Farewell, Walkman

I've owned six different Walkman players -- three cassette, three CD -- and the end of the line strikes me with more than a little nostalgia and melancholy. However, the inevitability of its demise was set when Sony departed from their roots in at least one very important aspect: ubiquity of consumable media.

Cassettes -- then CDs -- were everywhere. Once people were dubbing their own mixtapes -- and rip/mix/burn for CDs -- they were becoming their own DJs. Where they'd have to call into the local radio station to have their favorite song played -- or stay home and spin a record -- they could now be the master of their playlist.

So, it comes as little surprise that the iPod, successor to the Walkman, drew inspiration from its forebears:

[Said John Sculley, former Apple CEO:] "I remember Akio Morita gave Steve [Jobs] and me each one of the first Sony Walkmans. None of us had ever seen anything like that before because there had never been a product like that. This is 25 years ago and Steve was fascinated by it. The first thing he did with his was take it apart and he looked at every single part. How the fit and finish was done, how it was built."

So, the Walkman's designers likely influenced the iPod. And what about the Walkman's branding? After the music player became a hit, Sony tried to capitalize by releasing such products as Pressman, Watchman, Scoopman, and Discman. Now, think iPod, iPhone and iPad.

What goes around, comes around; what once was old is new again.