Sony retired the classic cassette tape Walkman line in , and was forced to pay a huge settlement to the original inventor of the portable cassette player, Andreas Pavel. But the name lives on today in the form of new MP3 players and Sony's Walkman app. They heyday of the Walkman may be over, with kids today baffled and disgusted by the relative clumsiness of cassettes. But the habit it spawned — listening to music wherever and whenever you want — is bigger than ever.
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Filed under: Tech. The inventor of the Walkman thought people would want to listen to music together, so he put two headphone jacks on the player remember that the headphones went over your head instead of the earphones most of us use today, where you can share one pair between two people.
This meant you could talk to someone without having to take your headphones off. Both of these features were later removed from the Walkman because people didn't use them. This is important as it shows a change in what was considered the norm. Previously, walking around with headphones would have been seen as rude and antisocial, but it soon became accepted behaviour.
The Sony Walkman cassette player revolutionised the way that we listen to music. It enabled people to create soundtracks to their lives in ways that hadn't been possible before. The fact that you could use your Walkman anywhere changed that; music had never been so personal. It was the first in a long line of portable audio players, and without it, we might not have the same objects such as iPods and MP3 players that we do today.
Sony have sold over million units since their first release, with million of those being cassette players! Initially, he seemed right to be cautious. But word quickly spread among the youth of Tokyo about a strange new device that let you carry a soundtrack out of your bedroom, onto commuter trains, and into city streets. Within a year and a half of the appearance of the Walkman, Sony would produce and sell two million of them. While the Walkman was far smaller and lighter than any tape deck that had come before, it remained stubbornly large.
Oversized for a pocket, the Walkman obligated the user to carry it by hand or sling it in an included belt holster. This specification had come at the insistence of Morita, who had irritated his wife by not being able to conduct a conversation while testing early prototypes at home. Hosokawa noted how listeners used the devices to tame the unpredictability of urban spaces, with all of their unexpected intrusions and loud noises.
This was a new form of human experience, engaged disengagement, a technological shield from the world and an antidote to ennui.
Whenever nerves frayed or boredom crept in, one could just hit Play and fast-forward life a little. Many objections were raised internally when Ibuka began his push to create a marketable version of the device, the biggest of which was conceptual: Would anyone actually buy a cassette device that was not for recording but only for playback? The initial production run of 30, units looked to be too ambitious after one month of lackluster sales only 3, were sold in July But if you see something that doesn't look right, click here to contact us!
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