The headquarters of Legend Electronics is located in the center of Zhongguancun, Beijing. In order to rent this office space, Liu Yufan spent a lot of money. However, judging from the current operating situation, the money is still well spent. Huang Li has told Liu Yufan more than once on the phone how convenient it is to work in this location. As long as there are talents related to electronic IT, you can find whatever you want. Various equipment for experiments can also be purchased very conveniently. Huang Li, who is passionate about digital products, feels like a fish in water here. He is immersed in the ocean of technology every day and cannot extricate himself.
When Liu Yufan arrived at Legend Electronics, no one went out to greet him. Only a staff member from the office led him to Huang Li. As expected by Liu Yufan, the guy stayed in the laboratory.
When Liu Yufan saw Huang Li, the guy was wearing a wrinkled white shirt. His hair was as messy as a chicken coop. He was also a bit thinner than when Liu Yufan just saw him. It was probably during this period. The result of crazy work. As soon as Liu Yufan entered the door, he saw a group of technicians in white coats surrounding him, with excited looks on their faces.
"Huang Gong, this machine is definitely an epoch-making product. With it, all tapes and records can be thrown into the garbage." One of the technicians said loudly and excitedly. In his hand, he was holding something the size of a lighter, with a white earphone plugged into it, but he was not wearing that earphone at the moment.
"Yes, the only drawback is that the cost of the micro hard drive is too high. This machine is not cheap." Another technician said with some worry.
"It will get better slowly. The technology will become more and more mature, and the price of micro hard drives will further decrease. One day, our products will appear on electronic counters all over the world. I want the whole world to hear our voice." !" Huang Li held up an MP3 in his hand. said excitedly.
"Well said!" Liu Yufan, who was standing at the door, heard Huang Li's words and immediately cheered loudly, then walked in with applause.
Huang Li, who heard Liu Yufan's voice, turned around suddenly and saw Liu Yufan already coming to the door, and suddenly felt a little embarrassed on his face.
"Mr. Liu, why did you come so fast?" Huang Li said with a smile.
"Haha. Why, you're not welcome." Liu Yufan looked at Huang Li and joked.
"No, no, how could you not welcome me?" Huang Li looked at Liu Yufan with a bit of fanaticism in his eyes. He thought that when it came to technology, he wouldn't obey anyone, but he only admired Liu Yufan. Not for anything else, just for this man's unconstrained thinking. To be honest, although he has now produced the mp3, without Liu Yufan's creativity, there would be no guidance from him on many relationship points. Huang Li knew that even if he had come up with this idea, it would still be at least two years later than now to get the real thing out. He didn't know what Liu Yufan was thinking. He was really a genius to be able to design such a technological product!
"Haha, is the product you are holding in your hand just made? Can you show it to me?" Looking at the small black thing in Huang Li's hand, Liu Yufan said with some anticipation.
"Yes, Mr. Liu, this is our newly developed mp3 player, please give it a try." Huang Li said, handing over the mp3 in his hand and preparing to step forward to explain how to use it to Liu Yufan.
Unexpectedly, Liu Yufan waved his hand at him, indicating that he did not need to explain. After taking the MP3 in his hand, he started playing with it on his own.
Looking at the MP3 player in his hand, Liu Yufan could tell at first glance that the workmanship was very meticulous. The piano paint body looks very bright and smooth. The small screen on the front is in the perfect position. The design of the five-dimensional navigation keys is also very reasonable. It is basically made according to the design drawing I gave.
There is no logo on this machine, so it can be seen that it is an engineering prototype. Liu Yufan found the power button very skillfully. After pressing it briefly, the screen on the front of the MP3 player lit up and then displayed the basic information of the machine.
Liu Yufan put the earphones into his ears, then pressed them and played a familiar song "The Ferry" by Cai Qin. This is a very famous song for burning in the computer. It has uniform three-band and appropriate bass. It is most suitable for testing the sound quality of the machine and burning in the headphones. Liu Yufan had a fever for headphones for a while and bought a lot of headphones such as Audio-Technica and Akg. When he had nothing to do, he went online to research this knowledge.
Putting the earphones into his ears, Liu Yufan pressed the play button. Soon, a low drum sound came from the earphones. After the interlude, the sound of the piano began to play.
"Let me say goodbye to you" The magnetic female voice and the low and clear drum beat make the whole song very comfortable to listen to. Liu Yufan listened to this song and slowly closed his mouth.Eyes.
When it comes to appreciating music, Liu Yufan is definitely an expert. It is no exaggeration to say that his ears are ¡°golden ears¡±.
Seeing Liu Yufan standing there quietly listening to the song, everyone including Huang Li had nervous looks in their eyes. After months of research on the product, it¡¯s time to take a look at it. Although they are very confident in their products, they don't know if they can catch Liu Yufan's eyes. Huang Li, in particular, was even more nervous. Because he knew best that this product was designed by Liu Yufan, Huang Li was really not sure whether it could meet his standards.
