Sony Multimedia CD-ROM Player

The Sony Multimedia CD-ROM Player was a portable CD-ROM-based multimedia player produced by Sony and released in 1992. It was used to run reference software, such as electronic publications and encyclopedia. Before its release, both Sony representatives and the press referred to the device as the Sony Bookman;[7][8][9] that name remained in use in later publications.[10]

Sony Multimedia CD-ROM Player
Also known asSony Bookman (pre-release name)
ManufacturerSony Corporation
TypeElectronic book reader, portable media player
Release dateNovember 1992[1]
MediaMMCD Player Software (CD-ROM XA-based), CD-DA
Operating systemMS-DOS 3.21[2]
CPUNEC V20HL @ 9.54 MHz[3]
Memory640 KB
DisplayLCD, 300 × 200 pixels with 7 shades of grey, 100 mm (4 in) × 76 mm (3 in) [4]
ConnectivitySerial port (DE-9)
PowerNickel–metal hydride battery
  • Power supply: 12 W 10 V 700 mA[5]
Dimensions44 mm (1.75 in) H
140 mm (5.5 in) W
190 mm (7.5 in) D
Mass1.00 kg (2.2 lb)[6]
RelatedData Discman

The player was sold concurrently with Sony's Data Discman e-book players.[11] Unlike those devices, the MMCD Player could read full-size 120-millimeter CD-ROM discs, including audio CDs. Software format, proprietary to the player, was one of several rich media CD formats released to the market during the early 1990s.

Overview

The MMCD Player has a clamshell form factor with an LCD screen and a QWERTY keyboard, complete with a numeric keypad, four-way navigation pad, "yes" and "no" buttons and a set of function keys (F1 to F5). The keyboard is located on a top of an inner lid which covers a top-loading CD drive.[12][13]

Discs for the player used the CD-ROM XA sector format and a software format proprietary to the player. Software which the player supported was marked by the "MMCD Player Software" logo (not to be confused with MMCD, a high-density disc format proposal by Sony and Philips). Takashi Sugiyama, Sony Corporation of America's project manager, attributed the MMCD Player's lack of support for established CD-ROM XA-based multimedia formats to its sub-VGA display resolution and the lack of hard drive caching support.[7]

Software

Newsweek chose the Sony MMCD player as a pilot platform for Newsweek InterActive, a quarterly CD-ROM magazine initially published in March 1993.[14][15] The magazine was later released on compact disks for IBM PC compatible computers. No more than "a few thousand of units" of the MMCD version had reportedly shipped by 1995.[16]

Titles by Compton's NewMedia (a CD-ROM publishing arm of Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.) and Random House were also available, with some disks including software for both the MMCD Player and computer platforms such as DOS and Windows.[4][17]

Several companies marketed Sony MMCD Player-based kits to real estate brokers. Digital Data, a company based in Irving, Texas, adapted Austin multiple listing service data as a weekly CD-ROM publication in 1994.[18] In 1995, San Diego-based Visual Display Marketing was pitching their MMCD Player-based product to real estate associations, with its owner Gary Ripsco describe the concept of publishing weekly or biweekly home listing discs.[19]

Microsoft announced support for the MMCD Player for their multimedia authoring tool, Multimedia Viewer, upon the player's introduction on September 16, 1992.[20]

Reception

The Sony MMCD player was introduced the same month as Kodak's Photo CD format and the Tandy VIS multimedia system. Multimedia & Videodisc Monitor described the interactive multimedia landscape as looking "chaotic" and stated that consumers and commercial end users "probably can't" figure out then-current format situation.[21] PC Magazine noted that the introduction of multiple CD-ROM format compatibility logos, along with Sony's MMCD one, make shopping for multimedia titles "anything but simple" and go against the goal of Multimedia PC program.[22]

Later, PC Magazine advised anyone but corporate purchasers "with a driving need to do away with a paper" against buying the Sony MMCD player, criticizing its high price and the incompatibility with other multimedia formats.[6] The Washington Post noted the player's ease of use, comparing it favorably to Walkman compact disk players, but criticized the device's speed and the resolution of its built-in screen.[4]

In a 2006 column, Michael Rogers, who was an editor of the Newsweek Interactive division in the 1990s, said the Sony MMCD player was "far ahead of its time" but "slow as molasses." He noted that, as the device loaded the Newsweek CD-ROM, it took a long time to display the magazine's logo and play the introductory sound bit.[23]

