It might be hard to believe, but there once was a time when music wasn’t portable. That was until Sony invented the Walkman in Japan in 1979.
The idea of the Sony Walkman was first conceptualized by Sony’s co-founder Masaru Ibuka, who wanted something that was easier to carry around and was more conducive to his jet-set lifestyle.
The first Walkman was adapted from the cassette recorders hit the stores in Japan in 1979. and it was s a instant hit.
The first model was known as the Walkman TPS-L2. It took a couple of AA batteries and had a jack for headphones.
It might be hard to imagine, but the Walkman’s launch in the United States was known as the Sound-About, and was known in the United Kingdom as the Stowaway.
In 1985, the Walkman WM-101 used rechargeable battery. The following year, remote control feature, and solar battery. was added
The second Sony Walkman device, the WM-2, was made much smaller than the first one and was easier to carry.
Interestingly enough, Walkman was even added to the Oxford Dictionary in 1986. The original cassette tape line was discontinued in 2010, but Sony’s music App is still called the Walkman.