Happy 40th birthday, Walkman

CNN ^ | July 1, 2019 | Staff

[RayChuang88]

The Walkman did change music because you could bring your own music along on a truly portable basis, not be tied to a radio station playlist. A trend that really accelerated with the arrival of the iPod in 2001.

[Gamecock]

I work on a college campus.

Recently I was walking across campus and saw a guy with Air Pods in his ears. That got me to thinking about me walking across campus with my Walkman.

Tech advances can be very cool.

[eyedigress]

I have 2 walkmans circa 1984. One radio and a cassette player.

radio goes to the beach every year, outstanding reception.

[Army Air Corps]

Personal preference: I am not fond of earbuds of any variety as they either slip out or, for me, are rather uncomfortable. Again, personal preference.

[Jimmy The Snake]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HI538zSDvig

Tom Scholz said that he felt he had arrived when he got two warranty registrations cards in the mail fro Jeff Beck

[Yo-Yo]

The one enabling technology that made the Walkman a success wasn't the portable cassette player itself.

It was the invention of the rare-earth magnet headphones that allowed deep bass and crisp highs from small lightweight drivers, at very low power levels from the amplifier.

They later morphed into earbuds, but if the old fashioned ear piece from the 1960s transistor radio were the only thing around, the tinny sound wouldn't make the Walkman a success. If large, full earcup headphones were used, their power requirements would exceed the capabilities of the small portable player.

No, the Neodymium magnet earphones was the technology that started the personal portable music phenomenon.

[Gamecock]

Don’t care for them either. But the advance is cool.

[rightwingintelligentsia]

I’m surprised someone hasn’t pointed out that the name “Walkman” is sexist.

Shouldn’t it be “Walkperson” now?

[Buckeye McFrog]

Gotta admit....I have one and still use it.

That makes me OOOOOOOOLLLLLLDDDDDD!

[Army Air Corps]

It is also Ableist. Not everyone can walk.

[yarddog]

I remember my first one.

I was traveling on Government business. I would always have to ask the motel if they accepted Government rate for per diem. They always would.

I was in Tulsa and went out to do a little looking around. I stopped at Service Merchandise and noticed a Sanyo on clearance.

When I got back to the motel I played a tape and was really surprised how good it sounded. Later bought a Sony which was more expensive but didn’t sound any better. I think my Daughter still uses it or maybe my Grandchildren. There was an FM radio built in too.

[Ezekiel]

It's all orchestrated.

It was 40 years ago today that Sony, not Apple, revolutionized the way we listen to music.

Makes sense, considering the timing. It's a pun on sonny and sunny.

The company's current slogan is Be Moved. Their former slogans were The One and Only (1979–1982), It's a Sony (1982–2005), like.no.other (2005–2009)[14] and make.believe (2009–2013).[15]

Sony

Music is well-known for its ability to lift the spirits. Classic example: after being anointed, the first thing David was dispatched to do was to play his harp for Saul. Or was/is that a fiddle, because "kinor" is the modern word for a fiddle or violin. Anyway, Saul had been feeling terrible precisely because the Spirit of the Lord had departed from him and had moved on over to David.

The number 40 has great significance throughout the Torah and the Talmud. The number 40 represents transition or change; the concept of renewal; a new beginning. The number 40 has the power to lift a spiritual state. Consider:

When a person becomes ritually impure, he must immerse in a ritual bath, a mikveh. The Talmud tells us that a mikveh must be filled with 40 se'ahs (a measure of water). Immersion in a mikveh is the consummate Jewish symbol of spiritual renewal.

https://www.aish.com/atr/The_Number_40.html

Walk this way because...

Just yesterday the Pilgrim's Road was opened in Jerusalem:

"The Pilgrimage Road was built by King Herod 2,000 years ago, as the main thoroughfare for pilgrims to ascend from the Pool of Siloam, where they would ritually purify themselves on route to the Temple, on Mount Moriah. It is likely that anyone from that period would have walked to the Temple on these very flagstones. In fact, a tiny 2,000-year-old golden bell was recently discovered in a drainage channel beneath the road, which is thought to have accidently broken loose from the tunic of the high priest on his way up to the Temple.

Israeli and American dignitaries unveil Pilgrimage Road

Today's follow-up article:

Recently Discovered Pilgrims Road in Jerusalem “Brings Truth and Science to a Debate that has Been Marred By myths"

Isaiah 2:3 And many people shall go and say, Come ye, and let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, to the house of the God of Jacob; and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths: for out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the LORD from Jerusalem.

"Halakha"man made it possible to listen while walking (moving, doing). It's the simple meaning.

Forty years have now passed since the first songs were sung by Halakha-man:

"Upon these ancient stones, the biblical prophets delivered revolutionary messages of peace, freedom, liberty and justice for all. These values are the shared roots on which the United States of America and Western civilization were founded and they continue to enhance the lives of billions."

Walk this way.

[Roccus]

There ya go...

Clouding the issue with common sense and logic!

[PUGACHEV]

The big advance these days are +/- $1K Hi-Res music players, the newest Sony Walkman among them. They play .wav, mp3, and flat files. If you’ve never listened to one through a really good set of headphones, like Audeze LCD, you’d be in for an expensive shock. The problem is that once you’ve heard how good music can sound, you don’t want to go back.

[killermosquito]

I’m actually listening to Chris Plante on a Walman at this very moment.

[killermosquito]

WALKMAN not Walman

[killermosquito]

I sure with my cell phone had AM radio.

[killermosquito]

Dang it! I can’t type! WISH not with

[Yardstick]

I remember the first time I heard a Walkman and being blown away by the sound. Of course everything is relative and at the time my only references were a mediocre small home stereo system and the generally crappy car stereos of the time. The Walkman was far from hifi but was probably the closest I had gotten to hifi at the time.

[backwoods-engineer]

$1000 for a pair of headphones? Look, I have tinnitus and hearing loss. It’s not worth it.