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Was the Walkman any better than its competitors? I was only a toddler at the time but a few years later EVERYONE made personal cassette players, at way lower pr
by bluedino 6y ago
Was the Walkman any better than its competitors? I was only a toddler at the time but a few years later EVERYONE made personal cassette players, at way lower prices than Sony.
But it wasn’t like with a generic “MP3 player”, a generic cassette player wasn’t really missing anything that the Walkman had (except for the very low end models that were in the cheapest price bracket). I remember one model that only had reverse and not fast forward, for example.
- johnpowell 6y agoI was really into skateboarding from about 12 years old to 30. But back in the day I used to buy the Sony Sport Walkman's. The big yellow ugly ones. When I would skate I had the Walkman in my left hand at all times. I used to fall a lot and learned to land on the Walkman. It became instinct to cover my glasses with my right forearm and land with my left hand so the Walkman took the hit. For anyone wondering my fingers didn't grip all the way around the Walkman so I didn't grind my fingernails off when I landed. But those things were tanks. I bought the OG 5GB iPod when it came out and that completely changed the way I skated since I didn't have the trusty Walkman to fall on. But that was also around the time I started to listen to more Hip Hop like Slick Rick so my entire style changed to a smoother more technical skate compared to when I was listening to Reagan Youth all day and just flinging myself off sets of stairs.
- mongol 6y agoThey were the IPhones of the time. More expensive, more fashionable, perceived higher quality, and had innovative features such as auto reverse. The average cassette player was the generic Android in comparison.
- stinos 6y agoperceived higher quality Wasn't it (also) actual higher quality then most if not all of the competition in the same price range?
- mongol 6y agoYes that too.
- usrusr 6y agoThose tiny Aiwas that eventually miniaturized to hardly bigger than a cassette case were a very successful challenger brand in my circles, to the point that Sony brand walkmen practically ceased to exist. It was either an Aiwa or a cheap noname during those last years before everything switched to digital. But the brand went through that surprisingly unscathed, they might have dropped the ball on late generation cassette innovation, but after the switch to organise CD the Sony brand discman was again perceived as solidly recommendable.