Posted by Stephen Johnson - Wednesday, July 01, 2009 2:36 PM The Sony Walkman, the first widely popular portable music device, has officially turned 30. While it's difficult to imagine in this age of tiny electronics, the relatively bulky cassette player was once universally recognized as a cutting edge piece of electronics, fad item and status symbol. Even though it ate tapes, weighed a lot and looked sort of dorky. Before the Walkman, music lovers were forced to carry suitcase-sized boomboxes on their shoulders. More than just a popular fad of the late 70s and 80s, the Walkman is the spiritual father of today's iPods and Zunes. In fact, Sony maintained its hold on the portable music player market well into the 90s, releasing more refined Walkmans (Walkmen?) as well as the CD-playing DiscMan, minidisc players and network... [read full story]
