VCR. How do 732 00:43:46,360 --> 00:43:49,759 Speaker 1: you get this thing that's contained within a plastic cassette 733 00:43:50,120 --> 00:43:52,400 Speaker 1: so that it goes through the part of your player 734 00:43:52,680 --> 00:43:56,520 Speaker 1: that can actually read the material that's been magnetically stored 735 00:43:56,680 --> 00:43:59,000 Speaker 1: on the tape. And it took several years of work 736 00:43:59,040 --> 00:44:01,359 Speaker 1: to get a working product type. When they did get 737 00:44:01,360 --> 00:44:04,319 Speaker 1: a working prototype, they called it the you Matic VTR. 738 00:44:05,280 --> 00:44:07,439 Speaker 1: That was purely an in house prototype, just a proof 739 00:44:07,440 --> 00:44:11,000 Speaker 1: of concept. Uh and Abuka when he saw it, said, 740 00:44:11,040 --> 00:44:13,719 Speaker 1: this is great. Just think how fantastic the next one 741 00:44:13,800 --> 00:44:16,480 Speaker 1: is gonna be. And he wanted the video cassettes to 742 00:44:16,480 --> 00:44:18,800 Speaker 1: get down to the size of about a paperback book, 743 00:44:19,080 --> 00:44:21,000 Speaker 1: which was much smaller than the version that they had 744 00:44:21,000 --> 00:44:24,640 Speaker 1: for the prototype. By nineteen seventy three, the group was 745 00:44:24,680 --> 00:44:27,279 Speaker 1: working that was working on the VCR spun off from 746 00:44:27,320 --> 00:44:29,880 Speaker 1: the development division it had been part of, and it 747 00:44:30,160 --> 00:44:33,240 Speaker 1: officially became known as the Beta Max, R and D Group. 748 00:44:33,960 --> 00:44:37,720 Speaker 1: Sony's first Beta Max VCR with debut on May tenth, 749 00:44:37,920 --> 00:44:41,520 Speaker 1: nineteen seventy, and the company offered two models. There was 750 00:44:41,560 --> 00:44:43,839 Speaker 1: one that was a standalone VCR. That one was called 751 00:44:43,840 --> 00:44:47,279 Speaker 1: the s L six hundred, and there was also a 752 00:44:47,320 --> 00:44:51,120 Speaker 1: TV VCR combo. It was called the LV eighten No. One. 753 00:44:51,239 --> 00:44:55,200 Speaker 1: So if you think those television player combos are a 754 00:44:55,200 --> 00:44:57,359 Speaker 1: relatively new thing, no, they date all the way back 755 00:44:57,360 --> 00:45:01,840 Speaker 1: to the seventies. In nine teen seventy six, Sony would 756 00:45:01,880 --> 00:45:04,839 Speaker 1: turn thirty years old, and that was also the year 757 00:45:04,880 --> 00:45:08,320 Speaker 1: that Massa ru Ibuka would step down as the chairman 758 00:45:08,480 --> 00:45:11,759 Speaker 1: of Sony. He stayed on as an advisor for the 759 00:45:11,840 --> 00:45:13,680 Speaker 1: rest of his life, but he was no longer in 760 00:45:13,680 --> 00:45:17,920 Speaker 1: a leadership position. But that's also the year that JVC 761 00:45:18,120 --> 00:45:22,759 Speaker 1: announced that the VHS format for the VCR was going 762 00:45:22,840 --> 00:45:26,440 Speaker 1: to come out and the VCR wars began. Now. To 763 00:45:26,520 --> 00:45:30,359 Speaker 1: learn more about Beta Max, VHS and VCRs, you can 764 00:45:30,440 --> 00:45:34,160 Speaker 1: check out the classic tech Stuff episode tech Stuff Sets 765 00:45:34,200 --> 00:45:37,520 Speaker 1: Its VCR, which published way back on March twelve, two 766 00:45:37,520 --> 00:45:42,400 Speaker 1: thousand twelve. Basically, Beta Max and VHS entered into a 767 00:45:42,440 --> 00:45:45,120 Speaker 1: massive format war, and you had two sides. It's kind 768 00:45:45,160 --> 00:45:48,640 Speaker 1: of like Braveheart with the Scots and the English. So 769 00:45:49,680 --> 00:45:54,560 Speaker 1: you had Sony and Tashiba and Sanio Electric and any NYC, 770 00:45:55,239 --> 00:45:58,560 Speaker 1: Iowa and Pioneer on one side, and then on the 771 00:45:58,640 --> 00:46:03,800 Speaker 1: VHS side you had j vc U, Matt, Sushita, Hatachi, 772 00:46:03,880 --> 00:46:08,120 Speaker 1: Mitsubishi Electric, Sharp and a Ki Electric were all on 773 00:46:08,160 --> 00:46:11,720 Speaker 1: that side. And then they went to fight, and Beta 774 00:46:11,760 --> 00:46:14,920 Speaker 1: Max had certain advantages over the VHS format, but in 775 00:46:14,920 --> 00:46:18,920 Speaker 1: the end, VHS one out for one thing, VHS VHS 776 00:46:19,000 --> 00:46:22,319 Speaker 1: sets initially needed fewer components to build, which meant it 777 00:46:22,360 --> 00:46:26,600 Speaker 1: was more attractive for the manufacturing process, so VHS would 778 00:46:26,600 --> 00:46:30,200 Speaker 1: eventually become the standard, and Beta max essentially faded into history. 