Recent news about the fate of The Cassette Walkman in Japan has sparked rumors of its worldwide demise. However, The Walkman is safe, at least for now. Inevitably it will of course go the way of floppy disks and rotary phones. After all, man once rode horses and kept food cold on blocks of ice.
The Walkman deserves a great deal of respect. This was a huge breakthrough in personal entertainment and a forerunner to the iPod and other portable music players we take for granted. I’m old enough to remember the bulky, portable 8-Track boomboxes. They weren’t convenient at all. And there were the tiny transistor radios that gave you the tinny sounds of static-ridden music, but you were chained to the whims of the deejay.
Then came The Walkman. This savior. This source of freedom. Imagine, taking your music with you in your pocket with headphones as a pipeline for full, crisp stereo sound to your ears. It was pretty amazing and it revolutionized how we listen to music.
Introduced in 1979, the Sony Walkman was the first affordable portable music player. Over 200 million units in various styles and forms have sold since then. It’s downfall began in the 1990s when the CD and it’s arsenal of players gained popularity. Eventually, the iPod and other MP3 players only made matters worse.
The final batch made for the Japanese market shipped in April. For many folks, the biggest surprise that came from the news that Sony has partially halted production was that they were still producing them at all.
How long will The Walkman continue to be available outside of Japan?
Probably not very long at all.
See Also:
The Walkman
