Free Republic
Browse · Search
General/Chat
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

Is it a phone? The hilarious reactions of baffled children presented with a Sony Walkman..
UK Daily Mail ^ | April 15, 2014 | Sadie Whitelocks

Posted on 04/15/2014 9:47:23 AM PDT by C19fan

Children's perplexed reactions to a Sony Walkman have been caught on camera, with the majority frustrated at operating clunky buttons over a touch screen. Los Angeles-based filmmakers Benny and Rafi Fine asked volunteers aged six to 13 to guess what the bulky device was, with suggestions including a 'walkie-talkie' or 'boombox'. 'What is this?' one nine-year-old girl quizzed as she investigated the Eighties-era cassette player, while another exclaimed 'I'm not going to give up, I'm a survivor,' as she determinedly tried to figure out how it worked.

(Excerpt) Read more at dailymail.co.uk ...


TOPICS: Computers/Internet; Music/Entertainment
KEYWORDS: cassette; consumerelectronics; goodolddays; oldfartsclub; oldstuff; technology; walkman
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-20 ... 41-6061-8081-100101-119 next last
To: Ezekiel

See #52.


61 posted on 04/15/2014 10:54:06 AM PDT by NorthMountain
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 53 | View Replies]

To: Free Vulcan

We could only go to school in the dead of winter when Dad could spare us from farm work. We had walk across fields to get there. You couldn’t even see your hand in front of you, it would be snowing so hard. Then when we got there we had to chop wood for the stove.


62 posted on 04/15/2014 10:55:12 AM PDT by Genoa (Starve the beast.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 54 | View Replies]

To: Veggie Todd

yeah, but you probably only had 3 channels, so it’s not like it was that hard! ;^)

I grew up overseas, had 1 channel that was AFRTS (Armed Forces Radio and Television Service) and 2 Panamanian channels (spanish).

Watched lots of Topo Gigo and American shows dubbed in Spanish...


63 posted on 04/15/2014 10:55:40 AM PDT by SZonian (Throwing our allegiances to political parties in the long run gave away our liberty.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 6 | View Replies]

To: SamAdams76

CDs all get copied immediately to mp3. Direct purchase of mp3 all get saved to device.

I don’t trust the network. With good reason.


64 posted on 04/15/2014 10:55:53 AM PDT by NorthMountain
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 58 | View Replies]

To: Veggie Todd

And had chanels 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, and 9.


65 posted on 04/15/2014 10:57:43 AM PDT by Doomonyou (Let them eat Lead.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 6 | View Replies]

To: dangerdoc

“My teenagers are just starting to realize how little their friends have been exposed to.”

My uncle used to take his awesome antique gun collection to schools in Ohio and give an all day lecture to multiple classes explaining the importance of each innovation and how it impacted war, politics, culture, etc. You couldn’t even bring a gun into schools today. Teachers would hold a cross up (or, today it would be a go-green sticker) to ward off your evil. I’ll explain anything a kid will listen to just to give them exposure to stuff they haven’t seen. When their eyes glaze, I stop.


66 posted on 04/15/2014 10:59:24 AM PDT by Gen.Blather
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 48 | View Replies]

To: Ezekiel
The data mining by corporations and the government is only getting bigger and more invasive. I'm not sure at what point they will actually have enough on us to be satisfied.
My guess is enough will never be enough. They will just keep ramping it up so long as it is profitable to do so.
67 posted on 04/15/2014 11:05:09 AM PDT by Clump ( the tree of liberty is withering like a stricken fig tree)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 53 | View Replies]

To: RansomOttawa
I just checked Amazon (8 pack). I didn't investigate it any further so I am not certain if the tapes are newly manufactured or old as the hills.

I have a high end Nakamichi tape deck. Unfortunately, I haven't used it in years.

But there is no doubt that the sound quality is better. LPs too. Even ripping to digital from an LP sounds better.

68 posted on 04/15/2014 11:06:12 AM PDT by dhs12345
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 55 | View Replies]

To: NCC-1701

I remember at one point I knew the basic zones for the antenna on each channel, pure muscle memory didn’t even have to think about it. Change to 4 move the ears, channel 9 ears to here.


69 posted on 04/15/2014 11:06:22 AM PDT by discostu (Call it collect, call it direct, call it TODAY!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 40 | View Replies]

To: Disambiguator

I have a Seafoam Green rotary phone a foot away from me on my desk. It’s a beaut!


70 posted on 04/15/2014 11:11:57 AM PDT by Dr. Bogus Pachysandra ( Ya can't pick up a turd by the clean end!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 9 | View Replies]

To: NorthMountain

Buttons that you have to move half an inch are clunky, they’re also failure points, the #1 death of walkmans was that the read/play head would stop locking in place (or stop unlocking when you hit stop). You can still have buttons that work with gloves on, my MP3 has 3 buttons, on/off, volume up, volume down. Because all they do is engage an electronic contact they move less than mm when you push them. And my touchscreen is pressure triggered not current triggered so it too works with gloves.

