FEATURE:
The Sony Walkman at Forty-Five
The Importance of the Original, and the Modern-Day Alternatives
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ON 1st July, 1979…
the world was introduced to a piece of music technology that would change the world. Released in Japan and eventually rolled out to the rest of the world, the Sony Walkman drastically altered how we would listen to music. In terms of portable devices, nothing before had come onto the market. It was a huge moment in the way in which we could listen to music on the move. One would think that, as it was released in 1979, the Sony Walkman would be hefty and heavy to carry around. That was not the case. Actually fairly lightweight and sleek, its design would be refined through the years. As it is forty-five today, I wanted to celebrate it, also looking at what is on the market today. It is an important anniversary. Forty-five years after the Sony Walkman came out, there is relevance discussing it. Cassettes are still around today. As I have said in previous features about the Sony Walkman: there are not really enough options to play them on. I am going to explore some buying options for those who want to play cassettes on the move. Can anything really compete with the simply iconic original Sony Walkman?! I think it is one of the most important moments in music history. Giving music fans that freedom and mobility. Even the transistor radio arrived well before the Sony Walkman and meant that people could listen to the radio portability, it did not really compare with the Sony Walkman. The privacy you get with a Sony Walkman. How you could listen to any album on it. Not something that was possible with the transistor radio. Before looking at the modern equivalents of the iconic Sony Walkman, here is some information about the fateful day, 1st July, 1979, when it went on sale:
“On July 1, 1979, the first personal stereo cassette player, called the Sony Walkman, debuts for sale. It would spark a revolution in portable electronics.
The transistor radio had been the first technological marvel to put music literally into consumers’ hands in the mid-1950s. It was cheap, it was reliable and it was portable, but it could never even approximate the sound quality of a record being played on a home stereo. It was, however, the only technology available to on-the-go music lovers until Walkman appeared.
The Sony Walkman didn’t represent a breakthrough in technology so much as it did a breakthrough in imagination. Every element of the Walkman was already in production or testing as part of some other device when Sony’s legendary chairman, Masaru Ibuka, made a special request in early 1979. Ibuka was a music lover who traveled frequently, and he was already in the habit of carrying one of his company’s “portable” stereo tape recorders with him on international flights. But the Sony TC-D5 was a heavy device that was in no way portable by modern standards, so Ibuka asked his then-deputy Norio Ohga if he could cobble together something better. Working with the company’s existing Pressman product—a portable, monaural tape recorder that was popular with journalists—Ohga had a playback-only stereo device rigged up in time for Ibuka’s next trans-Pacific flight.
Even though this proto-Walkman required large, earmuff-like headphones and custom-made batteries (which, of course, ran out on Ibuka midway through his flight), it impressed the Sony chairman tremendously with its sound quality and portability. Many objections were raised internally when Ibuka began his push to create a marketable version of the device, the biggest of which was conceptual: Would anyone actually buy a cassette device that was not for recording but only for playback? Ibuka’s simple response—”Don’t you think a stereo cassette player that you can listen to while walking around is a good idea?”—proved to be one of the great understatements in business history.
After a breakneck development phase of only four months, Sony engineers had a reliable product ready for market at 30,000 Yen (approximately US $150 in 1979 dollars) and available before the start of summer vacation for Japanese students—both critical targets established at the outset of development. The initial production run of 30,000 units looked to be too ambitious after one month of lackluster sales (only 3,000 were sold in July 1979). But after an innovative consumer-marketing campaign in which Sony representatives simply approached pedestrians on the streets of Tokyo and gave them a chance to listen to the Walkman, the product took off, selling out available stocks before the end of August and signaling the beginning of one of Sony’s greatest success stories”.
I have bemoaned the fact that we do not have the Sony Walkman today. It would be great if they were reissued now. With new demand for cassettes, I think there would be call to have a modern update of the Sony Walkman. If you want to buy a portable cassette player, there are options on Amazon. Even though there are some affordable options, most of them are quite expensive. I think that, if we are going to make it easier for people to listen to cassettes portably, then we need to ensure that devices are affordable. As you can see from this website, there are stylish options from £129. I think that this is quite a lot to pay. Half of that would be much more feasible. How many people are splashing out £129 on a portable cassette player?! There are options if you shop around. It does seem that cheaper options like this are burdened with poor sound quality and a cheap feel. You can get a decent portable cassette player for £100. There are cheaper options, though you are never sure of the quality. It is great that we have options and there is a range of price options. I do feel that the great Sony Walkman could make a return. Price itself at under £60, meaning it would be a good investment and affordable to many music fans. Have a range of colour options. Making it sleek and similar, in terms of buttons/fictions to the original. Making it sturdy, shockproof and ensuring that the sound quality is excellent would make it a success story. Rather than have to search around for a dependable, cool and sturdy portable cassette player, reintroducing the Sony Walkman would solve that quandary.
The Sony Walkman does exist in modern form. It is a device that plays digital music, so it is not about cassettes anymore. Maybe a feeling that people do not want to play cassettes. I like how the Sony Walkman evolved through the years. The original is relatively bulky and has a distinct look. That refinement occurred. The initial price was quite hefty. That eventually came down. I do feel that we have flexibility now. You can get something quite good looking that does not cost a fortune. If we are to have a modern equivalent of the Sony Walkman, there is a lot to consider. Making sure that it is environmentally friendly. A price that is as low as possible. Ensuring that it is tough and does have excellent sound quality. Many might say that, forty-five years after the introduction of the Sony Walkman, do we really need it now?! Something has gone out of music. That sharing culture. The mixtapes. I do feel there is a place for them today. Not something you hear much of now. Whilst there was a fear that the Sony Walkman would lead to more antisocial behaviour, it was also a bonding experience:
“Not everyone was on board with the Walkman though, public use of portable music devices was banned in Woodbridge, New Jersey in 1982 due to a rise in pedestrian accidents. Others had more ideological issues with the “isolating” and “detached” nature of the new private listening experience. However, Japanese professor Shuhei Hosokawa had a more positive outlook, describing the “Walkman effect” as giving listeners more control over their environment and more power in how they inhabit a space. Sony even preempted the potential for antisocial behaviour, giving earlier models a second headset jack, but demand for single-jack models turned out to be much higher.
Despite the moral panic around perceived antisocial behaviour, relationships were formed around the sharing of mixtapes, the forerunner to the modern-day Spotify playlist, marking a moment in consumer culture where listeners took control over what they heard and in what order. This individuality that the Walkman introduced paved the way for now ubiquitous tech like laptops and mobile phones, becoming the first piece of personal tech to be seen as cool to walk around with.
While the rise of the iPod, mobile phones and streaming services may have posed challenges for Walkman devices, Sony has sold over 400 million units across multiple platforms from cassette to CD, mini disc and MP3 since the first Walkman in 1979. The original Walkman cassette players with their clunky buttons and oversized headphones stand as one of the prevailing images of the 80s and 90s and one of the biggest music listening, tech and lifestyle shifts before or since. Monsutā will be back with another Japanese Icon in a couple of weeks. Until then, crack open a can of Monsutā, and don’t forget your headphones”.
On 1st July, 1979, the Sony Walkman went on sale. It changed everything. The start of portable music listening beyond the transistor radio. We would then get C.D. players, MP3 devices and the iPod. It can all be traced back to the Sony Walkman. On its forty-fifth anniversary, I wanted to look at its introduction, but also investigate what is available on the market now. The modern equivalents. There are choices for those who want to keep playing cassettes. I do hope that, one day, we get the Sony Walkman back. There would be demand. When you think about the Sony Walkman, there is no underestimating…
HOW important it was.