Sony Walkman, welcome to the land of other retired forms of entertainment such as 8-tracks, Betamax cassettes, mini-discs and the more recently departed HD-DVD. Thirty years after your existence, you have now been relieved off a duty no one even knew you were still performing. Granted, I knew cassettes were still being manufactured, perhaps as retro and/or kitsch collector items (to which I have no problem with and was tempted to buy the new Of Montreal and Local H releases on) but was unaware that Sony even still made the Walkman.
Last year, I read an article on a father introducing his 13-year-old son to the pioneering device and how it was a lost technology on the MP3 generation. Spending my youth in the 80's and 90's allowed me to appreciate the joy of portable music in cassette especially when I just wanted to listen to my music or, possibly, ignore the outside world. On that note, Walkmen, you served us well (for me, the early 90's until I switched over to a Philips that I have had since 1996 and still use for transferring) and we will never forget all of the many pressings of the fast forward and rewind buttons just to hear a certain song or the many times you have fallen from the butterfingers of people such as myself. To you, I dedicate these four songs that I spent plenty of time listening to you on.
Ha! My old Walkman and mix cassettes brought me many hours/days of enjoyment as well. I resisted an iPod for the longest, out of loyalty, but once I went pod, I never went back. R.I.P. old friend. You were there for me when I needed you. *sniff*
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