If you want to come up with something at the briefing at the end of the month, you have to have dry goods.

Where does Shirakawa Electric's dry goods come from, of course, SIC.

"Senior Brother Nakajima, are you sure this is okay?"

Shirakawa Kaede carefully held the machine in his hand, his expression full of suspicion.

"Ahem~" Heitaro Nakajima said a little uncertainly, "It should be no problem, if it's just to deal with a press conference, it's probably not bad." ”

Should? After Bai Chuanfeng heard his words, his face became more and more cloudy.

This is something to be shown at the IPO briefing, and it must not be taken out of the basket.

Shirakawa Kaede decided to actually try the performance of this prototype, so he just held the machine with one hand and pressed the switch with the other.

Brush, a line of crescent white "KITA" logo pops up on the glossy black LCD screen, and the white display effect makes the black machine look mysterious and endowed with a sense of science and technology.

After waiting patiently for two seconds, as the interface was loaded, there was soon a burst of music from the stereo on the table.

Well, yes, the sound is clear and clear, much better than a tape player.

Especially the clean sound, with no noise floor at all.

Compared to the rustle of tape and vinyl background, it was nothing short of noise.

Sure enough, the advantages of digital music over analog music are too great, which is the mainstream of the future development of audio technology.

That's right, what Shirakawa Kaede is holding in his hand at the moment is Shirakawa Electric's portable CD player.

After nearly a year of tossing, the previous huge and bulky desktop CD player has now been successfully slimmed.

The size is similar to the size that Shirakawa Kaede set last year, but it is slightly larger than the CD case, and the thickness is about the height of four CDs stacked together.

To be honest, from the perspective of future generations, it is still not light and thin enough, too thick.

But in this era, it is already a black technology to be able to miniaturize desktop CD players to this extent.

However, the reason why Shirakawa Electric was able to miniaturize the portable CD player to this extent is actually suspected of "cheating".

Why? Just look at the other battery box that Shirakawa Kaede is holding in his hand.

This portable CD player is powered separately via an external battery box.

The working mode of the CD machine is completely different from that of the tape machine, which requires the laser head to irradiate the light wave to read the disk information, and also needs the high-speed rotation of the motor to drive the disc to rotate.

In addition, the DAC chip inside the machine simultaneously decodes the information and restores it to sound waves, and outputs the sound through the power amplifier system.

There is no doubt that its power consumption and rated current requirements are much higher than those of tape drives, and ordinary No. 5 dry batteries cannot be carried at all.

So in order to solve the power supply problem, Nakajima Heitaro and they could only use the No. 2 battery with a larger capacity.

As we all know, the No. 2 battery is too thick compared to the No. 5 battery, and it is slightly thinner than the No. 1 battery in the flashlight we used when we were kids.

The Shirakawa portable CD player needs at least 4 No. 2 batteries to work properly, and only in this way can the machine retain enough battery life.

It would be too difficult to integrate four large No. 2 batteries into the interior of a portable CD player.

If you insist on doing this, the current portable CD player will have to go one step bigger.

Shirakawa Kaede looked at the thick CD player in his hand and shook his head. If that's the case, the so-called portable is just a name.

So the best option is to separate the electromechanical and make an external battery box for the CD player separately, so that it looks much smaller.

Although there is an extra battery box like a power bank, it is still portable.

Look, Shirakawa Kaede took two steps with it, and there was no problem at all.

And considering the use scenario, Shirakawa Electric also left a 110V mains interface for this portable CD player when it was designed.

In other words, you can also use it when you plug it in at home, and if you take it out, you can rely on the battery of the battery box.

Although it seems a bit sloppy, they are still much more advanced than Sony's desktops.

Shirakawa Kaede was satisfied and flipped the CD player in his hand, tsk, it's still a look.

"Wow~" Suddenly the stereo on the table struck, and no more music came.

"Uh" Nakajima Heitaro on the side of the face was full of embarrassment, and Hiroshi Ogawa, a little further back, was directly red-faced.

Shirakawa Kaede was stunned for a moment, then quietly put the CD player in his hand flat, and the moving music came again.

"Senior brother, the current model still needs to be improved, it needs to be improved~" Nakajima Heitaro's face flushed.

After all, today's CD players are too fragile and almost shockproof. If you move a little, you might be able to go on strike.

Shirakawa Kaede shook his head, "There is still a little time, see if we can improve it again, at least we must hold on until the end of the briefing." ”

"Hey, we're always improving." Heitaro Nakajima also has a hard time.

Because according to expectations, Shirakawa Electric's portable CD player was originally planned to be launched in October or November.

But in order to catch up with this press conference, the time was forcibly advanced by three or four months.

Time is already tight, and now it is greatly compressed, and some small bugs are inevitable.

In fact, Shirakawa Kaede is not going to release a new model in July.

He wants to take out a finished machine to show the outside world first, and as for the real listing, it will be launched to the market in October or November according to the original plan.

But now even the production line of the CD player has not been built, and the only way to get a finished machine is to rely on the laboratory hand rubbing.

