When I was a kid, a revolutionary way to listen to music was born in the Sony Walkman but prior to the advent of this personal music player, grooves had only been available in limited format.
The home stereo complete with record player and speakers the size of a small coffee table was prevalent in just about every household including ours. As a lover of music, my mom had one of the top of the line systems made in the 1970's. We listened to AM and FM stations, spun vinyl discs on the record player, and with the included cassette receptacle our world of harmonious variety opened up even wider.
My sister and I had separate equipment in our room including a stand alone record player and the ever popular boom box. Our boom box stereo was rad as it included two cassette docks so we could record from either the radio or tape to tape. We spent hours creating the perfect mix tapes but sadly had nowhere to play them except on the home stereo.
Other than transistor radios, complete with 9Volt batteries that ran out after about an hour and antennae that either did nothing to help tune the station or outright broke off, availability of portable music was fairly limited until the introduction of the Walkman.
There Is Only One Walkman
In roughly 1979 Sony unveiled its portable cassette player known to all as the Walkman. The device was a small box with a door that opened to reveal components for insertion of a cassette tape and a small hole for the headphones. The earliest models were equip with buttons for volume, play, stop, rewind, fast forward and an on/off switch. The addition of the pause feature came later and was quite an advance.
Since Sony's introduction, many brands flooded the market and although Sony held the naming rights, universally these little devices of musical magic were referred to as Walkman.
As I was only six years old when the first Walkman was introduced it took a few years before I was given one of my own. If I remember correctly my sister and I both received one for Christmas sometime around 1984. We were not given the cheap, knock off either, our players had the word Walkman emblazoned right across the gray face.
After the first genuine model I had about three more personal cassette players which I purchased with my own money. Considering the number of times I dropped the player or got sand in the gears while using it at the beach, my own purchases were typically of the lesser priced models.
The base was quite a bit heavier than the headphones so there were countless times when it was lifted by the cord by mistake, only to have the headphones pull right out of their hole and I would watch as the base unit went crashing to the floor. A couple of my players were used for months with no door.
CD's Were Much Easier to Carry
In the early 1980's, just as I was buying a larger purse so I could enjoy the freedom of taking many of my cassettes with me, the compact disc (CD) was unleashed on the world. This twelve centimeter wide disc was an immediate success and even today holds as one of the top selling forms of music and media.
Suddenly instead of carrying around a bulky boom box, Walkman or enormous bag full of cassette tapes, music portability was streamlined. Once again Sony was on the cutting edge of the technology as they introduced the Discman in 1984.
Books with open top sleeves to hold CD's were marketed and people could now carry countless additional music selections with them everywhere. I enjoyed using my Discman on long car trips, when flying or anytime I felt like getting away from the world and since it was so much less bulky to carry a plethora of discs, I took much of my growing collection with me at all times.
The Discman became a rousing success once an anti-skip feature was developed in the mid 1990's. This allowed for the unit to be placed in a bag, backpack or purse without fear of the CD jarring continuously. Additionally the unit was a sleeker, thinner profile than Walkman so it was lighter and less cumbersome to carry around.
How It Evolved
When an adapter was introduced which turned the cassette deck in a car into a CD player, it quickly became clear that people would rather transport the less bulky items. It was so much more convenient to change out a disc and they were a smaller profile to store in the car as the personal sized books would fit in most glove boxes or under the seat.
After a few years it became evident that I was spending more money replacing compact discs than was smart as carrying these thin plastic spherical shaped items around caused an increase in the number of scratches and finally led to the demise of many discs in my collection.
I finally sold or gave to charity my Discman as well as the car adapter and went back to reliance on cassette tapes or the FM radio in the car. Eventually cassettes were also primarily phased out as many had snapped over time and again, the financial outgo to replace them became far too costly.
On a trip with friends in roughly 2001, one of my best began explaining this new device she had just acquired which played music digitally. By this point I had acquired a digital camera but had not heard of digital music and immediately became intrigued.
The early, and viable, models of digital audio players held upwards of 16MB of music which meant each unit was able to store and play anywhere from 100 - 150 songs. The flexibility of the portable music device took such major leaps forward that technologies began being developed at an alarmingly rapid pace.
Apple Has a Leg up but They are Not the Only Ones
After years of lying almost dormant under the technological blanket created by Microsoft, Apple reemerged as the predominant leader of technology with the introduction of the first generation iPod in 2001. Despite an ability to hold upwards of 1500 songs in its 5GB memory capacity, people did not exactly scramble to acquire one as the price tag was close to $500.
But just like any and all technologies not only will a conceptual idea be improved upon, the cost to create and procure will begin to plummet as more people take interest and purchase said item. There was no exception with the iPod.
Although approximately 125,000 units were all that could be sold of the first generation in 2001, the introduction of additional models, larger capacities and lower prices eventually had former Walkman owners scrambling to get their very own, myself included.
By the time I got my iPod I was able to acquire the 30GB model for only $249. This model is now known as the Classic and sadly has been retired. Or rather perhaps I should say it was traded up for either a 40GB or an 80GB Classic, not to mention the iTouch or iPhone.
Once Apple released their iPod many other companies began throwing their own ideas into the ring. Most notably would be the Microsoft Zune which has similar functionality and storage capacity, but there are a multitude of additional players out there to make use of our digital music collections today.
This Torrid Affair Will Continue On Forever
Since the dawn of time, it seems, people have been interested in music. Now that we are able to surround ourselves so completely with our own personal selections it seems there will be no stopping us. I am on my second iPod and fully intend to surround myself with my own music for years to come by continuing to love my amazing piece of technology as long as it holds out.
With the introduction of countless accessories, a rainbow of colors, sizes and storage capacity to fit every connoisseur, and adapters that allow for playing our very own music library in the car it seems that as a society we have reached the pinnacle of technological advances as related to music, its storage and portability. Then again, it is possible that the inventor of the first instrument may have just felt the same way.
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My inner ramblings can be read at http://randomnessandlunacy.blogspot.com/
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