The pictures of the Sony Walkman in this BBC Magazine article made me feel strangely nostalgic – the actual text of the article made me laugh out loud. The Magazine invited 13-year-old Scott Campbell to trade his iPod for a Walkman for a week, and he recounts his experiences with the device, which was launched 30 years ago this week.
Campbell, apart from being amazed at the blandly colored portable music player, correctly points out that the Walkman is much bigger, heavier and generally more clunky than the digital media players he’s accustomed to seeing within his social circle.
On the upside, he writes, the ‘monstrous box’ comes with a ‘handy belt clip screwed on to the back’.
Update: ha, Campbell is one of our interns at CrunchGear!
The funniest part of the story:
It took me three days to figure out that there was another side to the tape. That was not the only naive mistake that I made; I mistook the metal/normal switch on the Walkman for a genre-specific equaliser, but later I discovered that it was in fact used to switch between two different types of cassette.
Another notable feature that the iPod has and the Walkman doesn’t is “shuffle”, where the player selects random tracks to play. Its a function that, on the face of it, the Walkman lacks. But I managed to create an impromptu shuffle feature simply by holding down “rewind” and releasing it randomly – effective, if a little laboured.
Campbell goes on to speak wise words (”portable music is better than no music”) and lists the pros and cons of the portable cassette player compared to its latter-day successor. Go read it here.
Anyone else felt a bit nostalgic about the good old cassette tape after reading?
(Picture from BBC)
Not just cassette players, people have forgotten the good old film cameras too.
But I still have a bunch of cassettes and a cassette player somewhere. Never touch them, and I’m not a bit nostalgic.
I’ll write the same thing I wrote on the BBC article. A 13-year old didn’t write that article! Look at the style of writing and it’s easy to see it was written by a professional. Perhaps he wrote things like, “It was big and used a tape, something my friends laughed at me for.” Then, a journalist for BBC rewrote it.
Are you kidding? I sure didn’t notice any particularly-vexing conventions that an intelligent 13-yr old couldn’t have handled. The touting of your “he couldn’t have written it!” horn wherever can find a comment box to post it is quite the gig you’ve got going. We’re all so sorry that you didn’t get featured by a large organization when you were a tot. You have my deepest condolences.
Sure, the BBC edits their copy before they publish—duh? It’s the BBC. Are you trying to tell us that you really give a shit that a couple commas might have been removed or added?
Correction, line 3: “wherever you* can.” Oh no, I must be 13.
I totally agree with Brian, my little brother is 13 and he can speak very fluently and articulately; even more so than many adults I know, thank you very much. I’m 15 and I know how to punctuate very well, thanks.
agreed
theres on big difference with tape players vs ipods and digital cameras vs film.
while digital cameras are getting better, most especially consumer cameras are plainly nowhere near the quality that film camera provide, which is why film cameras are still reasonably popular in the upper end of the market.
whereas there is pretty much no reason to use a portable tape player, both the quality and ease of use is worse.
The high-end of the DSLR market has basically reached 35mm quality for the most part.
A 35mm neg will enlarge to 24×36 inches pretty well, as will just about any high-end DSLR.
Dynamic range is still a bit broader on film, but for most all purposes, digital is there.
Professionally, the only film I use anymore is 120 format, yielding a 6cmx6cm negative. Those can be printed monstrously large, and detail is there that the BEST DSLR or 35mm film camera can’t touch.
But, I’ve noticed professionally and at workshops that there is an increasing hobbyist and student interest in… film.
Maybe it’s because the process is very hands-on, and maybe it’s because you can buy a great film camera and use it at a lower cost than a $5,000+ digital purchase.
What is old is new again.
Um, MP3 players have a lower sound quality than CDs. MP3 players are just more convenient, definitely not better sound, although they are better than cassettes. (And let’s not even get into the fact that LPs have a “warmer” sound than CDs).
The best thing about walkman was mixtapes!
Seriously. I’ve got loads of mixtapes packed away. Haven’t had a tape deck in years though.
Man, I totally remember walking around with clunky walkmans. hah. Definitely with Robin and the nostalgia feel.
Uh… That’s what playlists are for. You can’t give them to somebody else, but other than that…
Can’t give them to somebody else… exactly. What kind of narcissist only makes mixtapes for himself?
People who don’t want to listen to the same cassette all the way through, or carry 50 cassettes around?
Nostalgic? No. Appreciative of where technology has gone and the availability of that technology to a wide variety of people? Yes, very appreciative!! Thanks for the reality check, we take so much for granted.
I still have a Walkman and a Discman. I don’t think I own any tapes anymore though!
