RIP Sony Walkman

[johnny333]

Never owned the Walkman because when it first came out I was too poor to afford one.



Sony Fast Forwards To End Of Cassette Walkman


Hazel Baker, Sky News Online
Sony's cassette Walkman has taken a further step towards becoming a museum exhibit as the final models are sold in the firm's native Japan.

First and second versions of Sony's cassette Walkman

An icon of the '80s: the first and second versions of Sony's cassette Walkman

The last batch of the retro device left factories in April and no more will be produced for Japanese customers, Sony said.

According to the firm, cassette Walkmans will continue to be made in a Chinese factory to meet the remaining orders in Asia and Europe.

Sony told Sky News customers in the UK would still be able to buy the player from high street catalogue shop Argos.

Since its debut in July 1979, Sony has sold 220 million cassette Walkman players across the world and made portable music players a lifestyle essential for many.

However, it was overtaken first by the portable CD player, then minidisc devices and finally the iPod, which celebrates its ninth anniversary this week.

Sony's portable music devices

It looks bulky now, but the Walkman was a pioneering piece of electronic kit

Despite being bulky compared with today's devices and lacking in features, the cassette Walkman is not without its fans.

More than 50 contented customers have left positive reviews of the £16 basic WMEX194 model on Argos's site, praising the large buttons and the reliable mechanism that plays their old cassettes without chewing the tape.

One wrote: "Wasn't sure these were still available, but have just got one for my Dad in hospital. It's lightweight, really easy to use and sounds really good. He's delighted with it. I thought it was a fantastic price."

Older versions of the Sony Walkman are now collectors' items and some 'vintage' models sell for hundreds of pounds.

 

[wikiphile]

Same, by the time i could afford one, the Discman was out already and before you know it, the walkman has died a natural technological death.

 

[Cestbon]

Same, by the time i could afford one, the Discman was out already and before you know it, the walkman has died a natural technological death.

Walkman compare to Dicsman , I like the walkman more because size smaller the only disadvantage is the walkman cannot select song fast forward/backward/repeat as the discman.

 

[Muthukali]

Those were the days.....

 

[wikiphile]

Walkman compare to Dicsman , I like the walkman more because size smaller the only disadvantage is the walkman cannot select song fast forward/backward/repeat as the discman.

not just that, the walkman also chew up casette tapes when you fwd/rewind it sometimes.

 

[Muthukali]

not just that, the walkman also chew up casette tapes when you fwd/rewind it sometimes.

ya true, remember the pencil theory?

 

[halsey02]

Walkman compare to Dicsman , I like the walkman more because size smaller the only disadvantage is the walkman cannot select song fast forward/backward/repeat as the discman.

Sony Walkman was my first portable music player, I bought the expensive metal cassettes to tape the songs I would like to hear while travelling on the BUS ( no MRT then). It was a tchl aka 'teo chew hao lian' thing to own one back then, with the headphones sticking out of our head...the girls will say..wahhh!!

the only grouse was the first ones have no auto stop, no auto rewind that came later..and later with microphone & can record..

Don't know how many gen of that walkman until I got my first sony music CD player...

Cassette tapes...we would remember...the SONY WALKMAN CASSETTE PLAYER...what a machine...no need to sync with a PC, just pop in the tape & play....

 

[floorfilla]

80's jingle

Walkman.. walkman..

live for the music..

music is everywhere..

life ia a full of walkman let a traveling stereo take you there..

rock n roll is a good time.........

the name is...

WALKMAN!

 

[wikiphile]

ya true, remember the pencil theory?

I can still remember winding it back with the pencil!

My favourite Use your Illusion I was chewed up that way :( (Tape: $6-$7.90) CD was $25, a princely sum for a student in the 90s

 

[Cestbon]

ya true, remember the pencil theory?

Save battery mah. Many people do that when battery weak/ tape choke up.
Now those born in 90'S many dont even have chance to touch it.
Cassette still very popular when CD out because of the CD price and CD still not able to record or copy pirated music. Still remember manually copy one by one song that I like to one cassette. Have to synchronize if not will overlap/gap too far waste tape.

 

[johnny333]

Same, by the time i could afford one, the Discman was out already and before you know it, the walkman has died a natural technological death.

I heard tha when the first iPods came out it was expensive, so you had people buying only the distinctive white ear buds & pretend they had the ipods hidden in their pockets

Wonder if were any pretend Walkman owners who tried that

 

[wikiphile]

how many of you actually use this and when?

The other alternative was to use a cotton swab doused in some cleaning solution while running the empty player

 

[halsey02]

Save battery mah. Many people do that when battery weak/ tape choke up.
Now those born in 90'S many dont even have chance to touch it.
Cassette still very popular when CD out because of the CD price and CD still not able to record or copy pirated music. Still remember manually copy one by one song that I like to one cassette. Have to synchronize if not will overlap/gap too far waste tape.

We were part time amateur recording engineers! I spent a lot of time, calculating the number of songs I can tape on a 60mins, 90mins tape, how many songs the recording times of 1 LP can fit into one side of the tape.

One have to turn on the turn table, lower the arm & needle on to the track one pick, too fast the song start & have not release the hold button on the tape, restart...the number of retarts can be frustrasting...ha ha , but after a while we become expert at it.

It takes a lot of hard work & time to record individual tracks onto the cassette, taping the entire LP is not without problems though.

Then we have to contend with over sampling, too much bass, treble & have to contend with mono recording..etc

What I really missed was the analogue, organic sound that we have when LP's, cassettes was around.....but I must say, we have come a long way from cassettes, don't forget the music cartridge, the sony MD, then the music CD...to today's digital world of ipods, itouch, ipad & the MP3's players...

It is just not the same, soundwise, despite the convenient...

but we do not have the frustrating jam tape that overflows out of your player effectively destroying your expensive tape & a long afternoon of taping...

the mis-skiped intro of the song, very important for some song we know by the intro & then the too soon lifting of the needle from the LP, missing the famous fade out of the LP...like the Beatles Abbey Road or hidden tracks like Rod Stewart, "every picture paints a story" album... or the oversampling of George Harrison "My Sweet Lord" recording over the meter, producing the fuzzzzzz...

The Cassette tape...the Sony Tape Walkman...I misses you, despite the pain & suffering in getting it on tape...the result is rewarding.

 

[zuoom]

as with the progression of highspeed bandwidth. alot of those main stream media like CD/DVD/blue-ray, usb sticks, would probably go the way of the dodo.

why store it yourself when it's all on the "cloud" that's maintained by others?

 

[Microsoft]

Hmm...my most memorable walkman...

 

[Ramseth]

I owned my first Sony Walkman in 1980 and I still remember the first cassette played in it was Bee Gees Greatest. This versatile little machine could also function as external cassette drive for my Atari computer. For those who remember, pre-Apple II and pre-IBM XT computers could use cassette tapes for memory storage.

 

[Cestbon]

Hmm...my most memorable walkman...

You one more classic. Button on top panel not on the side.

 

[Microsoft]

You one more classic. Button on top panel not on the side.

Boodo Khan not reali classic...was release sometime in 86 i think...i recall the first time i try out Sony Soundabout back in 79...de sound was realli revolutionary...cnot tahan eat grass for 1 mth 2 buy...