Tech Nostalgia
45 Years of the Walkman
The iconic electronic gadget that was more than just a music player
Nostalgia
At Christmas this year, I asked my fourteen-year-old nephew if he knew what a Walkman was. He looked at me as though I’d asked him to explain the origin of dark matter.
Then a memory came to him.
“Isn’t that the music box Dad used to have?” he murmured, “I think we found one in the attic last year when we were clearing out.”
His dad, like me, grew up in the Walkman era. That iconic tape player, that changed the way we listened to music, was launched by Sony forty-five years ago this month.
It was a spin-off from the Sony Pressman. A recording and playback device used by journalists. Sony made it smaller and cooler, and by 2010, when the tape player version was discontinued, they had sold over 250 million units.
D-Size
Before the Walkman, if you wanted to listen to music outdoors, you had to get a load of batteries for your portable tape player.
