The First Sony Walkman Was Released 40 Years Ago #MusicMonday #History
Paving to way for decades of trendy consumer electronics focused on personal listening. Via Sereogum:
On July 1 of 1979, Sony first began to sell the TPS-L2, first known as the Soundabout and soon rechristened the Walkman. This original Walkman wasn’t the first portable tape player, but it was the first that didn’t have a record function. Portable cassette recorders had mostly been used by reporters; this one, with its newly designed lightweight headphones, was specifically intended for music. It changed the world.
That first edition of the Walkman weighed about a pound, and it cost about $200, according to The New York Times. It featured two headphone jacks and a button where the the two people listening on headphones could talk to each other, or sing along with each other, on a microphone. This was basically the last time anyone worried about whether listening to music on headphones, while out in the world, would be a social experience. We now have 40 years of experience that prove otherwise.
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