Happy Belated Birthday!
Category retro gadgetsI almost forgot! On July 1st one of the most important pieces of portable media technology celebrated a birthday. I am, of course, referring to the Original Sony Walkman. It was released in 1979 - 30 years ago.
The Walkman was the first portable music device ever sold and layed the groundwork for the iPod, Zune, Zen and any other mp3/portable media player you can think of. OK, technically the first portable media device was the transistor radio, but that still meant you had to have a signal to a station and couldn't control what you wanted to hear other than changing the channel. The Walkman was the first device to let you take your own library with you. Most people just used it for their professionally done cassettes, but many other made their own mix tapes and ran/worked out to their own personal soundtrack. Sure, they sounded bad - even by 1979 standards. But who cared? You could listen to what you wanted to and not bother others (like mom and dad) by what you were listening to.
So raise your iPods and toast the Walkman!