And this handmade laboratory product, you don't have to think about it, you know, there are constant small problems.

But for the sake of this briefing, this is the only way. After all, most of the time, plans don't change as fast as they can.

"What about our costs?" Putting down the CD player in his hand, Shirakawa Kaede began to care about another problem again.

"Because large-scale production has not yet been officially carried out, the specific cost details will now be incorrect.

But..."Heitaro Nakajima paused, "but with the current situation, the cost may not be optimistic." ”

Shirakawa Feng frowned, the so-called not very optimistic must have caused a lot of pressure on profits.

"Let's talk about it in detail, where exactly the cost is problematic."

With his permission, Heitaro Nakajima immediately took a half-finished CD player from the table.

"Senior Brother Shirakawa, you see, because it is necessary to resist earthquakes, many of the internal mechanisms are all made of metal parts.

Their cost is much higher than that of ordinary plastics, and considering the problem of anti-interference, the internal compartment is all made of copper sheet as the base material for signal shielding. ”

Through the open back cover, Shirakawa Kaede can clearly see the inside of the case, and there are many golden copper sheets wrapped around the small modules.

Because the CD player works on the principle of digital signals, it is different from the tape player and is easily disturbed by the outside world and even adjacent circuits.

In order to ensure the purity of the timbre, the modular circuits can only be shielded separately.

The most common shielding method in electronic products is to use copper as a closed protection.

But when Shirakawa Kaede saw this scene, he shook his head. "Senior Brother Nakajima, this is too extravagant."

"Huh?" Heitaro Nakajima looked at him with some confusion, not understanding where the so-called luxury was.

"Copper is a precious metal, and although the signal shielding effect is very good, it cannot be used in this way."

Shirakawa Kaede had to sigh that the people who made products in this era were still too sincere, and they were all stacking freaks.

"If it's just for anti-interference and signal shielding, we can use copper foil."

"Copper foil?!" Heitaro Nakajima was struck by lightning, and his shocked eyes seemed to have discovered a new continent.

"Of course" Shirakawa Kaede nodded without hesitation, "Take a step back, even if you use aluminum, it's more cost-effective than copper."

Even bolder, copper foil paper is not used, and aluminum foil is used directly. ”

"It's... This..."Heitaro Nakajima was dumbfounded.

Can you still play like this?

Heitaro Nakajima, who has been making products honestly, never thought of cutting corners like this?

In fact, not only him, but now most of the brand materials of Neon are very conscientious.

Otherwise, how can the service life of 20 or 30 years be guaranteed?

Design is one thing, but materials play a bigger role.

No one has ever told Heitaro Nakajima before today that he could save costs in this way.

After all, the design style has been formed for so many years, and everyone is accustomed to it, and they take it for granted.

In this era, neon brands basically attach great importance to the reputation of their products, and have never thought of doing anything about materials.

So it is conceivable that at this moment, Nakajima Heitaro suffered a great impact in his heart after hearing Shirakawa Kaede's method of reducing costs.

"Senior Brother Shirakawa, is this really okay?" There was worry in Nakajima's eyes that couldn't be hidden.

The method is a good method, and the effect is absolutely immediate, but Heitaro Nakajima feels that his conscience is a little difficult to pass.

"Senior Brother Nakajima..."Shirakawa Kaede looked at him helplessly, "From your professional point of view, do copper foil and aluminum foil have the ability to shield electromagnetic signals?" ”

"Of course, but the effect is much less effective..."

Shirakawa Kaede interrupted his unfounded worries with a wave of his hand, "Senior Brother Nakajima, what we do is a portable CD player.

The so-called portable is actually simplified on the basis of the desktop, which means that its performance is weaker than the desktop in some aspects.

Use copper sheet as the shielding substrate, and put it on a desktop computer is no problem. But portable CD players can't, because they don't have the same positioning.

With a price tag of up to 100,000 or 200,000 yen, desktops are destined to be a luxury item among music players.

It is appropriate to use sufficient materials on luxury goods, but portable CD players are different, and their audience is young people with average spending power.

For them, cool styling and sound quality that is significantly better than that of a tape player is enough.

The most important thing is that the price must be low enough so that our CD player can become a mass consumer product. ”

After listening to Shirakawa Kaede's discussion, Nakajima Heitaro was very entangled.

He knew that from the company's point of view, Shirakawa Kaede was right. But as a designer, he really wants his work to be perfect.

But after all, cost is the first factor that determines the product, and Heitaro Nakajima sighed, he understood how to choose.

"Let's try it like this," Shirakawa Kaede patted the senior brother on the shoulder.

It's still rare, and the means of shielding electromagnetic signals in later generations basically rely on metal foil to achieve.

How could it be like now, with a full copper sheet, it is too extravagant.

"Oh yes, it's the same with the internal organization, if you can replace it with plastic, use plastic. As for the shockproof back or the next generation of products, we will consider. ”

Hearing this, Heitaro Nakajima, who was already a little entangled, smiled bitterly.

It's still not dark enough.

It's no wonder that others can become the founders of listed companies, but they are still buried in the laboratory.

(End of chapter)