What is this new Technology, called a "Walkman"

[Rusty Heap]

new kids vs old technology.


Damn. I had one in 1980.





https://uncrate.com/video/kids-react-to-the-walkman/

[Steve Carlton]

I’m thinking about getting one. Waiting for the price to come down.

[PetrolBlueSC]

My son used mine as a prop for Halloween. The Walkman still worked and he enjoyed listening to Bruce Springsteen.

[look 171]

Couldn't afford one. I wish we had Chinese shipping knockoffs all over the world back then. Who said Chinese knockoff are bad?

[pwd72s]

Also fun..hand a youngster a dial telephone.

[kach22i]

Entertaining.

[Neilk]

Originally Posted by pwd72s

Also fun..hand a youngster a dial telephone.

Can't believe it, but then again, it's all touch screen today. I wonder how many phone numbers the average teen knows today vs 20 years ago.

[CurtEgerer]

Walkmans are worth some decent money on the secondary market. The older the better. Usually a couple of dollars at thrift or estate sales. I've sold a few, but have yet to find one of the first generation like this:

[id10t]

Originally Posted by pwd72s

Also fun..hand a youngster a dial telephone.

Had to give a history lesson in my Linux class last night on rotary phones, acoustic coupler modems, and dialing into BBSes at 900 baud

[svandamme]

apparantly new music is being sold on tapes again, they are up each year, from millenials and retro hipsters that are buying old walkmans and use em..

https://www.digitalmusicnews.com/2018/01/09/cassette-tape-comeback/

[Bob Kontak]

Originally Posted by Neilk

I wonder how many phone numbers the average teen knows today vs 20 years ago.

If I go to jail the only person I could call would be myself or an old high school pal that has the same number today as in the way-back.

Forget crank calls such as "Is your refrigerator running?

[stealthn]

Originally Posted by id10t

Had to give a history lesson in my Linux class last night on rotary phones, acoustic coupler modems, and dialing into BBSes at 900 baud

I am old, did it all, CompuServe was my beotch

[sugarwood]

2 amazingly awesome videos in this thread.
Thank you !

[red-beard]

Originally Posted by id10t

Had to give a history lesson in my Linux class last night on rotary phones, acoustic coupler modems, and dialing into BBSes at 900 baud

900? When I started in computers (1876), we had two speeds. 110 and 300! And that was set by the phone company. I don't think we advanced to 1200 until the early 1980's. My laptop in 1988 (Toshiba 1200 HD) I had to install a modem/memory card. Boosted RAM to 2MB (640K usable, the rest was for RAM drives) and had a 1200 Baud modem.


Up to 1982, ANYTHING attached to a phone line was AT&T equipment. Acoustic couplers got around it...

[cabmandone]

Scott, the pic of your son made me think of this!

[scottmandue]

Nokia is re-releasing my first phone:

https://www.nokia.com/phones/en_int/nokia-3310

[red-beard]

My first Walkman was a knockoff about $100. It needed 4 AA batteries and CHEWED through them

My last one the unit was about the size of a cassette when closed and only slightly bigger when you put in the cassette. I bought it in 1989 and used it while I lived in Pakistan. This used a single AA battery and seemed to last a long time.

[masraum]

I had one of these, bought with money from mowing lawns in Japan in approx 1984/5. I want to say that I paid the equivalent of about $90.

SONY WM-7 world’s first auto-reverse Walkman | The Walkman Archive

DESCRIPTION:

This Walkman was the very first model in the history that featured two brand new technologies that made it very important in the history of players: one was a mechanism that allowed the user to switch to the other side of the tape without having to pull it out of the player: the auto-reverse. The other was the feather-touch control buttons. As you know, dozens of models featured those technologies after this milestone.

It has the following features:

- World’s first feather-touch control buttons.
- World’s first auto-reverse mechanism.
- Dolby B Noise reduction
- Normal/CrO2-Metal tape selector
- Very heavy, strong built
- Full metal body
- Made in Japan

This is indeed a true milestone and a real jewel for passionate collectors. It’s very hard to find.

[Bill Douglas]

Mine is still around somewhere. I'm a hoarder.

[KFC911]

Originally Posted by Bill Douglas

Mine is still around somewhere. I'm a hoarder.

Not I....

Anyone want my '85 Sony $1500 Betamax (and both tapes )...or the 3000 cd binge from back then....

I still have no clue why I bought that Sony...