A really long time ago, before MP3s, those ‘CD’ things your Mom uses as coasters and the internet, there were these things called ‘cassette tapes.’ How can I explain this…okay, they were like USB sticks but bulkier, plastic-ier, only held music and you had to fast forward or rewind to get to different spots like a video with a broken seek bar. And for years, the only way to play these wacky cassette thingys was with a stereo of some sort with a built in tape player.
That all changed in 1979 when Sony introduced the revolutionary portable cassette player known as the Walkman. Music lovers rejoiced, there was dancing in the streets (since the 80s populace could now have their personal music in the streets) and Sony milked the hell out of the concept for decades. Some versions made more sense than others, but the fact remains that those iPods you hold in your grubby little hands owe their existence to the humble Sony Walkman.
Scroll through the gallery above for a visual evolution.
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The OG Walkman. Believe it or not, Sony manufactured cassette Walkmans up until 2010. They made more versions of this thing than David Bowie's different looks.
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Being able to play your CDs while on the go with the Discman was wild - so wild that everybody ignored the fact that you couldn't play them on the go because they would skip (that means sound like a corrupted mp3) if you breathed too hard.
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I know my words have all been static until this one - yes, this odd device you've seen watching reruns of Fresh Prince and Saved By The Bell wasn't a belt accessory, it was the Walkman of the 90's.
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Sony would pretty much put out a new Walkman every time a new audio format came out. And while MiniDiscs were smaller, higher quality and wouldn't skip or get scratched, about 12 people bought the MD Walkman. That's none of your business whether I was one of them, Billy.
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Now we're getting into familiar territory - not just for digital cameras, flash memory and memory cards allowed these Walkmans to hold, like, 8 albums of really crappy quality mp3s! Heady times, man.
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Sony's flagship MP3 offering would often display more features and vastly superior battery life to the iPod. And then you'd notice it was $100 more and laugh at it, just like your friends would laugh at you if you came to school with that instead of an iPod.
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People like cell phones - and people like mp3 players. Sony figured smushing the two together should work swimmingly - and it totally did. These things were the bee's knees. Damn right I had one.
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Sony said "Look world, a touchscreen Walkman!" The world said "Meh" and turned up the volume on their iPod Touches.
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The Walkman of today. It's sleek, it'll handle multiple media types and is perfect for audiophiles, supporting the highest resolution music formats available. Oh yeah, and it's $1200.