History of Computers - Walkman

Introduction

The Sony Walkman, released in 1979, was the first ever easily portable music (cassette tape) player. It weighed 14 ounces and ran on two AA batteries, and featured clunky control buttons and two auxiliary ports for headphones.

Overview

The Walkman was made in order to listen to music on the go. It featured a belt clip and was the most simple and most small method of listening to music, however, it did run on batteries. Later models were rechargeable. It was designed after Sony's co-founder found himself carrying a bulky cassette recorder and wanting something smaller and more portable. Once on the market for $150, the sales only climbed. Eventually, they came out with many, MANY more models. The later features had radios built in as well. Now, the latest model released in 2014 boasts a super high-quality audio player and the ability to play music in their raw format, but it costs almost $700! You also must have great speakers to actually utilize the amazing audio output, which can cost you another couple hundred dollars. It also has around 30 hours of battery life.

Significance

The Walkman was extremely significant for many reasons. For one thing, it introduced the 3.5 millimeter headphone jack, which is the main consumer audio port even today (excluding the iPhone 7). It gave the inspiration for a portable music player and jump started almost every other major electronics company to produce their own models. Without it, we would never see digital music players give rise like the iPod and, eventually, integration into smartphones. The fact that it could simply rewind, fast forward, pause and play, and change volume very easily is still present in modern day audio players. Audio players like the Walkman are now integrated into almost everything we use, and many people are constantly listening to music as a easy and portable pastime.

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References

9/18/2016 Matthew Giordano