Wow, yeah. I remember when they were all the rage in the 80’s just before the discman showed up. I still have cassette tapes I’m trying to get rid of because we don’t listen to them anymore. We have their digital counterparts now! heh.
God… i’m only 27 and that dude just made me feel old! He couldn’t use a walkman? Crazy!
Talk about feeling old. I’m only 23 and I too feel old after reading this! At least I had the chance to use a walkman AND also the laser disk. (Anybody remember those things?)
Yeah I went through a walkman and then minidisc before the ipod turned up. 24 is old now apparently.
I’m *seventeen* and this makes me feel old. How can someone not know how to operate a tape deck?
It’s also a shock to me that there are people who don’t know what a turntable is.
snap.
You’re old because a few years ago you found out about something that had existed for a few decades and died in the mainstream before you were even born?
I got out my Walkman the other day to play a limited edition cassette I got a little while back to hear how the producer wanted it to be heard: raw, gritty, dirty.
http://www.moby...r33/view/268911
Aww I miss my Walkman, if anyone had told me ten years ago that anyone would end up besting Sony in the portable audio arena I’d have laughed in their face!
Has anyone listened to a cassette recently? The quality difference is astounding, I had forgotten how big a jump it was from cassette to CD!
get the best of the two wolds : the digital sound quality AND the flashy color of the good ol’Sony Walkman.
http://diyordie...etropod_hip.jpg
Thought the “Metal” switch was a “genre-specific equalizer” — that’s classic! Only when it’s set for “metal” can the walkman volume go up to 11…
Too funny! Metal/Normal must of been the first attempt at an EQ on a walkman.
I still use an old MUVO TX mp3 player with 512 megs of memory. I have no reason to feel nostalgic.
another reason not to take TC too seriosuly..
a 13 year old writing code.. maybe..
a 13 year old who really has some to say that’s that important to me as a 48 year old with 25 years in the tech industry… not so much,
to be blunt, given that my just turned 14 year old daughter has hung out with me, observed, and questioned.. i’m sure she would problably have more insights than chris.. and yet i wouldn’t flock to read what she says either…
not that her friends don’t flock to her for tech questions.!!!
peace
What social circle is that? Chess club or debate team?
is it just me or is there some irony leaving a comment on TC implying that some kid is a geek?
it did make me laugh though…
I remember getting one before anybody I knew.. My Dad worked for a Japanese company and brought several back about 2 months before they showed up here….
It was a seriously cool thing to have back then… Funny to look at it now.
I still have a sony walkman and aorund 150+ cassettes and i do enjoy an occasional nostalgia trip by listening to them.
I had to teach my godchildren how to use a dial telephone the other day – they just did not get how to use it (having never seen one before…..)
We dont have a land line at my house so my 9 yr old has yet to fully understand the complex know how of sliding to unlock, touching the Phone icon and then choosing Contacts and finding the name he wants.
Though I can teach him to use the voice control now…thus making him even more naive to the whole “dial” concept.
There is no way a 13 year old wrote this !
You seriously telling me 13 year old boys talk like that:
“But I managed to create an impromptu shuffle feature simply by holding down “rewind” and releasing it randomly – effective, if a little laboured.”
Give me a break !
I wrote like that when I was thirteen or fourteen, when writing a more formal piece than an email or forum posting. It wasn’t all that long ago.
Thank you! Exactly what I said, no way a child wrote this!
“No way.” The US patent office should hire you; it’d keep costs down in these times AND fix the patent overload problem! Please don’t go into science or engineering though; those fields don’t work via blind skepticism.
(please see my previous post too)
Dear TechCrunch,
I have been a huge fan for many years, but recently your just writing about anything, Wasn’t TechCrunch a place where you could read about up and coming start-ups?
My opinion, and that’s all it is:
Dump the chaff and focus on your core content.
Thanks
Chris
PS: Arrington, you RAWK
Seriously what happened to TechCunch.. no offence but I don’t see the juice it had before and it goes of topic more like a personal blog?
Wow, this really brought some memories – if he uses it long enough, he will learn how to clean the head using a cotton ear bud and some cleaning fluid.
Of course, I feel pretty old. Never thought that a walkman would look like a strange device to someone. I even used to play Vinyl records (which is another thing that I haven’t done in a while).
I am a bit shocked too. Talking about generations…
I don’t know about you guys but I still have
music that can be found only on tapes.
and then the walkman will chew the cassette, making it a very distinct, original but awfully sounding. then he’ll have to wind the tape back, only to break it, and then use the tape to do some improptu art on the wall. lol cassettes were awfully funny
He didn’t mention headphones. I wonder if they managed to dig up the original headphones, or did they just use a modern set.