After listening to half of a song for about a minute, Liu Yufan adjusted the machine again. This time, he changed to a more intense rock song, "Mask" by Zero Point Band.
Strong heavy metal music sounded, and the dull drum beat had a head-turning feel. Regarding this performance, Liu Yufan finally showed a look of satisfaction on his face.
He changed to another piano piece, this time it was "Exodus" that he had played himself.
Having listened to all three songs, Liu Yufan took off his headphones, looked at the people who were looking at him nervously, and said with a smile: "The sound quality is good."
Hearing Liu Yufan say this, everyone breathed a sigh of relief. The most important thing about an mp3 player is the sound quality. If you don't have good sound quality, you basically won't be competitive.
"Huang Li, what decoding chip are you using?" looked at Huang Li. Liu Yufan asked with a smile. Although he is not an expert in this area, he has some knowledge in this area and knows the most important part of an mp3 player. It is its decoding chip, which directly determines the sound quality of the player. Many cheap MP3s use cheap decoding chips, so the cost can be kept very low, and you can even buy them for only 20 or 30 yuan. But such MP3 is actually impossible to listen to at all. The sound has no layering and is severely distorted. If you listen to it for a long time, it will damage your ears.
"Mr. Liu, I use the latest ta3011 decoding chip produced by Philips this year. This is the best performing decoding chip currently available on the market. It also supports the lossless compression music format wma. If paired with a Good headphones. I think the effect is no less than that of a CD player." Huang Li said this with a somewhat proud look on his face.
¡°Well, not bad, what about the battery life?¡± Liu Yufan continued to ask. In addition to good sound quality, what is more important for a digital product is its battery life. No matter how good the sound quality is, if it runs out of power after listening to it for a while, it will undoubtedly not be popularized.
"The machine is powered by an AA dry battery. If the battery quality is good enough, there will be no problem in playing for ten hours." Huang Li said confidently.
"Well, it's pretty good. However, haven't you considered using nickel-metal hydride batteries or lithium batteries? Those rechargeable batteries should last longer." Liu Yufan asked.
"The quality of nickel-metal hydride batteries is not very stable now, so I have no use for it. Mr. Liu, what is a lithium battery?" Huang Li asked with some confusion after hearing Liu Yufan's words.
"Well, lithium batteries. I accidentally heard about this from a friend who is engaged in technology. He said that some foreign laboratories are currently studying this thing. It is said to be more reliable and durable than nickel-metal hydride batteries. I thought it was popular. Well, it seems like it hasn't been promoted yet." Seeing Huang Li's confusion, Liu Yufan immediately explained, feeling secretly nervous at the same time.
"Really, it's still 2000, and lithium battery technology has probably not been promoted yet. I almost let it slip." Liu Yufan thought nervously.
"Oh, wait until I have time to study it." Liu Yufan's words immediately aroused Huang Li's interest. He is a technology geek. Hearing any new technology is like seeing a peerless beauty, and his interest must be greatly increased.
"Don't talk about this first, I think this machine is pretty good, but I think there are still two areas where there is room for improvement." Looking at Huang Li, Liu Yufan thought for a while and said.
"Oh? Mr. Liu, what needs to be changed?" Huang Li asked immediately after hearing Liu Yufan's words. At the same time, he was secretly a little unconvinced. In his opinion, this machine is already perfect, and there is really no room for improvement.
As if he saw Huang Li¡¯s thoughts, Liu Yufan said with a smile: ¡°First of all, how much does this machine cost?¡±
Hearing Liu Yufan¡¯s question, Huang Li immediately said without thinking: ¡°Six hundred and seventy-three yuan.¡±
Seeing Huang Li answering so quickly, Liu Yufan showed a satisfied smile on his face. The fact that he could answer this question so quickly showed that he had sufficient understanding of this machine.
However, the next moment, Liu Yufan continued to ask: "Six hundred and seventy-three yuan, this should be just the cost of the hardware."
"Yes, Mr. Liu. "After listening to Liu Yufan's words, Huang Li understood a little bit what he wanted to say. Yes, this is a very good machine, with first-class hardware, first-class materials, and first-class design. The only drawback is that the cost is a bit high. .
"The hardware cost is six hundred and seventy-three yuan. If you add the cost of manual manufacturing, marketing expenses, and taxes, the cost of this machine should be close to one thousand yuan." Liu Yufan looked like He was talking to himself, but also seemed to be talking to Huang Li.
After hearing what Liu Yufan said, Huang Li was speechless. When he was designing, he only considered how to make the machine the best. As for cost control, he really didn't think much about it. Now that I think about it, this is indeed a problem. Although the product is very good, it costs nearly a thousand yuan, and how much does it cost when it finally reaches consumers? One thousand and five? two thousand? You know, a CD player from Suoni now only costs more than a thousand yuan. And this price, in the eyes of the vast majority of consumers in China, is already considered a very high expense. after all. This is just a digital product, and its brand effect is far less than that of Soni's CD.
