Data Discman

{{short description|Electronic book player}}

File:DD 8 Electronic Book Player 1.jpg

File:Sony DD 8 Electronic Book Player 2.jpg

File:Sony-ebook2.jpg

File:data discman dd10ex.jpg

{{Nihongo|Data Discman| データ ディスクマン|Dēta Disikuman|lead=yes}} is an electronic book player introduced to the Western market in late 1991 or early 1992 by Sony Corporation.{{cite news |author=Coburn, M. |author2=Burrows, P. |author3=Loi, D. |author4=Wilkins, L. |date=2001|title= E-book readers directions in enabling technologies|work= Print and Electronic Text Convergence, Common Ground|editor= Cope, B. |editor2=Kalantzis, D. Melbourne|pages= 145–182}} It was marketed in the United States to college students and international travelers, but had little success outside Japan.{{citation needed|date=March 2014}} The Discman product name had originally been applied to Sony's range of portable CD players such as the Sony Discman D-50, first released in 1984.{{Cite web| url = http://www.sony.net/SonyInfo/News/Press_Archive/199907/99-059/ | title = Sony Celebrates Walkman 20th Anniversary | publisher = Sony Press Release | access-date = 2016-12-21}}

The Data Discman was designed to allow quick access to electronic reference information on a pre-recorded disc. Searching terms were entered using a QWERTY-style keyboard and utilized the "Yes" and "No" keys.{{citation needed|date=March 2014}}

A typical Data Discman model has a low resolution small grayscale LCD (256x200 early on, later models would have up to 320x240 and in colour), CD drive unit (either Mini CD or full size), and a low-power computer. Early versions of the device were incapable of playing audio CDs. Software was prerecorded and usually featured encyclopedias, foreign language dictionaries and novels.{{citation needed|date=March 2014}} It was typically created using the Sony Electronic Book Authoring System (SEBAS).{{cite web |title=Sony Electronic Book Authoring System |author-first1=Christopher |author-last1=Keep |author-first2=Tim |author-last2=McLaughlin |author-first3=Robin |author-last3=Parmar |date=2000 |orig-date=1993 |url=http://www2.iath.virginia.edu/elab/hfl0125.html |work=The electronic labyrinth |access-date=2016-11-12 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161112125953/http://www2.iath.virginia.edu/elab/hfl0125.html |archive-date=2016-11-12}}

A DD-1EX Data Discman is in the permanent collection of the Victoria and Albert Museum and is currently displayed in the V&A's 20th Century Gallery. This early model did not include the ability to play sound.{{cite web |url=https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O1325440/sony-dd1-ex-electronic-book-electronic-book-reader-sony-corporation/|work=Sony DD-1EX Electronic Book Player |title=V&A Search the Collections|access-date=2016-12-20 }}

An updated model, the DD-10EX, was released in 1992 or 1993. The accompanying manual gives a copyright date of 1992. Unlike the DD-1EX, the DD-10EX also had the ability to play audio files. The British version came with a disc containing the Thomson Electronic Directory for April 1992, plus another containing the Pocket Interpreter 5-language conversation book for travelers. A DD-10EX was included in an exhibition entitled The Book and Beyond: Electronic Publishing and the Art of the Book, held at the Victoria and Albert Museum, London, from April to October 1995. The exhibition also included a CD-ROM designed to be played on the Data Discman, entitled Library of the Future and published in 1993.{{cite news|url=http://www.vam.ac.uk/vastatic/wid/exhibits/bookandbeyond/ |work=The Book and Beyond: Electronic Publishing and the Art of the Book|title= Text of an exhibition held at the Victoria and Albert Museum, London |date=1995}}

The DD-1EX and DD-10EX both made use of a flip or clamshell form, while the flat, rectangular design of the DD-8 was closer to later e-book readers such as the Amazon Kindle.