Countercurrent 1982

Chapter 2072 MP3 Prototype
Regarding the research and development of MP3 players, it was already in Duan Yun's plan a few years ago. However, when the hardware and software technologies are not mature, it is simply a dream to make such an epoch-making audio-visual product, and Even if it is made with difficulty, it will not meet the requirements that Duan Yun wants.

Previously, Duan Yun estimated that the MP3 player would not be successfully developed until March or April next year at the earliest, which involved the development of a new generation of storage chips and solid-state drives, the upgrade of MP3 audio software, and a series of electronic components. Miniaturization, all of which require time and money investment, cannot be accomplished overnight.

What Duan Yun didn't expect was that Ni Guangnan would make a sample so quickly, which was completely beyond his imagination.

Listening to the songs on the player, Duan Yun was still a little uncontrollably surprised. He wanted to know how Ni Guangnan did it.

"Could it be that... a new generation of storage chips has been successfully developed!? Why didn't you report to me earlier?" After a while, Duan Yun raised his head and asked Ni Guangnan.

Duan Yun naturally remembered that the previous generation of flash memory chips based on 0.8 micron process technology was successfully developed in August last year, which is exactly one year from today.

According to Moore's Law, when the price remains constant, the number of components that can be accommodated on an integrated circuit will double every 18-24 months, and the performance will also double.

In other words, the computer performance that each dollar can buy will more than double every 18-24 months.This law reveals the speed at which information technology advances.

Therefore, for the chips that were mass-produced just last year, the next-generation products will take at least one and a half to two years to achieve mass production, but now, the new-generation chips are completed in only one year, which is completely unexpected. Duan Yun's prediction.

In fact, although Moore's Law is accurate most of the time, this law can also reflect the time required for the entire cycle of chip development. Generally speaking, if there is no pressure from peer competition, the development cycle of each generation of chips is two years. , but if there is competitive pressure, this cycle will become 18 months, that is, one and a half years. If it is determined that the chip development is successful this time, Tianyin Group will break Moore's Law that Western film companies have always followed.

In fact, since Ni Guangnan joined, the research and development speed of Tianyin Group's chips has indeed been greatly improved. There are many excellent disciples, so the arrival of Ni Guangnan and his entire team has indeed greatly enhanced the speed of Tianyin Group's chip research and development.

Moreover, compared with technology companies in Europe and the United States, Tianyin Group's technical personnel have formed a very tacit teamwork in the past few years, and they are also very hardworking. 365 days a year, except for some major holidays, almost every day They are all working overtime, and some people even live in the company and office for a long time. "Exchanging youth for money" has become the consensus of many young employees. Because of this, foreign chip technology companies need one and a half to two years to complete the task. They abruptly completed the replacement of new products in only one year.

"At present, only the first batch of samples has been made. The storage capacity of the chip has doubled compared with the previous generation, reaching 64MB, but the yield rate is only 68%. It is estimated that it will take one to two months to continue to upgrade and perfect the process. Meet the required yield rate." Ni Guangnan glanced at Duan Yun, and then said: "Until the yield rate reaches 85%, we cannot say that our new generation of chips has been successfully developed. This time I only used our first batch of chips produced. A good product chip, by the way, made such a prototype, just conducted a simple test, and brought it to you..."

"So that's the case." Duan Yun suddenly understood when he heard the words.

According to Ni Guangnan, the new generation of chips cannot be declared a success, because they cannot be mass-produced before reaching a certain yield rate. It is normal that Duan Yun did not report immediately, because Ni Guangnan is now The chief engineer of the group company, he is fully responsible for the research and development and production tasks of chips.

And Ni Guangnan made the mp3 player "by the way", with a bit of understatement in his words, but in fact, this sample is the product of Tianyin Group's continuous investment over the past few years, and it finally came to fruition.

In fact, just in March of this year, Spark Studios reported good news. The mp3 audio software they were in charge of made a major breakthrough, compressing the capacity of the original data to 3:3, which is very close to the later mp1 audio software 10: With a compression ratio of [-], it is considered a relatively mature audio software.

In addition, Tianyin Group's long-term accumulation and rapid growth in electronic technology over the years have also given him a strong electronic product manufacturing capability. Although it is not as good as a multinational giant like Sony, the overall level is still relatively high. Not bad, the gap with the international advanced level is already very small.

All aspects of comprehensive strength and hard conditions have reached the standard, and it has become a matter of course to make an MP3 player. After the storage chip, the biggest technical bottleneck before, was solved, the MP3 player finally came out.

"Currently this player only uses two storage chips with a capacity of 128MB. It supports mp3 audio software and can store more than 30 songs, which is equivalent to the capacity of three tapes." Ni Guangnan continued with a smile: "This product is completely It was designed according to Mr. Duan's requirements. It is indeed a very good idea. Compared with Walkman and CD player, it is much easier to use, but it is not yet mass-produced, and the product also needs to be improved and optimized... ..."

"I really need to improve and optimize." Duan Yun nodded, and then said: "First of all, this player is a bit big, and now it is indeed smaller than the portable hall, but it is not enough. It needs to be machine-made and cigarettes. It is about the size of a box and can be easily put in a coat pocket..."

"The size of a cigarette box?" Hearing Duan Yun say this, Ni Guangnan was a little surprised, only to hear him continue: "Does it really need to be so small?"

"Of course it is necessary, and the smaller the better, the portability must be maximized." Duan Yun glanced at Ni Guangnan, and then said: "In addition, the appearance of this machine needs to be redesigned, and the outer shell is best made of aluminum. , light weight and strong enough at the same time, in order to compress the volume and reduce the cost, and at the same time bring consumers a good sound quality experience, so this mp3 player does not need to install speakers, and can only use headphones to listen to songs. "

(End of this chapter)