The Walkman vs. the iPod

[dimity_blue]

The BBC magazine somehow persuaded a 13-year-old boy called Scott to give up his iPod for the week and use a blast-from-the-past walkman. I don't think the kid will do it again, but the article is pure win.

Scott comments that his dad "told me it was big, but I hadn't realised he meant THAT big. It was the size of a small book".

I especially love this bit:

It took me three days to figure out that there was another side to the tape.

ROFL! I remember the days of 'turning the tape over'. Well done him for giving it a go.

Btw, the walkman is 30 years old! Can you believe it?

Comments

[tx-cronopio.livejournal.com]

The walkman is 30 years old? How is that even possible?

*looks in mirror. OH.*

[dimity-blue.livejournal.com]

LOL! I know! Doesn't time fly??

[katana137uk.livejournal.com]

I read that earlier. I had my first Walkman quite early on - 1980 maybe. Was working in Central London then so they were a very common sight on the tube.

When I got my first phone with a built-in MP3 player a couple of years ago, David was very bemused that I was walking down the road with headphones on listening to my music. I had to remind him I did that originally many many years before he was born ;-)

And I'm probably still listening to the same music LOL!

[dimity-blue.livejournal.com]

I didn't have a walkman until the 1990s. It was (IIRC) bright blue and not that heavy. I've got a tiny CD player that's far lighter now, though I normally stick CDs on the PC and listen to them that way.

I remember you mentioning David being bemused at you walking and listening with headphones. Is he used to it now?

[katana137uk.livejournal.com]

I had a blue one, later around the late 80's, remember getting it for a holiday and not using it much besides that as I drove everywhere by then and listened to my music on the car stereo.

Yeah David's got used to all sorts of "weird" behaviour from me, so he's fine now ;-)

I did buy David a CD one a few years ago, but in a similar way to you he plays his discs in his X-Box now. All mine and Mark's CDs have been ripped to the computer!

[never-walk.livejournal.com]

That is awesome! I literally laughed out loud at the turning of the tape. :D

I think what makes this more awesome for me is the fact that I recently found my old walkman and cassettes. I giggled insanely for, like, 10 minutes. ;)

[dimity-blue.livejournal.com]

I literally laughed out loud at the turning of the tape. :D

LOL! Me too! I would have loved to have seen his face when he realised there was a whole other side to listen to! :oD

[juleself.livejournal.com]

Hey, my last walkman (bought in '95) automatically switched the sides and was only slightly bigger than the tape. :-) I think I even still have it.

But I do remember my first very clunky one... used to wear it on my belt and the first time I didn't pay enough attention, I knocked it against a corner and broke the lid. Second one got totalled when someone accidently sat on my bag. Fun times. *g*

[dimity-blue.livejournal.com]

I think the automatically-switching-sides walkman would have saved him a DOH! moment, but it was funny to read. :oD

My first one was fairly clunky, though not that heavy. At least iPods are less likely to get sat on...right?

[catzslave.livejournal.com]

I used to have a clunky walkman just like that! I would never go back!

[dimity-blue.livejournal.com]

Hee! It's amazing how different the 'latest technology' looks when we look back at it. :oD

[leesa_perrie]

I had one, though I don't think it was a Walkman as such, more a dictator machine that took normal sized tapes! Anyway, you could record with it and I sooo wish I still had some of the tapes made with friends! I could soooo embarrass them!! Nothing like playing a song on a record/tape player, singing along to it and being recorded by myself for posterity!!!

Unfortunately, it bit the dust some years ago. One day I'll have to see if there is a digital one that allows you to upload your recordings to the computer. I should imagine there's some device that does that by now!

Ah, nostalgia...

[dimity-blue.livejournal.com]

I'm sure there is! A friend of mine bought a machine to plug a turntable into her laptop in order to convert vinyl records into CDs. I know she said there was one for cassette tapes too, and she may even have bought it by now. She also said she saw an 'all in one' machine that converted LPs and cassettes without the need for a computer and she wished she'd seen that one first. IIRC, the one she bought was by Audacity.