Today we celebrate the life of our dearly departed Sony Walkman, with the announcement that Sony will be ceasing production on the tape player version. (CD and Mini Disc versions will still be made.)
The Walkman was really the only way to carry portable music back in the day. Not only could you tape your music off the radio and take it with you, you could make mix tapes for your friends and loved ones without the fear of the RIAA breathing down your back. It would chew up your tape once in a while, but with a little love (and some tape and scissors) you could patch it up once again. And, if you were lucky, it came with that cool leather case that seemed like it would protect it, but in reality, your Walkman still suffered from bumps and drops like any of your beloved electronic devices.
Since the tape medium has long been gone, except for the few of us who refuse to upgrade the standard decks in our cars, Sony has found that making the Walkman is more effort than it is worth. Goodbye Walkman. So sorry that we are relegating you to the fate where hipsters will annoyingly fawn over your retro technology and unnecessarily drive up your prices.
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