The Demise of Sequential Data- Farewell Sony Walkman

On the BBC:

Sad but True is not just a song played by Metallica...

For those who have not heard, Sony has bid farewell to the Walkman, the first portable music player of the world.

Born in 1979, the Walkman re-invented and conned the term personal music. You finally had music that you could carry around in your pocket and just walk man! No longer would one have to traipse about with a boombox over their shoulder to enjoy music "on the go".

I went through the usual progression of music players; I carried around a walkman in my pocket when I was in school, each year bringing a newer, sleeker design with more functionality, then progressed to carrying around a discman in my pocket (yes, a whole discman! to school sometimes even), then came the era of mp3, starting off with the meager 1GB and now, I have an ipod strapped to my arm.

One time in highschool I had borrowed my brothers walkman (a Shockwave) and during english class, a friend borrowed it from me. He had it hidden in the desk, and would sneak a listen every couple of minutes. Unfortunately, the teacher caught him, when he asked him to pull it out of the desk and hand it over, and now I shit you not, the boy actually pulls out... A SANDWICH! And in all sincerity, looks up at the teacher and hands it to him! To which he responds, and the walkman. The look on the boys face was classic, made me forget I was supposed to be mad @ him for having my brothers walkman confiscated!

I shall miss the Walkman. It may pale in comparison to its newest cousin, but there will always be a hint of nostalgia when one looks at an audio cassette. Flipping it from A to B (I could never get those right; I'd always just play one end through, coz when you flip Rewind became FF, it was crazy, you never knew what you would get).

Apparently, 2010 is the year we bid farewell to outdated technology, Sony must be clearing their vaults in anticipation of something HUGE. First it was the floppy disk, now it is the walkman. Who will get the axe next?

My vote is the Discman.