779 00:46:30,239 --> 00:46:32,320 Speaker 1: I mean that was still being used in the production 780 00:46:32,400 --> 00:46:34,880 Speaker 1: side of things, but not on the consumer electronics side. 781 00:46:35,760 --> 00:46:37,600 Speaker 1: Now that's not to say that Beta max was a dud. 782 00:46:37,680 --> 00:46:40,480 Speaker 1: It actually did pretty well. Sony did some pretty good 783 00:46:40,480 --> 00:46:44,919 Speaker 1: business leading up to its eventual decline, but by the 784 00:46:45,000 --> 00:46:47,680 Speaker 1: early nineteen eighties the writing was kind of on the wall, 785 00:46:47,719 --> 00:46:52,040 Speaker 1: and by Sony began to make VHS sets, which was 786 00:46:52,120 --> 00:46:55,839 Speaker 1: kind of the the admission that Beta max was no 787 00:46:55,880 --> 00:46:58,040 Speaker 1: longer going to be a powerhouse. The fact that they 788 00:46:58,080 --> 00:47:01,680 Speaker 1: were going to start making the peating technology was a 789 00:47:01,800 --> 00:47:05,320 Speaker 1: pretty tough pill to swallow. You know. You had these 790 00:47:05,360 --> 00:47:07,399 Speaker 1: people at Sony who took great pride in the fact 791 00:47:07,480 --> 00:47:11,239 Speaker 1: that they developed the Beta max format, but eventually they 792 00:47:11,280 --> 00:47:13,759 Speaker 1: had to admit that it wasn't going to win out 793 00:47:13,840 --> 00:47:17,880 Speaker 1: over VHS v H. Beta Max would stick around a 794 00:47:17,920 --> 00:47:21,040 Speaker 1: little bit longer, but really it was. It was almost 795 00:47:21,080 --> 00:47:26,440 Speaker 1: unheard of by anyway. Well, that concludes this episode of 796 00:47:26,480 --> 00:47:28,760 Speaker 1: the Sony story. There's still a ton to talk about. 797 00:47:28,760 --> 00:47:32,120 Speaker 1: There's some stuff that happened during the VCR wars that 798 00:47:32,160 --> 00:47:34,920 Speaker 1: I want to cover in our next episode, plus obviously 799 00:47:35,000 --> 00:47:37,319 Speaker 1: continue the story and try and get as close to 800 00:47:37,360 --> 00:47:40,000 Speaker 1: modern day as I possibly can. Uh, there are a 801 00:47:40,000 --> 00:47:42,279 Speaker 1: lot of things that are complicated that I need to 802 00:47:42,320 --> 00:47:47,600 Speaker 1: talk about, including Sony Pictures. That is another company that 803 00:47:47,719 --> 00:47:52,319 Speaker 1: predates the Sony Corporation itself if you look at the 804 00:47:52,360 --> 00:47:55,600 Speaker 1: core of that company. Um, so we have some more 805 00:47:55,680 --> 00:47:58,480 Speaker 1: to talk about. Uh. If you guys have suggestions for 806 00:47:58,560 --> 00:48:01,680 Speaker 1: future topics, maybe you want me to talk about Sony 807 00:48:01,800 --> 00:48:04,160 Speaker 1: Music maybe you want me to do a full episode 808 00:48:04,160 --> 00:48:07,239 Speaker 1: about Sony Pictures. I'll go into a little bit to 809 00:48:07,320 --> 00:48:09,400 Speaker 1: tail next episode, but again I won't go into a 810 00:48:09,480 --> 00:48:11,960 Speaker 1: full episode on it. But if you want to hear 811 00:48:11,960 --> 00:48:14,240 Speaker 1: more about that kind of stuff or any other topic, 812 00:48:14,440 --> 00:48:17,480 Speaker 1: let me know. Send me a message. The email is 813 00:48:17,560 --> 00:48:20,480 Speaker 1: tech Stuff at how stuff works dot com, or drop 814 00:48:20,520 --> 00:48:23,680 Speaker 1: me a line on Facebook or Twitter. The handle at 815 00:48:23,719 --> 00:48:26,040 Speaker 1: both of those is tech Stuff hs W. And if 816 00:48:26,080 --> 00:48:30,040 Speaker 1: you haven't friended me yet or followed me, what more 817 00:48:30,120 --> 00:48:33,399 Speaker 1: do I gotta do? Man, I'm working my butt off here. 818 00:48:34,040 --> 00:48:40,480 Speaker 1: Come on, it's just me so lonely, so very lonely. Anyway, 819 00:48:40,640 --> 00:48:42,480 Speaker 1: I'll talk to you guys next week, and I hope 820 00:48:42,520 --> 00:48:45,520 Speaker 1: you have a great one. Um let's talk again really 821 00:48:45,560 --> 00:48:53,000 Speaker 1: soon for more on this and thousands of other topics. 822 00:48:53,200 --> 00:49:01,720 Speaker 1: Is it how stuff works dot com? Eight