Comments on: The Walkman Turns 30

By: Brooklynperson

Brooklynperson — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 22:43:51 +0000

My first “Walkman” was a knockoff pink and black Sanyo I bought in 1983 with money I’d saved from baby sitting. A schoolmate copied the first Duran Duran album, Rio, Private Eyes and H2O albums for me. Good times.

I taped so many songs off the radio with my cousin’s boombox to play on the Sanyo. For years in my mind, Alive & Kicking began with a DJ talking over it. When I finally got the song on mp3, it was weird to listen to it without that DJ at the beginning!

By: Andrew

Andrew — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 17:30:31 +0000

A friend of mine brought his girlfriend home for Christmas last year. After my friends mother realized she didnt get anything for his girlfriend for Christmas, she raced to the upstairs gift closet to quickly wrap anything she could find. Well, on Christmas day she was a proud new owner of a Walkman that must have been in that closet for years.

By: sarahbug

sarahbug — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 14:20:19 +0000

My mom still has hers which is probably darn close to 30, and it still works! I had one, but then my dad got A DISCMAN! I was jealous. It ran on 6 AA batteries, so you KNOW it was awesome! A friend of mine in college refused to make the switch to the disc, and forget about pods! She notoriously made great mix tapes, and whenever I see a cassette, I think of her!

By: Nicole

Nicole — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 14:09:13 +0000

I remember listening to my NKOTB tapes on my Walkman, but they did keep the Walkman alive when they made the Walkman CD player and MP3 player.

By: Hastings

Hastings — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 13:02:48 +0000

lol Holly – I remember doing that! Fortunately, when these were popular, my pinkie was significantly smaller than it is now (I caught the end of the trend and always used my dad’s – I jumped on the discman bandwagon)

@Sam – thanks for the description, even if slightly exagerated. I about died laughing.

By: holly

holly — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 01:17:18 +0000

Does Sony make these anymore?
I remember seeing a cassette walkman at a store about 5 years ago for $10 and thought “People still buy cassette walkmans?”

Oh the joy of having an “eaten” tape. The only tool I’ve ever found that can fix eaten tapes is my pinky.

By: Beth

Beth — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 23:41:31 +0000

One of my favorite things about spending a week in the summer with my grandparents was my aunt Donna. She was 10 years older than me and the coolest person I knew. She let me listen to her brand new Walkman. Sometimes, when I close my eyes, I can still hear Pat Benatar singing about love being a battlefield…

By: Sara

Sara — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 20:56:13 +0000

I agree Craig, I still have my Thompson Twins tape and it still plays! Man this article makes me feel old. First Walkman – my 11th birthday 1986.

By: Craig

Craig — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 19:29:26 +0000

C’mon, Sam, they weren’t THAT bad. Most cassettes were album-length. They held almost as much music as a CD, about 60 minutes or more. And while cassettes did wear out over time, it took a long time and a lot of plays to wear out a tape. I had cassettes that still sounded fine after years of listening to them. I NEVER had a cassette literally break or become unplayable. Plus the ease of copying music for friends and making mix tapes wasn’t replicated on CD until years after CDs launched.

By: SpaceMonkeyX

SpaceMonkeyX — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 18:35:51 +0000

Check out this article:

news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/magazine/8117619.stm

Kid’s dad gave him a Walkman to use for a week to see how he liked it. Needless to say the review was not kind.