This iconic equipment celebrates its 45th anniversary. Don’t panic if you’ve had it

This iconic device is celebrating its 45th birthday. Don’t panic if you’ve owned a Sony Walkman. You’re not that old after all.

Exactly that On July 1, 1979, the Sony Walkman went on sale for the first time in Japan. It was a real breakthrough. From that point on, you could carry music with you wherever you went. Perhaps not everyone realizes that all portable CD players, MiniDiscs, iPods and smartphones have their roots in this small plastic box that it housed a cassette tape.

It was the first equipment acceptable on public transport, in cafés and libraries. They wouldn’t let anyone in there with any boombox or transistor radio. Thanks to the Walkman, the lucky owners could walk there proudly wearing foam headphones and cut themselves off from the rest of the world.

The first generation TPS-L2 was introduced in the UK as “Stoneway” and in the US as “Sound-About”. Only later did the Walkman name spread around the world, evolving from a portable device designed with journalists in mind. By the mid-1980s, Walkmans were literally everywherejust like competitive products: Panasonic, Toshiba and others.

And although it ushered in the era of portable entertainment, it couldn’t survive it. It was supplanted by Discmany and other portable CD players, which gave users the ability to skip an entire track without rewinding. Then MiniDisc devices appeared, soon overtaken by MP3 players and finally the Apple iPod.

Interestingly, it wasn’t until 2010 that Sony stopped producing Walkmans. During that time, over 220 million Walkmans were sold.

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