Last weekend was the ninth anniversary of the first generation iPod. But we all know the iPod was successful, instead let us celebrate a different passing; last weekend Sony announced it was going to stop production of its Walkman, the cassette version, that is.
You may be thinking, well it’s about time, and you’re right. Even homeless guys on the light rail have upgraded to CD players by now (AA batteries are the new spare change). CD players began to outsell the tape deck in the early ‘90s; cars haven’t included the old standard in nearly a decade. I remember cassette tapes, but in the same vaguely nostalgic way that I remember floppy disks; as something that I had forgot even existed for about the last half of the decade. Apparently cassette players will still be manufactured in China, but not by the flagship American company.
Sony came out with the portable Walkman in 1979, so your parents probably lusted after one the same way you did when iPods came out. Music had never before been so, controllable. With the Walkman, you decided where you heard your music, as well as what you wanted to listen to, whereas before, portability and choice only went as far as your home or car. Granted, each audiotape held about an hour to an hour and a half of music total, the first 5GB iPod played about six times that (roughly 18 hours). You’d have to have almost 400 cassette tapes to hold the music that today’s iPod Classic will store.
When Sony introduced the Walkman, it was hip, happening and having one meant that your life was too busy to sit around and listen to music. Their TV ads depicted Walkman listeners as active, youthful, exciting people, and promised the same energy to anyone with $200 to buy one. Sound familiar? A certain brightly colored ad with dancing black silhouette people comes to mind.
Apple banked on similar assumptions when marketing their own portable music device. They used funky, loud indie music (successfully making every Apple-endorsed artist a one-hit wonder), there were colors to choose from, and you could make it your own. Whether it’s an MP3, CD or cassette tape, really all portable music players give their owner the chance to have a constant, personalized playlist of songs going all the time. Creators behind the Walkman understood that music would become a crucial way for people to define themselves. And in the true spirit of technology, Apple took what Walkman offered, and ran with it. One could argue the same thing has happened with the smartphone. And the tablet.
But don’t worry, we have another decade or so before bums upgrade to iPhones. If anything, now that Walkman production has stopped, you’ll be able to buy them at Urban Outfitters in three months for five times what they are actually worth.
Send mixtape suggestions to Sarah at swhitmir@asu.edu
