Sony's Special 40th Anniversary Edition Walkman Does Everything But Play Cassettes

The Sony Walkman is turning 40 this year, and while Sony has come a long way since the 1970s, it's not forgetting the product that helped make it famous. Earlier this year, the company celebrated the invention with a retrospective exhibition in Tokyo. Now, as Gizmodo reports, they're releasing a new version of the original Walkman for 2019.

Sony’s NW-A100TPS shares the same design as the 1979 cassette player, but the major difference is that this one doesn't play cassette tapes. Instead, the 16GB device plays music through Wi-Fi and Android apps. And the 3.6-inch strip of glass on the front isn't a window panel: It's actually a tiny touchscreen you can use to control your tunes. While you're listening to music, the screensaver shows an animation of a cassette tape in motion just like you'd see in an old-school Walkman.

The gadget has at least one retro feature leftover from the Walkman's reign—or from three years ago. There's still a headphone jack, so you can hook it up to your over-the-ear headphones and rock out on the go like it's the 1980s. Though if you feel the wire isn't worth the nostalgia, the music player also connects to Bluetooth.

Getting modern technology with a vintage vibe will cost you. Starting in December, Sony will sell the NW-A100TPS for $599 in Australia and €440/£400 in Europe. That comes out to somewhere between $400 and $500, which is multiple times the original $150 price tag from 1979. There's no word yet on when or if the device will be available to American consumers.

This isn't the first time the Walkman has made a modern (and expensive) comeback. In 2016, Sony sold a gold-plated Walkman MP3 player for $3680.