It’s not saying that old is necessarily just pointing out that a lot of old stuff showed clear room for improvement. Walkman buttons WERE clunky, because they had to be. They’re not bad because they’re old, they’re bad because they have to be huge with lots of motion and are a frequent point of failure.

I showed you the dictionary entry, it’s not meaningless. And it’s not an insult either, because it’s true. They were clunky, sorry you take that fact personally.


71 posted on 04/15/2014 11:12:17 AM PDT by discostu (Call it collect, call it direct, call it TODAY!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 51 | View Replies]

To: Free Vulcan

And we liked it!!


72 posted on 04/15/2014 11:13:41 AM PDT by FourtySeven (47)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 54 | View Replies]

To: Gen.Blather

A major difference is that back then, stuff was simple enough that an inquisitive child could grasp the basic concepts behind pretty much anything. Today, gadgets are so sophisticated as to be indistinguishable from magic. A mere iPhone (a small glassy black slab conjuring up worlds near, far and virtual) consists of literally hundreds of billions of distinct components, all operating according to billions of individual instructions; when I started, radios could be built from a handful of simple parts, and computers weren’t much more complex. Kids can’t comprehend gadgets by just disassembling them anymore; it’s magic, it works, and no amount of staring at the pieces (short of an electron microscope) elicits how it works - you need a major degree to understand a common phone. Texting and playing Minecraft is more rewarding to most kids.


73 posted on 04/15/2014 11:15:01 AM PDT by ctdonath2 (Making good people helpless doesn't make bad people harmless.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 12 | View Replies]

To: Alex Murphy

“We used to have to walk uphill through the snow to change the channel. “

Well then,,, you needed to wiggle the rabbit ears too!


74 posted on 04/15/2014 11:17:33 AM PDT by Dr. Bogus Pachysandra ( Ya can't pick up a turd by the clean end!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 39 | View Replies]

To: NorthMountain
Live by the network ... die by the network.

No kidding.

Here we have a modern-day version of the parable of the ten virgins. For five it was SOP to already have oil in their lamps, whereas the other five (after being unable to mooch) had to do some last-minute shopping. "And while they went to buy..."

[... the wifi signal went dead.]

75 posted on 04/15/2014 11:17:46 AM PDT by Ezekiel (All who mourn the destruction of America merit the celebration of her rebirth.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 61 | View Replies]

To: discostu
Walkman buttons WERE clunky, because they had to be.

Sorry, stu: I was there. The Walkman 'play' button had to move, because the head had to move. If it's a design requirement (and it was), throwing meaningless insults like "clunky" at it is stupid. An elegant solution to an engineering problem doesn't cease to be elegant when the entire matter is overcome by technological advancement.

, sorry you take that fact personally.

Try to refrain from mindreading, you're no good at it. Go ahead and use "clunky" and other meaningless noises to express yourself. It's very revealing.

76 posted on 04/15/2014 11:20:15 AM PDT by NorthMountain
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 71 | View Replies]

To: CrazyIvan

After buying my first fuel injected motorcycle (Ducati) I will NEVER buy another carb based bike. Oh how I hated tuning and synching those infernal carbs.

I have a Walkman somewhere. I don’t know why I kept it. I was moving and had come across my HUGE box of old cassettes. I was thinking of digitizing them. Then realized how many hundreds of hours that would take and tossed the whole lot in the trash. I suppose I’ll regret it when an EMP takes out my MP3 player when I’m craving some tunes on a mechanical analogue device.

Gotta run, going to go watch Blazing Saddles on Betamax.


77 posted on 04/15/2014 11:21:57 AM PDT by Organic Panic
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 38 | View Replies]

To: Dr. Bogus Pachysandra

I also have an Ampex reel to reel another foot away! I’m old!


78 posted on 04/15/2014 11:23:17 AM PDT by Dr. Bogus Pachysandra ( Ya can't pick up a turd by the clean end!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 70 | View Replies]

To: C19fan
"I pointed out to my young ones the Walkman on display at the Smithsonian American History Museum. "

I still use'm.

I even have a couple new ones I bought while they were still selling them.

They do everything I need for them to do. So....
(PS, I'm a retired chip-maker)

79 posted on 04/15/2014 11:26:43 AM PDT by blam
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Organic Panic

Don’t kick yourself, EMP would wipe the tape anyway.


80 posted on 04/15/2014 11:27:27 AM PDT by dangerdoc
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 77 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-20 ... 41-6061-8081-100101-119 next last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
General/Chat
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson