What was your first or favorite walkman? Did you never have one? Do you still own one? Any walkman memories?


Walkman, at 30, a mystery to teen
Alejandro Martinez-Cabrera
Wednesday, July 1, 2009

What better way to commemorate the 30th anniversary of Sony's iconic Walkman than to ask a teenager for some feedback on the device?

The BBC couldn't think of one, and neither can I.

I like to imagine that the experience was similar to an archaeologist rediscovering how a recently excavated artifact was employed thousands of years ago. But I'm well aware that it must have been different for 13-year-old Scott Campbell, who co-edits his own news Web site. For one, teenage impatience must have stood in the place where I fantasize scientific curiosity should have been.

"My dad had told me it was the iPod of its day," Campbell wrote. "He had told me it was big, but I hadn't realized he meant that big. It was the size of a small book."

Sure enough, people on the street noticed the antique clinging from his belt with amusement and friends on his school bus were quick to come up with some witty remark.

Campbell went on to criticize the portable cassette player's size, appearance, functionality and the "hissy backtrack and odd warbly noises."

Even when he discovered the cassette had more music on the other side (it took him three days), Campbell was still disappointed it could only hold a small fraction of what an iPod can.

"Did my dad ... really ever think this was a credible piece of technology?"

Ouch.

A daily dose of postings from The Chronicle's technology blog (sfgate.com/blogs/tech)

This article appeared on page C - 2 of the San Francisco Chronicle

shucks I still have mine in a box at my mother's house!!!

Shango said:

I'm not quite sure if that's the one I had, but it looks like it. It was SO small. It actually folded together and was the size of a cassette jewel case. It ran on 1 AA battery, or an A/C jack.

I got it the same December that Thriller came out. LOVED IT. My grandma used to give each of us 4 grand kids $100 once we got to about 11 or 12 years old. I spent it all on this walkman.



It was the WM20 I believe. There was one after that had an AM/FM radio built into it (and I think it had two headphone jacks as well). My gold/blue one was the bestest.

PS Check this page for pics of all the walkmans. It's awesome.
http://www.pocketcalculat...kman/sony/


Mine is the one laying down. And yes, it was the iPod of its day.
[Edited 7/1/09 11:04am]

funkyslsistah said:

Or read it here: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi...&type=tech

wtf

Remember how fast those things killed batteries?

ernestsewell said:

Thanks for the vintage vault !

I never did like a Walkman because I'm not happy with listening to something through headphones unless I'm cueing a record. I like to hear my music through big speakers that shake the ground. In other words, if it don't disturb the neighbors, you ain't got a good stereo.

The only thing I liked about a Walkman was the fact that it was so small that you could sneak it into school and lay your head on the desk during study hall and listen through one of the earpieces without the teacher knowing.

I love you, Walkman. You got me through a lot of long walks during college and plenty of times before that! Rest in peace, old friend.

chocolate1 said:

I have to say, mine wasn't TOO bad with it. The plus was it only ran on one battery at a time, so if I bought a 4 pack, I had batts for a while. I only used it after school or on the weekends. I was too paranoid to ever take it to school. I LOVED listening to Thriller on it.

Happy anniversary.

vainandy said:

I'm just surprised that I have my hearing after all these years. The first walkman I got was in 1984 and I would blast Duran Duran's Rio tape (for what seemed like hours) and drown out my mom yelling at me to clean my room.
Then it became a fixture for me in high school.

In retrospect I can't believe I carried that thing around and as the music collection grew tremedously courtesy of Columbia House, I would try to carry several tapes around at once, which isn't easy without a backpack or large purse. I probably owned five or seven walkmen over my life with one or two that were radio only. I still have over 500 tapes, and would like to invest in a contraption to transfer them to computer.

funkyslsistah said:

Get a cord to go OUT from your tape deck and IN to the microphone jack on your computer. Use something like Cool Edit Pro or similar to record stuff. Do a few test runs to adjust for volume, don't turn on your EQ or anything either. Or just buy them on CD or online. Find out what you have to work with, and hit up Radio Shack. They'll find you anything you need.

Your story sounds like mine though (sans the purse). I was on Columbia House, and usually bought records. I had a few cassette carrying cases and my walkman fit right in them.

I actually used to record music off the radio, make little labels for side A and side B, and called them Hot Hits Volume 1, Volume 2, etc. haha I had SO much Prince stuff on those. The tapes dated back to 1981. Nursery School's "Sweetstakes" was one of the first songs I put on there, as well as Donna Summer's "She Works Hard For The Money".
[Edited 7/1/09 14:02pm]

I liiiiike that!

I got my first WalkMan for Christmas 1982 A perfect time too,with amazing albums like 'Thriller' and '1999' having just been released.

So, which cassette-brands yall taped on, lol ?

Mine were :










[Edited 7/2/09 6:42am]

This thread has got me all nostalgic I think I will look for a WalkMan to buy,to remind me of better days.I haven't played a cassette tape in years,but I have alot of them in storage.

Lol yeah, some of my cassettes are still in excellent condition. Even have a full box of sealed ones too I occasionally play them when i'm fixing or painting in my house.

I only just got rid of my cassette tapes a few years ago I still might have a couple left someplace, actually.
I remember I drew on my walkman with nail polish I loved that thing.

What sorta stuff did you draw on it lol ?

chocolate1 said:

yup!

Shango said:

maxell was my tape of choice. or if my folks couldn't afford to buy me new blank tapes, i'd find an old tape i didn't listen to anymore and stuff pieces of paper in the 2 holes in the top and record over it.

Shango said:

it was just little doodles of suns, music notes and MJ's initials, he's pretty much all I listened to as a kid I'm pretty sure I started out with my own initial( because I have a twin and my brother and I had the same walkmans [walkmen? ] along with a bunch of other things everyone thought'd be cute for us to have identical of, and I didn't want him using mine) and just got carried away.

matthewgrant said:

Lol, cool customizing. Reminds me of a cd i once bought, which has a custom-painted keyboard on the backsleeve. Always been diggin' enhanced art :

BSK3478 said:

Yep, that was the trick re-tape lol.

I used scotch tape over the upper corner holes.

I tended to record-protect my mixtapes

Shango said:

Observation: That's a Columbia House album, not from a record store.