The original Sony Walkman is 30 years old as it was originally introduced in 1979. I do distinctly remember these things from my childhood. I never specifically owned a true Sony model (only the cool kids were able to afford one), but the word Walkman was so widely used that it was the standard term used to describe a portable cassette player. In today’s age this hasn’t changed, except that we call any portable MP3 player an iPod whether made by Apple or not.
The Walkman was originally blue, however this didn’t last long as the vast majority of models were gray. And for whatever reason, Sony was able to make gray look cool in the 1980s.
As a sorta/kinda experiment, a teenager was asked to use one of these clunkers for a week instead of an iPod to see if he could figure it out.
A few quotes from that article:
- "When I wore it walking down the street or going into shops, I got strange looks…"
- "It took me three days to figure out that there was another side to the tape."
- "I mistook the metal/normal switch on the Walkman for a genre-specific equaliser…"
- "I managed to create an impromptu shuffle feature simply by holding down "rewind" and releasing it randomly…"
Go ahead and rest the rest from the link above. Good stuff.
As an interesting end note, audio compact discs were released to market only one year after the Walkman was introduced – and it’s still the standard audio format sold today.
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haha That article was awesome. I remember having an original Sony back in the day.. ahh memories…
It’s a pity the article wasn’t written *by* the actual child. It was quite obviously written by a professional writer.
“… In today’s age this hasn’t changed, except that we call any portable MP3 player an iPod whether made by Apple or not … ”
This is completely untrue. The distinction between “MP3 player” and “iPod” is pretty vast, to be fair. Ergo such intense mimicry of the iconic white headphones.
I have never heard anyone brand an “Creative Zen” an “iPod” nor have I ever heard anyone brand an iPod as a generic MP3 player – even my Mum makes the distinction.
You must not get out much…
Certainly, those “with it” people know the distinction. But the general populace does not, and considers all MP3 players “Ipods”. As a matter of fact, when I showed my Creative Zen to my “Mum” her first question was “is that one of those IPod things?”
Seriously? “You don’t get out much” ?
I don’t want to argue like a 14 year old, so I’ll just ignore that ..
I might assume this is location specific – certainly here (UK) you just *don’t* hear people refer to MP3 players as “iPods”. It has been my observation that you get a lot more of this in the US – i.e. “Can I have a Kleenex?” When tissue is correct, ect.
“This is completely untrue”
His point was that the iPod name is used just like the Walkman name was. Perhaps it is a US thing and not a UK thing, but the fact remains that iPod is to mp3 as Walkman was to tape deck.
Argue like a 14 year old? Hey, you refuted a side point in the article based on what your mum says. ‘Nuff said.
I am from the US and I don’t label a gerntic mp3 player an “ipod.” An ipod to me is the device from Apple. There are different type of mp3 players out there.
I had a walkman and I actually still have it. I think it’s a Sony but in all black. I’m not really that old but I feel old sometimes compared to my wife and the people I use to hang out with. It’s amazing how things change over time as new technologies come into play.
I’m from Australia and live in the US and people will call it whatever they want. If they are tech savvy and they know the difference, they’ll call an iPod by it’s correct name and all other MP3 players, just that – an MP3 player.
When I was a kid I owned a Walkman. It was a Sanyo brand, but to me, it was a Walkman b/c that’s what I knew it as. To me, Walkman wasn’t a brand, like iPod. It was a generic product that sat under the category ‘Walkman’. So to me as a child, all I knew is that I owned a Walkman.
My point is that regardless of what you want to call it, it’s usually non-tech savvy people who will call something incorrectly, b/c to them, it doesn’t matter. It falls under a ‘type’ or category of product. So everything along the same lines get branded under the same category b/c that’s how they perceive it to be. To them, there is no distinction between iPod or MP3 player. Walkman and iPod were branded so well that the words will mean the same to everyone, just with a slight variation in the exact definition.
Now they have to turn the kid loose with a stack of 45’s and an automatic record changer.