Forty years ago this month, a paperback-sized rectangle of blue and silver metal with buttons and attached to headphones, transformed the way we listen to music. On July 1, 1979, Japanese electronics maker Sony Corp. unveiled the Sony Walkman TPS-L2. Until then, entertainment had been a shared activity involving family or community. The Walkman changed this, ushering in an era of individualism and personalisation that is the norm today.
The gadget’s origins are usually attributed to Sony’s co-founder Masaru Ibuka’s wish to listen to his favourite operas on long flights. He asked designer Norio Ohga to build a prototype based on an existing Sony cassette recorder called the Pressman.
The rest is history. Upon its introduction, the Walkman sold 50,000 units in Japan within two months and went on to sell 4 million more over the next three decades.
The Walkman though had its share of detractors. Many believed that a tape player without a record function would never prove popular. There were also fears of a negative health impact, with specialists warning that prolonged exposure to loud music on headphones could cause hearing loss. Moreover, the sight of youngsters walking around with their Walkmans, oblivious to the goings-on around them, had social commentators pointing to the alienating effects of the technology.
The Walkman certainly had a huge impact on our relationship to technology. It was the precursor to the personal devices — mobile phones, iPods, laptops — of contemporary life.
The portable device was also a symbol of the 1980s: a time of new freedoms against a global landscape in which Japan was increasingly ascendant.
However, the fortunes of the Walkman mirrored those of Japan’s. The late 1990s saw the collapse of Japan’s bubble economy and the beginning of years of economic stagnation. The Walkman too was past its prime; the introduction of the iPod in 2001 brought about the end of its popularity.
Over the years, Sony tried to adapt the Walkman to changing technologies. In the 1990s there was the CD-playing Discman and the new millennium saw Walkmans going digital, featuring touch-screens and Wi-Fi functions. But these have never matched the popularity of the original mode.
