Sony Walkman Ceases production

[BinkieBaumont]

"Sony have announced that they have ceased production of the Sony Walkman (Cassette Model) honestly I thought they must have done it decades ago"

[video=youtube;qcSwOwtyVHA]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qcSwOwtyVHA[/video]

 

[Edward]

I'd also assumed this happened long ago... It was inevitable, really. The format never replaced vinyl for collectors, and so when the CD arrived for the mainstream it was easily surpassed in terms of originals. As a home-recording format, it clung on for a long time - neither DCC nor Sony's own Minidisc troubled it, but when a computer with a CDRW drive became the norm in the home, and especially with the arrival of the mp3 format in the late Nineties, its fate was sealed. The arrival of MP3 players with sizeable flash memory or hard drives spelled the end for the cassette (as well as MD). I can't say I'll miss it. I have seen them around here and there among the 80s Retro crowd, but I doubt that will prove much more than a fashion fad.

 

[Lincsong]

Where were they selling it? Sri Lanka? Congo?

 

[theinterchange]

That's incredible. I thought you were meaning the newish MP3 players.

Randy

 

[LaMedicine]

Actually, the announcement is that Sony stopped production of the cassette tape type aimed at the domestic (meaning Japanese) market this past April, and will cease all sales in Japan once they are out of all stock.
As they are still in demand in Asian and Middle East markets, production by licensed Chinese factories will continue.

 

[Warden]

Sony Walkman (Senior) has reached the end of side two. Its batteries have run out. The rewind button is broken.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-11618899

 

[LizzieMaine]

I think the main remaining market for those was radio reporters. They were cheap and reliable field recorders for on the run interviews and such, but I imagine the all-electronic recorders have come down in price enough to convince even the cheapskates who run radio stations that they're within the budget.

Radio was always the last holdout for vintage technology -- I'm sure in some small town somewhere there's a peanut-whistle station still editing sound with tape and a razor blade.

 

[Talbot]

There is nothing like taking the cassette out, but the tape staying put.

Priceless....

 

[CopperNY]

i still remember the first Walkman i saw. we were playing video games and pinball at the local bowling alley and the local rich "bad boy" came around to show it off, along with the double cassette soundtrack of "Fast Times At Ridgemont High"......

 

[LaMedicine]

I think the main remaining market for those was radio reporters.

That's interesting, because here, the main remaining market was for "okeiko" =lessons, especially of Japanese traditional performing arts such as yokyoku, kouta,nagauta, shamisen etc, plus kiddos piano and violin lessons.
The reporters here are quick to pick up the newest digital tech items for their daily use.