References
  1. "Sony's new portable Multimedia CD-ROM Player enhances personal and business productivity" (Press release). New York: Sony Corporate Communications. Business Wire. 1992-09-16 – via Factiva. The Multimedia Player will be available at retail in November 1992 and will have a suggested list price of $999.95.
  2. O'Connor, Rory J. (1992-03-23). "New CD-ROM player to be release by Sony". The Baltimore Sun. Retrieved 2022-04-26.
  3. "Application for Equipment Authorization FCC Form 731, FCC ID: AK8PIX100". OET Laboratory Division Equipment Authorization System. Federal Communications Commission. Retrieved 2022-04-26.
  4. Nicholson, David (1993-05-31). "Sony's on-the-run CD-ROM". The Washington Post. Retrieved 2022-04-26.
  5. Sony Accessories, Tools, Literature and Service Information 2000 (PDF). Sony World Repair Parts Center of the Americas. p. 111. Retrieved 2022-04-26.
  6. Grunin, Lori (1992-11-10). "Sony's CD-ROM Player: Portable Multimedia for Consumers and Businesses". PC Mag. Vol. 11, no. 19. Ziff Davis, Inc. p. 46. ISSN 0888-8507. Retrieved 2022-04-26.
  7. Blissimer, Robert H. (1992-03-16). "Non-standard prototype CD-ROM system causes confusion — Sony Bookman on show bill". Electronic Engineering Times. Vol. 16, no. 684. CMP Publications – via Factiva.
  8. Weber, Jonathan (1992-03-11). "Sony Shows Off New Hand-Held PC: Technology: CD-ROM discs allow tiny machine to play electronic books and other 'multimedia' programs". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 2022-05-03.
  9. McCormick, John A. (1994). The New Optical Storage Technology: Including Multimedia, CD-ROM, and Optical Drives (2nd ed.). Burr Ridge, Ill.: Irwin Professional. p. 47. ISBN 1556239076. OL 1731548M.
  10. Nesi, Hilary (2008), "Dictionaries in Electronic Form", in Cowie, A. P. (ed.), The Oxford History of English Lexicography, vol. II, Oxford University Press, p. 462, ISBN 9780191558078
  11. "Sony and Affordable Portables present Freedom of Information". Los Angeles Times. 1992-12-15. p. 138. ISSN 0458-3035. Retrieved 2022-05-03 – via Newspapers.com.
  12. Cheifet, Steward (host) (1993). "CD-ROM". Computer Chronicles. Season 10. Episode 22. 20:33 minutes in. Retrieved 2022-05-04.
  13. Dead Formats: Sony Data Discman & MMCD - Kodak Photo CD. databits. 2020-09-23. 9:07 minutes in.
  14. Bryant, Adam (1992-10-16). "Newsweek to Be Issued Quarterly on CD-ROM". The New York Times. pp. D6. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2022-05-09.
  15. Atwood, Brett (1994-07-02). "Digital Magazines Make Retail Inroads". Billboard. Vol. 106, no. 27. Nielsen Business Media. p. 88. ISSN 0006-2510. Retrieved 2022-05-09.
  16. Blum, Brian (1995). Interactive Media Essentials for Success. Emeryville, Cal.: Ziff-Davis Press. p. 43. ISBN 9781562763473. OL 3747286W.
  17. KGB/CIA World Factbook (Label). Compton's NewMedia. 1993. Retrieved 2022-05-09. Supports DOS, Windows and the Sony Multimedia CD-ROM Player
  18. Tyson, Kim (1994-04-02). "Computer home listing to start in Austin". Austin American-Statesman. p. 86. ISSN 1553-8451 – via Newspapers.com.
  19. Warth, Gary (1995-02-18). "CD-ROM technology moving real estate into the future". The North County Blade-Citizen. ISSN 1059-5694 – via Newspapers.com.
  20. "Multimedia Viewer for the Sony Multimedia CD-ROM Player" (Press release). New York: Microsoft. Business Wire. 1992-09-16 – via Factiva. Microsoft Corp. announced Wednesday the availability of Microsoft Multimedia Viewer for the Sony Multimedia CD-ROM player. [...] Microsoft made the announcement in concert with Sony's launch of the Multimedia Player in New York City.
  21. Miller, Rockley L. (1992-10-01). "Editorial: Chaos or Convergence — The Battle Is Joined". Multimedia & Videodisc Monitor. Vol. 10, no. 10. Future Systems. ISSN 0739-7089 – via Factiva.
  22. Flynn, Mary Kathleen (1992-11-10). "CD Confusion". PC Mag. Vol. 11, no. 19. Ziff Davis. p. 32. ISSN 0888-8507. Retrieved 2022-05-08.
  23. Rogers, Michael (2006-03-06). "The art of the demo". MSNBC.com. Retrieved 2022-05-09.
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