Getting Nostalgic Over The Walkman

Andy just posted something about the Walkman’s 30th anniversary and guess what that got me doing? I had to dig up some old boxes in an effort to find my old Walkman! Yes, I still have it! After spending a good part of an hour trying to locate it, I was more than ready to use it again after so many years. Ironically, I was not able to satisfy my urge – for the life of me, I could not find any cassette tapes! I guess they have been left behind at my parents’ house.

Anyhow, it got me reading up on more Walkman stories, and one of the most interesting that I ran across is Scott Campbell’s little experiment. Scott is a 13-year-old kid who has used an mp3 player most of his life. When challenged to swap his iPod for a Walkman for one week, he didn’t realize just how much of an adventure he was in for.

The BBC featured his review and comparison of the two portable music players. It was quite amusing to read his thoughts:

My dad had told me it was the iPod of its day.

He had told me it was big, but I hadn’t realised he meant THAT big. It was the size of a small book.

When I saw it for the first time, its colour also struck me. Nowadays gadgets come in a rainbow of colours but this was only one shade – a bland grey.

His dad’s Walkman must have been way older than mine – mine is black and not THAT big (at least I think so!). Anyway, you can read the rest of his story here.

Maybe you have your own nostalgic moments about the Walkman? Any interesting stories of your own?