I still have more than 300 tapes and I’ll keep them until i die
haha, the metal/normal part is the best
btw. if you miss the days you were making mix tapes for your friends, check out http://apps.fac...es-app/?ef=yy5q
I don’t really get my people give this kid such a hard time for working and writing. He works his ass off trying to build a career in journalism. What does it matter how old he is? The kid can write, very well at that. At least he’s not some hoodie assaulting old ladies.
You know who’s nostalgic for the Walkman – record companies. Those were the days when not only could you sell complete albums, you could sell the album as an LP, a cassette tape and later on a CD all to the same person! (And maybe an 8-track, too.)
Everyone else, I think, is better off with digital.
It’s always great fun to try explaining to kids what we did before there was internet, cell phones, etc.. This post made me smile. Thanks
P.s. to Jeff and timy11
Lighten up! My 13yr old talks much like this. I know several children who are more insightful and literate than most adults. If you discount what children have to say, you not only miss out, but why shouldn’t they discount you. I pity you.
+1 on the PS. I can’t believe the reaction of some people sometimes.
Walkman? When I was this kid’s age I could only listen to my tapes on a Sony tape player that weighed a couple of pounds and was about the size of a shoe box. I think it took about six C-cell batteries. They might have been D’s. Try hanging that from your belt and your pants will be down around your ankles.
this dudes a legend XD
Wow, really? I’m only 16, but I remember using tape players too. I had a little white one with a microphone on the side that took a bunch of C batteries.
Then again, I also started using computers at age 2 and they ran Windows 3.1. (Windows 95 had only just been released and my dad was not the early adopter type back then.)
This post made me think of my recent experience in which I was motivated to use the Web & social media to track the Iran election as a result of my experience with Tiananmen Square 20 years ago: http://bit.ly/wapoth
I wish that I had said: my iPod touch is my new “transistor radio” and TweetDeck is its tuner!
My first walkman had no rewind button, if you wanted to do that then you had to turn the tape over and use fast forward.
I remember agonising over which tapes to take away on holiday, usually I had to limit myself to no more than 6 due to constraints on space in my luggage.
I remember lusting after a discman but eventually buying an iRiver CD/MP3 player. A horrifically complicated piece of kit with a user-interface that made you want to cry.
I’m on my second iPod now.
Second up from the bottom on the right… Still have that on top of a bookshelf serving as a radio in my house….
http://en.wikip...ster-family.jpg
Nostalgic? Hell NO! I did have my fair share of cassettes and players. Recorded & dubbed my own music all the time. But it was a pain in the ass.
ABSOLUTELY LOVE Modern Technology! Simply cant wait for the next generation in music/video technology!!!!!!!!!
Makes you wonder if we could repeat the same experiment with film cameras ;D
I could never go back to using a Walkman. An iPod is such a superior device that it would just be ridiculous. Carry a stack of low-quality tapes around when I could have zillions of songs on my iPod? No contest.
Oh, and I listen to a lot of podcasts. It would be silly to dub them to tape just to listen to them later, in the car of wherever.
Are you listening to Mp3s?? If so, then the cassette is actually better quality audio.
BUT, I do agree that carrying cassettes were a huge pain in the rear.
IT depends on the tape type, and the record conditions. Normal/Ferro cassettes were bad quality, worst than >128kbs. Chrome and Metal were good analog quality, better than 128kps.
Also I hated Dolby Noise Reduction, it would eat all high frequecies, even the desired ones
I’m sorry…I have to disagree.
The source is always the most important part but, if we were to use the same source, “Generational Loss” does not degrade(for lack of better words) the final product like Mp3 does. Sure, cassette can have some noise due to the reproduction process but that’s included – Mp3 cuts out crucial information in order to compress to a smaller file size. Let’s not discuss the Loudness Wars = Massive Compression even on CDs…*Ugh* It pisses me off.
If ya don’t believe me – then hook your iPod & a nice cassette deck(I still have my Denon) up to a pair of nice high end stereo with some killer speakers(Jamo,Martin Logan).
