I'm shocked that they just now stopped production on those. I LOVED my Walkman. That thing paid for itself so many times over.
I remember when I got a dubbed copy of 2 Live Crew's "Nasty as they Wanna Be" when I was in 8th grade. Few things were as enjoyable as riding in the car with my ultraconservative parents while I listened to "Me So Horny" on my headphones. Ah memories.... On Mon, Oct 25, 2010 at 11:39 AM, Larry C. Lyons <[email protected]>wrote: > > http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-11618899 > > R.I.P. Sony Walkman (Snr) > > The Walkman kept 220 million users entertained en route to Mr Byrite > (and other shops) > Sony Walkman (Senior) has reached the end of side two. Its batteries > have run out. The rewind button is broken. > > Lovers of music overlaid with hissing have reacted with sadness to > news that Sony has ceased production of its celebrated portable > cassette-playing audio device. It is survived by its neater, slicker, > more junior MP3 descendent. > > But the Walkman will be fondly remembered as the contraption which > transformed listening to music from an activity conducted principally > in one's own living room, perhaps with glass of brandy in hand, to a > means of irritating other people on public transport. > > "Chk. Chk. Chk. Chk. Chk. Chk. Chk. Chk. Chk. Chk." > > That was how it sounded when you sat next to a foam-headphoned user on > the bus, overlaid with the faint but recognisable vocal inflections of > Pat Benatar. > > Friends of Sony Walkman may have predicted its demise when digital > technology offered a more compact alternative, one which did not > depend on carrying on one's person a supply of cassettes and a biro in > order to conduct remedial tape-spooling. > > But following its birth in 1979, an astonishing 220 million units were > sold - testament to the device's status as a 1980s icon no less > memorable than shoulder pads, Filofaxes and David Bowie starting to > produce rubbish albums. > > Audio cassettes were not, in fact, the medium of the future but a > cumbersome, chewing-up-prone source of much annoyance > > Tailor-made for that decade's widespread aspiration for conspicuous, > miniaturised consumerism, the Walkman meant no user needed to get home > to listen to that latest Johnny Hates Jazz long-player. > > Joggers could motivate themselves with the assistance of the Rocky theme. > > Bored teenagers could pretend they lived somewhere edgier than > suburban Chichester by soundtracking their walk to school with The > Guns of Brixton. > > Alas, technological progress and the dawn of the CD meant the decade > was barely complete before the general public started to recognise > that audio cassettes were not, in fact, the medium of the future but a > cumbersome, chewing-up-prone source of much annoyance. > > CD and MP3 versions of the Walkman will remain in production, but it > is via the ubiquity of the music played on Apple iPods leaking beyond > their users' headphones into the earshot of other public transport > users that its spirit truly lives on. > > No flowers > > ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~| Order the Adobe Coldfusion Anthology now! http://www.amazon.com/Adobe-Coldfusion-Anthology/dp/1430272155/?tag=houseoffusion Archive: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/cf-community/message.cfm/messageid:330030 Subscription: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/cf-community/subscribe.cfm Unsubscribe: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/cf-community/unsubscribe.cfm
