Sony always seemed to be the premium or status brand when it came to consumer electronics, everything from portable music players to televisions and VCR's. The

Sony always seemed to be the premium or status brand when it came to consumer electronics, everything from portable music players to televisions and VCR's. They always had competition from brands like Sharp, Pioneer, RCA, Magnavox, but I think the big hit came when the really cheap brands started to flood the market. Sony had the Discman come down to $99 for $349, but buyers were still going for the $39 units from Craig, Koss, Sanyo and such.