It has been 32 years since Sony brought portable music to the masses with its now infamous Walkman. The year the Walkman was brought to the U.S., it sold like hotcakes among Kennesaw students. An article in a 1981 issue of The Sentinel discussed the new device’s popularity on campus. “A unique stereo cassette player, the Walkman, continues to draw rave reviews.” The prevalence of the device around campus can be equated to that of the iPhone today.
Even though the Walkman might be seen as the device that paved the way for the iPod’s massive success, it actually operated on a completely different format. Cassette tapes, which are virtually nonexistent today, are what made the Walkman so useful. Though most people still preferred vinyl records over cassettes, their convenience was undeniable. Portable cassette recorders had existed for a couple of years prior to the Walkman’s creation, but their size and general complexities were a major turn-off. The Walkman was born out of a desire for a compact, playback-only stereo cassette player.
The two major factors that made the Walkman so appealing are just what make Apple’s iPod appealing today. The Walkman marked the first music player to combine both portability and privacy. The player’s use of AA batteries and inclusion of a headphone jack made it the ideal stereo cassette player that could be taken anywhere. It is not hard to picture KSU students making their way to class with headphones in, lost in their own private jams. It is an image we see on a daily basis more than 30 years later.
The original Walkman release was only the beginning of the device’s reign over portable music. Much like how Apple continues to iterate on the iPod and its countless features, Sony worked to improve the functionality of its device year after year. Innovations that came to the Walkman included AM/FM receivers, bass boost and even solar power.
Because technology grows at an exponential rate, the massive success of the Walkman was not enough to keep it relevant forever. The eventual rise of the CD and MP3 formats knocked the Walkman off of its pedestal. But what many may not know is that the Walkman brand survived, fighting to keep up with the tides of change. Sony released MP3 and even cellular devices under the Walkman name and is now up to more than 300 different Walkman models across all formats. Apple’s i-device revolution kicked the Walkman brand to the curb, only to be lost to the masses. Sony’s bold foray into portable music paved the way for the countless devices we use today to make our walk across campus more enjoyable.
