The Walkman - outdated just like us old fogies

I still have my Walkman and still use it occasionally.  That period of technology came and went very quickly.  Kids today, all born after 2000, were given a Walkman to try to figure out what it was and what it does--this short video shows the results.  It made me feel like a dinosaur...(but a smart one, 'cause I know how to use a Walkman (~.~))   I think other old fogies like me will get a few laughs watching this video.

(Video: under 7 and a half minutes): 

 

KIDS REACT: To Walkmans  

 

From Forbidden Knowledge site:

This is hilarious, watching young 

kids trying to figure out what a 

Walkman *is*, let alone how it 

works; what they think of it and 

how it competes against the 

technology of today.

I remember very well when the 

Japanese craze, the Sony Walkman, 

hit the international market, in 1980. 

I was then living in Sao Paulo, Brazil 

and it was an absolutely revolutionary 

moment. I remember seeing my 

mother talking walks in the Brazilian 

outback, listening to Gustav Mahler 

concertos and watching her ecstatic 

facial expressions, as she experienced 

having her favorite music playing right 

in her head, in any setting whatsoever.

What I did not know until researching 

the subject, just now was that the design 

and patents for a portable cassette tape 

player were invented by the German-

Brazilian, Andreas Pavel in 1972, who filed 

a patent for what he called "Stereobelt" in 

Italy in 1977, followed by patent 

applications in the US, Germany, the UK 

and Japan by the end of 1978. (His patent 

applications in the US and the UK were 

rejected).

In 1979, Sony began selling the popular 

Walkman in Japan, without giving credit 

to its inventor. It took 22 years of legal 

action on the part of Pavel to arrive at a 

settlement with Sony, in 2001. 

 

While secret, the cash settlement for 

damages is estimated to have been in 

excess of $10M and he is now also receiving 

royalties on some Walkman sales, as well as 

the official recognition from Sony that Pavel 

was the original inventor of the personal 

stereo.

Alexandra
Forbidden Knowledge

 

(Video: under 7 and a half minutes): 

 

KIDS REACT: To Walkmans