Okay Geek Farm
Sony's Cassette Walkman retires after 30 years
Brandon Davenport
Remember when it was cool to have a hunk of plastic strapped to the side of your pants with music coming out of it? You’d have those giant headphones with the vents, and you’d be listening to the latest Queen album, or the new Thriller tape (for the 89th time), and you’d be amazed that music could fit onto a strip of film, inside a mini container. It seems archaic now, but back then it was your life, and your music.
Sony has officially stopped the production of its Cassette Walkman after 30 years and according to IT Media, the very last shipment was to Japanese retailers, so that means new Walkmans will no longer available once these units are sold.
It’s sort of sad to see this go, but at the same time, we need to move forward, and introduce people to new technology (less than half the planet uses a computer) and keep filtering out the old to make room for the new. In 1979, the Walkman was introduced and in the first month, it had sold 3,000 units. After these 30 years, the Walkman managed to sell 200 Million units — but since the introduction of the iPod, Mp3 player sales have dwarfed those numbers — and one thing holds true… people love gadgets (even 30 years ago).