??Looking at Huang Li, he looked a little disappointed. Liu Yufan laughed again.
"It's okay, I don't mean to deny your results. In fact, this product is still good. Although it may not be accepted by the vast majority of consumers for a while, it can still focus on high-end consumer groups. So my opinion is, While the original design remains unchanged, is it possible to develop a relatively lower-cost product targeting the mass market?¡±
After hearing Liu Yufan's words, Huang Li's eyes lit up, but his face suddenly turned bitter.
"Boss, I have actually calculated the cost. There is really nothing that can be reduced further. If we reduce it, we have to sacrifice performance." Huang Li said bluntly.
"What is the highest cost of this machine?" Liu Yufan asked casually.
"Decoding chip and micro hard drive." Huang Li said frankly.
"Well, the decoding chip is related to the sound quality of the machine. This piece cannot be moved. As for the micro hard drive, have you ever thought about replacing it with flash memory?" Liu Yufan asked.
"Replace it with flash memory?" After hearing Liu Yufan's words, Huang Li's eyes lit up. But then he said: "Mr. Liu, switching to flash memory can indeed save costs, but in this case, the machine can store too few songs. I have calculated it. Even if it is replaced with 32m of flash memory, it can only store ten mp3s at most. .¡±
"Ten songs? That's enough. Now there are only about ten songs on a tape or a CD, right? When you've heard enough, you can change them again. You can change them without spending any money. Song, this is the biggest advantage of our product, why did you forget this?" Liu Yufan nodded with a smile.
"Yes, Mr. Liu, look at me, I am only thinking about the design, not from this perspective at all. Change to flash memory, change to flash memory, if that really happens, Mr. Liu, I am confident that the cost can be controlled within Within 300 yuan." Huang Li said confidently.
"Well, not bad, this cost is enough to focus on the low-end market." Liu Yufan nodded.
"Mr. Liu, what's your second opinion?" Huang Li asked eagerly, his confidence restored with Liu Yufan's approval.
"The second opinion, haha, it's actually very simple. I want you to design several more colors of casings for this device. It's best to design it into a replaceable casing." Liu Yufan said with a smile. .
"Replace the casing? What's the use of that?" Huang Li was a little puzzled after hearing Liu Yufan's words. In his opinion, this machine is beautiful enough. What about the casing? Is it that important? As long as the sound quality is good.
Seeing Huang Li's disapproval, Liu Yufan said with a smile: "Listen to me, that's right. People's aesthetics are different. Design more colors and styles to avoid being difficult to adjust." Liu Yufan reminded with a smile.
"Oh, that's what happened, Mr. Liu, don't worry, this is not a big problem, it's quite simple." After listening to Liu Yufan's words, Huang Li said confidently.
"Well, that's good. How long will it take to complete the two points I mentioned?" Liu Yufan asked.
"One week at most!" Huang Li promised, patting his chest. The reason why he was so confident was because the two requests made by Liu Yufan were not big deal. The main difficulties have been overcome. These two points are just minor modifications, and there is no technical difficulty.
"Okay, one week later, I will hold a new product launch conference to officially announce the birth of the world's first MP3 player. Huang Li, work hard. You are destined to go down in history and write a lot in the history of the development of electronic products!" Liu Yufan said with a smile.
"Yes, Mr. Liu, I will definitely live up to your hopes and guarantee to make this product a classic! "Huang Li was also a little excited after hearing Liu Yufan's words!
"Well, let's go to work. By the way, don't work too hard. It's not good to tire your body. Pay attention to the balance between work and rest!" Liu Yufan looked at Huang Li's "scientific madman" look, shook his head and said.
"Hey, Mr. Liu, don't worry, I will pay attention." Huang Li said casually, but looking at his nonchalant look, he obviously didn't listen.
"Well, that's good. You can get busy. I'll wait for your good news in a week!" Liu Yufan said, patted Huang Li on the shoulder, said a few words of encouragement to everyone, and then turned and left.
Before Liu Yufan's figure disappeared at the end of the corridor, Huang Li shouted excitedly: "Work!"
For the next week, Huang Li completely forgot about Liu Yufan¡¯s words about caring about his health, and worked until midnight almost every day. This is a person who pursues perfection. In this work, Huang Li brings his character to the extreme.
A week later, looking at the two models and seven colors of MP3 players on the table, Huang Li finally showed a look of relief on his face!
"Mr. Liu, give our mp3 a name." Looking at Liu Yufan with a satisfied look on his face, Huang Li said with a smile.
"Haha, okay. I think that once our MP3 player comes out, it will definitely be full of charm and attract countless consumers. This is a digital product destined to become a star. If you ask me, just call it Meizu , the charming family!" Liu Yufan said with a smile.
"Meizu? What a name!" Huang Li high-fived and shouted excitedly after hearing Liu Yufan's words.
"Find an OEM company and hurry up to produce a batch. I want to hold a press conference immediately!" Liu Yufan said with some urgency. This product will be his first punch towards Soni Company! (To be continued)
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