25th Anniversary of the Walkman in July

[wdlove]

"According to Sony, "In 1979, an empire in personal portable entertainment was created with the ingenious foresight of Sony Founder and Chief Advisor, the late Masaru Ibuka, and Sony Founder and Honorary Chairman Akio Morita. It began with the invention of the first cassette Walkman TPS-L2 that forever changed the way consumers listen to music."

According to an NPR report yesterday, a Cassete manufaturing plant was going to be closed. It was one of the reasons for proceeding with production.

"The Walkman was a truly original product, and Sony used innovative methods to launch and advertise it. The staff of the press and public relations divisions wanted to emphasize that Sony was introducing a totally new and fun concept. To do so, they decided to hold the launch event outside and included demonstrations of people listening to the Walkman while roller skating or cycling. They thought that as well as giving impact to the launch; this novel approach would appeal to the journalists attending. It was decided to test this launch style first on a group of magazine journalists."


http://www.sony.net/Fun/SH/1-18/h3.html

http://inventors.about.com/library/inventors/blwalkman.htm

 

[howard]

i remember when mp3 players started coming around, i always thought, eh, i'll wait for sony to make a good one. 3 million ipods later and sony still doesn't have a good one, and i can't think of anything to replace my ipod.

its hard to believe the leader in personal audio devices is so far behind.

 

[jxyama]

there was a 20th anniversary walkman 5 years ago, at least in japan. it had very small profile (basically barely bigger than the tape itself) and the big draw was that it had wireless headphone.

it wasn't a "commercial" device, so to speak. it wasn't meant to be sold to the masses, i think, just a device to mark the occasion, sort of like the 20th anniv. Mac. available in limited quantities...

 

[wdlove]

Eventhough Sony is no longer the leader, they still deserve credit for be a pioneer in the field of a personal music player. I happen to be using a GE Casette Player becausse, purchased on sale. We are just lucky that Apple is the leader in M3 Players with the iPod!

 

[craigdawg]

Yes, the iPod of the '80s.

I remember quite fondly my Walkman II:

That black thing in the background was a external battery pack that held two D batteries. It had a snazzy belt clip.

I also had one of these, a Super Walkman:

It was iPod-sized and had a rechargable battery.

I remember it being a big deal when things like Dolby S and auto-reverse were first included in portable stereos. That's old school yo!