The Walkman dies on the iPod’s birthday (almost).
My main reaction to this article: they were still making Walkmans???
It’s funny because we were talking about this and our office was divided into those who remember making mixed tapes and those who never did. I was born in 1982 and definitely was of the mixed tape generation, but another coworker 4 years younger than me said he never did.
Anyone else feel a twinge of nostalgia at this news?
I just bought a USB turntable so i can play my LPs on my PC. How’s that for old school?
My Walkman was essential through my junior high and high school years. Particularly since I couldn’t listen to N.W.A. at home!
I’m glad we’ve moved beyond that technology, but it was wonderful for a long time. RIP, indeed.
I knew they put the Walkman name on some MP3 players, but I’m amazed they actually still made cassette Walkmans.
I have a collection of perhaps 100 cassette tapes I’ve made over the past thirty years (mostly not recently, of course) of things such as mix tapes, borrowed friends’ albums, etc.
I don’t know when I’ll get a chance to hear them again. It’s a bit sad – there’s a lot of great music there.
My Technics turntable, which I bought in 1985, is still connected to my audio system. I can play an LP on it anytime I want. How’s that for old school?
But I can’t rip tunes from them onto my iPod, unless I got something like what you have.
I used to have a turntable, back in Chicago. When I left I let my friend have my turntable and left all my records with my then-boyfriend. Never got 'em back. :smack:
But the new article made me want to take out all my old cassette tapes and play them for old time’s sake. I think my parents still have a cassette player . . .
Convert 'em.
I used to tape songs off the radio and make mixtapes but all my music has been properly owned and bought on CD except for the odd collectible vinyl. I was born in 1990.
Frankly I’m surprised the cassette Walkman wasn’t retired already - it’s a bit like hearing a celebrity has died and having to admit “oh dear, I thought they died years ago”.
Who remembers sitting at the radio, waiting for a good song so you could record it? So many of my recorded songs began and ended with the DJ for WAVA, DC-101 or Q-107.
Moving from IMHO to MPSIMS.
To do that I’ll need to get something that can play cassettes, and connect to some modern device.
Heh, funny, I’ve been meaning to post my thoughts on a topic that includes mix tapes and goes back to my Walkman days for months and months now, never got around to it. Now, I finally get around to creating the thread right around the official death of the Walkman.
Absolutely! We were too poor to buy actual tapes, so we’d fill tons of cassettes with pop/rap/oldies songs we taped off the radio. Heck, we’d even tape our favorite sitcom episodes onto audio cassettes so we could listen to them again and again. How else could you endlessly watch your favorite shows in the pre VCR era?
I was sad when my walkman keeled over as the Chicago Public Library still has TONS of books on tape, and I love them.
I had an Astraltune years before the Japanese came out with the “Walkman”. Feh! Car stereo hooked up to recharable batteries. Big as a lunchbox and you strapped it to your chest. Proudly made in Reno, Nevada right next door to the Hexcel factory. (Well, almost as I recall) Actually, I still have the thing out in the garage. Just needs some new NiCads and its up and running. Still have the original pack, box and the ultra-custom oft-talked about/seldom seen RED pack also! Came with the most uber-bitchin’ German headphones that slung under the chin. Still got them, too. 
Funny, now-a-days they call this “Illegle downloading” and Lars Ulrich will come after your ass! Fuck him, too.
An update to the article in the OP says that the Walkman is only dead in Japan. They’re still selling them in the US.
“…whose ape-descended life forms are so amazingly primitive that they still think digital watches are a pretty neat idea…”
Stranger