This was originally posted 16 years ago. Opinions, facts and reality may have changed.
I’m not sure what shocked me most about the news of the Walkman’s demise: that Sony sold some 220m of them or that they were still making them!
Back in the 80s – look it up younger readers – every teenager had to have at least two music devices to be one of the cool kids: a double cassette deck in the bedroom (if it featured “hi speed dubbing” so much the better) and a Walkman to entertain you whilst you walked to your mate’s house to listen to music on their double cassette deck (things were simpler back then).
These were the days when kids walked everywhere. And, well, after walking up and down the same streets every night, a little distraction was very welcome.
With foam headphones (that I’m sure were always orange for some reason) and New Order’s “Substance 1987” stuffed into its bowel, my Walkman kept me entertained for many an hour. Walking to a friend’s house, sitting at a bus stop waiting for a girlfriend to turn up and, inevitably, making the long walk back home after missing the last bus.
The iPod may have made the personal music player popular again but it was the Walkman – and all its copycats – with their clunk-click reassurance as you rammed a new tape inside that created the market in the first place. (And what tapes they were: possibly Dire Straits “Alchemy” or my recording of the week’s Top 40 recorded when Radio 1 briefly took over Radio 2’s FM frequency on a Sunday night… am I showing my age here?)
Personal media is a concept that is growing in popularity, with the advent of Sky+ allowing us to timeshift and create our personal TV schedule and podcasts bringing us near-instant access to ‘radio’ shows that could never have existed even five years ago. Increasingly, our view on the world is becoming more tightly-focussed on the things we’re interested in. Good in some ways – no need to watch Downton Abbey unless your girlfriend forces you to (can you tell I’m bitter?) – but bad in others. If we self-select our media based on extremely-narrow criteria, then do we run the risk of becoming so narrow in our tastes (and opinions) that our view of the world becomes insular and, dare I say it, selfish?
That said, if it means I can strap on some virtual reality goggles and not be forced to watch Downton Abbey again, it’s a risk I’m willing to take.
Anyway… all hail the Walkman, you were here long enough that we came to regard you as a friend and the changes you brought about are still causing ripples.