Akai was founded in 1929 in Tokyo by Masukichi Saburo Akai and his son (who died in 1973). The first products were manufactured electric motors for turntable. Curiously at the onset of the first Hi-Fi products, Akai did not market to turntable. His specialty was essentially analog tape recorders in all forms of media available at that time (1/4 inch reel, 8-track cartridge, Philips cassette) that complemented amplifiers, analog radio receivers and loudspeakers. This is the most qu'insistante request of its two largest distributors and subsidiaries (the Dutch Fodor Akai and France) qu'Akai will decide to produce turntables from 1976. The brand also produced VCRs in 1969, that is to say long before the birth of VHS. They were models using coils 1/4 inch tape. Mainly laptops, VCRs these included a recording unit and a separate camera. There was also a VCR fixed coils 21 cm. The first were in black & amp; white color (SECAM) was commercialized in 1974. Subsequently Akai was a member of the group and abandoned the VHS VCR output 1/4. In 1982 the brand has diversified to musical creation where she was very present with very innovative products: first integrated recording studio recorder and mixing incorporated, first sampler in 1984, first amplifiers without feedback for the cons general public (1985), the first digital recorder hard drive to public in 1992.