Walkman is a portable audio player invented by Sony in 1979. As it is the first portable device that people can hold the music to anywhere they go, it changed people’s habit totally and pioneered in the future personal devices as well. As a fashion object, it represents music fanciers who care about music; follow the fashion trend; and really show off and share their music identity even more. It also contributed in expanding the music industry, which more people can get access to music. Compare to traditional radio or the giant recorder, music became personalized and much more shareable.
I remember when I was a kid, I have seen fanciers attaching walkman to jeans; some of those people would modify the device and earphone using their own knowledge; according to the fashion at that time of 90s, jeans are tight and normal waisted, so the Walkman fits perfectly and won’t pull off the jeans; and the more I have seen was the CD walkman. A big fun was burning a personalized CD or recording a tape. I used walkman to record speaking practice for English class in elementary school. Basically I could press the button, hold it close to my mouth, and just talk. Before streaming, regardless the copyrights, music could be spreaded just that simple. I did not even realized that Walkman had two holes for output, which two people can share the same device at the same time.
In the early 2000s, Walkman was replaced by mp3 player that no longer need tape or CD to play it. Later, Ipod became another revolutionary fashionable music device.
