When the Walkman Roamed

As Sony's Iconic Walkman Turns 30, the World Looks to Apple for 'the Next Big Thing' One has to be of a certain age to recall the wonder of Sony's Walkman portable music player, which yesterday marked its 30th birthday. The first truly portable recorded music player, it was small enough to clip to a belt, but still far from pocket size. Its size was amazing because it was a mechanical device -- with actual moving parts -- which played cassette tapes that by themselves were bigger than even the largest iPod, even though they provided just a tiny fraction of the storage capacity. The Walkman's anniversary has been maked with nostalgia (see "Sony Walkman Turns 30: Memories of an Iconic Gadget," in PCWorld); curiosity (see BBC story in which a teenager was asked to evaluate an original Walkman); and a lament about the... [read full story]                    

powered by