“Something’s at the edge of your mind, you don’t know what it is.  Somethin’ you were hopin’ to find, your not sure what it is…” 

It is hard to believe that the Sony Walkman turns 30 this week.  This revolutionized music for the masses and set the stage for the iPod.  I remember getting my first walkman in high school - I got it for my 16th birthday with one tape – Triumph’s Allied Forces.  At home I only had records – I was given the Triumph tape as the first present.  While I was excited to get the tape, I wondered how I could play it because I only had a record player – my older sister had the stereo with the record player and the tape deck and that meant I could only listen to my tape when she wasn’t home. 

“Then you hear the music and it all comes crystal clear.  The music does the talkin’, says the things you want to hear.” 

Then, while my parents were amused at my reaction of happy to get the tape but confused as to how I would play it, my dad pulled out another box.  This was the Walkman and this was a total surprise because I had only asked for Triumph’s Allied Forces album (MTV turned me onto their music – but that is another story).  

Now, instead of waiting to get home from school and watch MTV (this is when they actually played videos all the time), or my records, I could have the music that spoke to me with me.  The Walkman helped to make the bus ride home from school a lot more enjoyable.   Rik Emmett, of Triumph, wrote the song Magic Power (first verse above) about the time when he was nine, and his mom gave him a transitor radio – how at night he put the radio under his pillow so he could listen to the music.  An electronic gadget with maybe 16 transistors in it.  He could have music and later write about how magical it was for him at nine. 

A teenager from Britian swapped his iPod for a Walkman for the week.  He had some interesting comments.  

Personally, I’m relieved I live in the digital age, with bigger choice, more functions and smaller devices. I’m relieved that the majority of technological advancement happened before I was born, as I can’t imagine having to use such basic equipment every day. Having said all that, portable music is better than no music.

Now, 30 years later, the Walkman still exists – instead of holding a cassette of 14 songs, it is now digital, holding 1000′s of songs and millions of transistors.  As electronics became smaller, memory became larger.  I can go eight days and not hear the same song. From tranistor radio, to Walkman, to digital player – it is about the music.  As long as the battery lasts, as Rik Emmett sang, “I got the music in me.” 

When did you get your first Walkman?  Do you remember the first tape you played in it?  Were you amazed by the technology at the time?

Mark Viquesney