A new feature recently introduced on Sony's new Walkman line of portable CD players and MiniDisc players/recorders, G-Protection claims to be the first jog-resistant electronic shock protection. What makes G-Protection different from other electronic shock protection technologies is that it focuses more on recovering from the effects of the shock itself, thereby reducing the reliance on the memory buffer. According to a Sony-commissioned study on joggers in Central Park, New York, most people jog at 3 steps per second. Therefore, in order to prevent the interruption of music playback caused by external shocks the electronic shock protection needed to resume music reading within 0.3 seconds. According to Sony, this is achieved by:
- Quick Focus - since external shocks can cause the CD to move out of focusing alignment, the optical pickup is sensitive enough to rectify the focusing distance so that reading resumes quickly
- Fine Access - this involves speeding up the rotation speed of the CD in order to return the pickup to the track position it was in before the shock
- Faster Read And Store - once the pickup is back on track, it reads and stores fast enough for the memory buffer to be replenished before the next shock occurs
The decreased reliance on the memory buffer decreases power consumption and increases battery times, with Sony quoting up to 115 hours of playback on its flagship Discman (DE-J1000) and 140 hours of playback on its flagship MiniDisc recorder (MZ-N1, LP4 mode).
Source:
Sony's G-Protection Technology page - http://www.sony.com.ph/products/walkman/gprotection/gprotech.html