Calvin's Canadian Cave of Coolness: If This Was Cutting Edge To You...

Saturday, March 2, 2013

If This Was Cutting Edge To You...

Then you are my people.

10 comments:

Wings1295 said...: Yup, was cutting edge. I didn't have that particular brand, but I remember the first walkman I got. Thought I was living in the future. LOL; March 2, 2013 at 7:05 AM
D.I. Felipe González said...: I still have mine. Haven´t tried to power it up in a few years. And I still use in my computer the same headphones I got in 1989 (this were made to last).; March 2, 2013 at 11:01 AM
Kal said...: I am sure the box of them I have would work with batteries. But I can't keep a set of headphones to last a couple of months. I am also notoriously hard on keyboards and computer chairs.; March 2, 2013 at 11:40 AM
Nick Ward said...: I haven't commented for a while - life has got in the way. However I had to post about this. The walkman was one of my most coveted items as a kid. Now here's an interesting tale I found out about this (at the time) cutting edge piece of kit.

I began life as an utter failure.

Sony had a pro ducted know as the "Pressman" a small tape deck the size of the walkman that could be used to record stuff - lectures, interviews etc. However it could only record in mono. So Sony set about making a stereo version. While they could get t down small they encountered a few big problems. They could get it to playback stereo but not record - and they couldn't fit the speakers in it. So it was abandoned. The techs instead plugged the unit into some big speakers and used it to play music while they worked.

Now Sony had an old chairman a guy who was no longer really in charge but used to just wander around keeping an eye on things. I guess no one had the balls to tell him he couldn't work for them anymore. He spotted the unit and figured it was pretty cool he has also aware that on the other side of the factory they had developed some light-weight headphones - how about they put the two together.

So the walkman was born.

However the head of manufacture had no faith in the product and held back on the assembly of the entire batch - making only half the number they had ordered. He figured when the product bombed he'd be a hero. Unfortunately he hadn't figured on the recent explosion of the jogging craze in the US. The Walkman was a huge hit and Sony struggled to keep up with demand. Needless to say the head of manufacture lost his job.

I love the story of the walkman because it's a story on inspiration, of seeing the bigger picture and of a cool little box that first introduced us to the idea of creating a soundtrack to our lives.; March 2, 2013 at 12:06 PM
Nick Ward said...: Of course I meant to say "IT" began life as an utter failure not "I" man that's a telling slip...; March 2, 2013 at 12:07 PM
Kal said...: Wow, soundtrack of our lives...that is just good writing. It was the greatest thing to have the ability to tune out the whole world. That was rare. I didn't even have headphones in my life before I got my Walkman. The concept of keeping the music to myself just wasn't there. We just played our records in the house sometimes over each other. Weird.; March 2, 2013 at 2:45 PM
Kal said...: And it saved my life in University. Standard urban equiptment along with my ratty backpack.; March 2, 2013 at 2:47 PM
Nick Ward said...: I can see you now, ratty backpack, walkman and batman T-shirt.; March 2, 2013 at 7:10 PM
Kal said...: AND hair. That boy was stylin' and profilin'.; March 2, 2013 at 10:35 PM
Kal said...: oh and the Batman symbol sweatshirt BEFORE they got hip.; March 2, 2013 at 10:36 PM

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