After 31 years, Sony has decided to pull the plug on production of the Walkman in Japan, the cassette player that revolutionized how we listen to music. Prior to the creation of this portable music device, music fans had no other choice but to lug around clunky radios for music-on-the-go.
However, die-hard fans can rest assured that Walkmans will continue to be manufactured in China and distributed to parts of the Middle East, Europe, and Asia.
Some of you may be thinking, “What? They still made those things?” After all, since the release of the Walkman on July 1, 1979, the Discman (which I still have somewhere in my parents’ basement), MP3 players and most notably iPods have come along with newer, slicker technology.
Apparently Apple’s Steve Jobs was inspired by the Walkman when it first was released according to an interview with former Apple CEO, John Sculley. Can we even imagine a world without iPods?
Although I haven’t thought about the Walkman in years, the demise of the cassette player makes me a bit nostalgic that another little piece of my childhood is becoming obsolete. I remember trying very hard to tape my favourite songs from the radio and either cutting off the end, or including part of a commercial. *Sigh* I guess this is what my parents’ generation felt about the end of eight-tracks…
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