For me it’s not nostalgia for the Walkman itself, but for era that saw it’s emergence, and how that device began the transformation of how we saw technology and it’s possibilities. Kind of like the advent of the calculator just a few years before that. It was the victory of Japanese small technologies, and therefore an attitude adjustment for America, but also a readjustment of how technology could enter and serve our lives. And for a kid, just amazing…
As a fan of all music, I was presented with a cassette player for skiing, about 2 years before the Walkman hit the mainstream. It was called “Astral Tunes” and you actually strapped it onto the front of your body, kind of like a baby bjorn. Skiing Heavenly Valley with the Dead Kennedy’s cranked, changed my whole world. To the folks who still have tapes, my advice is digitize them quick, as they are in a constant state of deterioration. One savvy observation, 8 tracks had a better random feature than cassettes….I love the idea of a kid presented with archaic technology and a language that has changed what functions he expected. Finally, paraphrasing Duke Ellington, “There are only two kinds of music, Good & Bad!”
I was wondering if someone was going to mention these. Astral Tunes was a car cassette deck with a motorcycle battery (or so I was told.) Must have been around 1978? I almost wept the 1st time I heard it…so small…portable music. It was almost unimaginable.
very good article.
it opened at least my eyes that the today’s kids with 13 years just rate a walkman against today’s mp3-player features like “random play” etc.
on a more generic approach,
for us 35+ years old it’s neccessary to be reminded that the young people for which we design a lot of cool stuff and features have a completely different history of using tech-stuff.
Don’t knock the walkman and later the discman! Revolutionary and without it, there wouldn’t be an iPod. Soon there will be something else to take its place – definitely not the Zune!
How isn’t this related to technology?
Never had a laser disc player, but used to rent one from the video store! Do they still exist?? Haven’t been to one in ages!
I still think it’s amazing how they were able to sell people on the convenience of an inferior “digital” format and a good portion of the population think it is better quality audio then cassette or just as good as CD.
Funny article but I look at it almost in the opposite way – 30 years is a long time. Amazing that so little has changed relative to the original Walkman design. Seriously, what an innovation for Sony! 30 years later, pretty much all that Apple and the rest have come up with are minor iterations that use newer physical technology. Bravo to Sony for showing the way.
I have owned both in my life time. F*** nostalgia… I’ll take my iPhone any day.
It took me three days to figure out that there was another side to the tape……utterly priceless, I am still crying with laughter.
Did you honestly take that guy with those eyes as an intern?
Very interesting article. I think that 13 yr old (and most of the children around or less than that age) will find a number of devices weird. Such as that old telephone we had a few years back where you have to actually “dial” the number and hate anyone who would have a zero in their number (as pointed out by someone on a comedy show). They will be awestruck by the VCRs. I remember we had to clean the head when the picture quality deteriorated. My walkman experience was never that great. Tapes getting stuck and you had disentangle the reel. That wasn’t easy. It’s funny how quickly things have changed as I am 23 and this feels like an eternity ago.
Ipod onesie for your baby.
http://www.etsy...ing_id=22433516
HelloBanjo.com
I’ve never felt so old after reading an article before! I wonder if the kid’s ever used a laser disc before. I’m he’d be mindf**ked once he realizes that he too has to flip that huge disc over to get to the 2nd half of the film. That one has always baffled as to how such a big disc still not be able to fit the whole movie on just one side…
Sure the technology is dated, and seems clunky in comparison to what we have now. What we seem to have forgotten was how utterly revolutionary the Walkman was and how it changed our lives. For better or for worse, we could suddenly carry music around with us wherever we went – and keep what we were listening to to ourselves or swap with friends. It really changed a lot of things both for technology and for music.
I Cant believe how much technology has changed over the past thirty years. i cant live without my iPod these days
pretty lame .. the kid already know that it is 30 years old and running film based tape.. and expecting to do stuff like ipod.. lame and stupid.. those walkman were the gems of their time..
I have well over a thousand cassettes, most of them C-120, a full hour on each side. I also had a reel-to reel recorder, which I enjoyed using until it stopped working. Yes it’s big and heavy, about 16 pounds, and runs on AC mains power (no batteries). It takes reels up to 7 inches diameter, SP tape (1200 feet) gives 2 hours per track at 1 7/8 IPS, 1 hour at 3 3/4 IPS, and 30 minutes at 7 1/2 IPS. The LP tape (1800 feet) gives 3 hours at 1 7/8 IPS, Double play (2400 feet) gives 4 hours, and triple play (3600 feet), seldom seen anymore, gives 6.4 hours per track. It can record stereo or 4-track mono, the latter can record 25.6 hours on triple-play tape at 1 7/8 IPS. Sound quality at 1 7/8 IPS was OK, but 7 1/2 IPS had the sound quality open-reel is known for.
For those of you who don’t understand tape speeds, they are analogous to bitrates, 7 1/2 IPS might be compared to 256 kbps, 3 3/4 IPS might be compared to 128 kbps, and 1 7/8 IPS might be compared to 64 kbps.