On July 1, 1979 Sony released a device that changed peoples’ musical listening habits. The came out with a personal cassette player named the Walkman. It was an expensive device costing $199 but it was full of good quality audio gear, stereo, and had 2 headphone outputs so that two people could listen at the same time. Portable tape decks had been around before, but they were more used by professionals and not the general public. The focus of the marketing campaign was to get people interested in hearing their own music in stereo, while they were out and about. This concept was revolutionary at the time because it allowed people to bring good sounding music wherever they went. The device was a such a momentous piece of hardware that the term “walkman” became synonymous with personal musical devices, and was even added to the Oxford English dictionary.

Network Walkman Display Screen Online Editor
The story behind the Sony Walkman