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A music device of years gone by celebrates a huge milestone today
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Photo from sony.com: Walkman turns 30
Today is a significant day in music history because it marked the invention of a device that helped revolutionize technology and also how we listen to music. It is a device many people from the younger generation probably haven't heard about but if they did most likely wouldn't know what it even looks like. Any guesses on what this marvel of technology is? It is one of Sony's first huge inventions: The Walkman. Today is actually the 30th anniversary of the Sony Walkman.
The Walkman seems like a fossil now with the invention of MP3 players that take no batteries and in size some fit in the palm of your hand. But without this one step in musical device invention, who knows what would have happened. The Walkman was the first portable music device. It allowed people from a past generation the chance to take their music wherever they went. Instead of carrying bulky boom boxes and radios this was a chance to pop in some headphones, put in your favorite tape and then go. Although some may consider older radios like the transistor radio the actual beginning of the evolution of portable radio, the Walkman took a concept and improved on it. Instead of just a radio Sony added the ability to play a cassette tape. Of course even the first Walkman evolved as technology changed. CD versions were released later when CDs hit the mainstream market. This may be the version most people under the age of 25 know but its predecessor could arguably be called the pioneer of the portable music craze. Before CDs there obviously was its smaller predecessor the cassette tape and surely when the Walkman came out 30 years ago it was cutting edge technology for any music fan. While visually the device was much bigger and bulkier then Ipods and much like the later invented CD player it would require constant battery changes, it still was small enough to transport anywhere.
So while most kids and adults alike have MP3 players nowadays that require no batteries inserted just need some charging the internal battery. Plus MP3 players can hold 1,000s of songs and sometimes pictures and videos too. Don't discount what the Walkman meant to both the past generation and the current. Before modern day music lovers laugh at the ways past generations listened to music then try putting yourself in their shoes to better appreciate how far we have truly come. Gone may be the days of the 8-track tape, the cassette, records, heck even the real throwback Victrola and some may say one day CDs could be ancient relics. But without each step in this evolutionary change of music then the amazing ways people can listen to music anywhere now may not have been possible. Now music is available everywhere in the car, on the computer, in your hand etc. In 1979, when this device came out it marked a step in the right direction and potentially showed the masses that listening to music doesn't need to be restricted to just the house and car. So thanks Sony for marking the beginning of the portable music revolution. It likely was a rocky start and probably a hard to sell concept at first, as most new technical advances are but without it who knows where we would be today.
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