Sony has announced that it will no longer produce the cassette Walkman, the original low cost portable music player. The company actually stopped production of the device in Japan last April, although Chinese manufacturers will still continue to make the item.
The surprising thing about this news, as far as I’m concerned? That Sony hadn’t stopped making the cassette Walkman years ago. I haven’t owned a Walkman in around a decade, and I speak as someone who is such a Luddite that I still use ye olde audio tapes to record interviews. And I can’t remember the last time I saw an actual Walkman, outside of Hot Tub Time Machine when said article was one of the big clues that the central characters had indeed traveled back to 1985.
So, when was the last time you used a Sony Walkman?
(Follow The Music Mix on Twitter: @EWMusicMix.)
More on the Walkman:
Walkman more cumbersome than iPod, teen discovers
At least 15 years ago. The Discman was my ‘machine’ of choice for the most part.
I used mine (for the FM radio) last month. But the cassette function still works.
whats that?
Mine was stolen out of my car almost twenty years ago.
WOW.. An Actuall cassette walkman? Psh probably a good 15 years.. I haven’t used a diskman in at least 10 years. They actually made new ones up until today? Wow, who’s in that market.. I mean I can see maybe some not moving onto digital yet with the Ipod/MP3 player, and that’s a stretch.
I’d say I used mine up until I got an ipod. I used to mow the lawn while using it, cursing the fact that I could only listen to one album at a time. Then boom ipod appears, no more trbl.
1992
About three years ago during workouts. I had an Ipod but loved some of my old mixed tapes so much I couldn’t let go. Had a discman too but even with the hideous around the waist carrier, it was too hard to carry. Family & friends mocked me mercilessly until it plunged from the walking track to the basketball court and died. I still think it wasn’t an accident.
When I was in college, I actually took a class in communications where we studied the Sony Walkman and how groundbreaking it was.
While I am surprised, like many, that it has been in production this long, another part of me is sad. It was the forerunner for a lot of things.
Dude I didn’t know they still made those!
I actually have the one in the photo…and it still works!
I stopped using my Walkman when I entered college in 1999, but shortly after, Napster consumed my time, so the Discman and stereo became useless quickly too.
i had the wal mart version of the walkman ($5 baby!!!). that sucker had a cassette player AND an FM radio. i used it at the gym up until 2 years ago when it finally died. after searching this whole town for another one, i finally had to go buy an ipod. i LOVE my ipod, but i miss my workout mix tape. i had that sucker done PERFECTLY…RIP walkman.
This is a third world kind of thing; tapes are still the go to format in some countries. Takes a while for the tech that the West takes for granted to trickle down to developing countries.
BTW the US is way behind many Euro and Asian countries; in S. Korea most homes use key pad locks instead of old fashioned metal keys, and they use video monitors along with doorbells to see who’s at the door.
Last time was my initial college years, 1996-1998. I fondly remember walking around campus still rockin’ the Walkman, even in the age of the Discman. One of the most important tech gadgets ever created. I miss the cassette. I miss making actual mix tapes that involved time and effort and thought. Simpler, happier times.
Same here, except that I was in college in the early ’00s. (And I don’t think it was a Sony, either — it might have been Panasonic or some other brand.) I loved having that thing between classes — to have music to study to while I was in the library, or just to provide my own soundtrack for walking around on campus. (I had a Discman at the time as well, but I rarely used it, as it tended to burn through batteries a lot more quickly and to skip around too much when jostled.)