31 Jul
Debut of The Walkman
By today’s standards it may seem quaint. But when it was released in 1979 the cassette playing walkman made it possible to walk, jog, shop or travel listening to your favorite album in stereo quality. The product was conceived when a Sony executive asked the company’s tape recorder unit to rig up a listening device he could take with him on international flights. Apple’s Steve Jobs acknowledged his debt to the machine. When he introduced the iPod in 2001, Jobs called it “the 21st century walkman”.