1 00:00:08,000 --> 00:00:15,720 Speaker 1: Ask Hey, it's Cara Price, host of tech Stuff. We're 2 00:00:15,760 --> 00:00:17,880 Speaker 1: taking a week off, but we'll have fresh episodes for 3 00:00:17,920 --> 00:00:20,840 Speaker 1: you next Wednesday. You won't want to miss Oz's conversation 4 00:00:20,960 --> 00:00:23,720 Speaker 1: with the co founder and CEO of Roadblocks. If you've 5 00:00:23,720 --> 00:00:26,520 Speaker 1: always wondered what draws ninety five million people to a 6 00:00:26,520 --> 00:00:30,639 Speaker 1: gaming platform, definitely check out their conversation next week. In 7 00:00:30,680 --> 00:00:32,680 Speaker 1: lieu of the headlines today, we wanted to share an 8 00:00:32,720 --> 00:00:35,680 Speaker 1: episode of tech Stuff from September twenty twenty four about 9 00:00:35,680 --> 00:00:38,440 Speaker 1: what makes the Sony Walkman one of the most influential 10 00:00:38,479 --> 00:00:41,959 Speaker 1: gadgets of all time. In the episode you're about to hear, 11 00:00:42,120 --> 00:00:44,600 Speaker 1: Jonathan Strickland tells us how the Walkman came to be 12 00:00:45,120 --> 00:00:48,000 Speaker 1: and about its lasting impact on how we experience music. 13 00:00:48,479 --> 00:01:01,760 Speaker 2: Take a listen. Welcome to tech Stuff, production from iHeartRadio. 14 00:01:05,920 --> 00:01:09,000 Speaker 2: Hey there, and welcome to tech Stuff. I'm your host, 15 00:01:09,160 --> 00:01:12,960 Speaker 2: Jonathan Strickland. I'm an executive producer with iHeart Podcasts and 16 00:01:13,120 --> 00:01:18,440 Speaker 2: how the tech are you So? Back in twenty sixteen, 17 00:01:18,680 --> 00:01:22,319 Speaker 2: an actual a group of writers writing for Time magazine 18 00:01:22,400 --> 00:01:26,440 Speaker 2: or at least Time dot Com, assembled a list of 19 00:01:26,480 --> 00:01:31,360 Speaker 2: what they called the fifty most influential gadgets of all time. 20 00:01:31,640 --> 00:01:35,679 Speaker 2: They said that the list was quote ordered by influence 21 00:01:36,000 --> 00:01:39,160 Speaker 2: end quote, and maybe that's the case. I do find 22 00:01:39,200 --> 00:01:43,120 Speaker 2: it a little hard to swallow because number fifty on 23 00:01:43,240 --> 00:01:46,480 Speaker 2: their list, as in the bottom of the list, was 24 00:01:46,520 --> 00:01:49,680 Speaker 2: the Apple iPhone. Now, y'all, I am not the biggest 25 00:01:49,760 --> 00:01:54,840 Speaker 2: fan of Apple. I don't own an iPhone, but I 26 00:01:54,880 --> 00:01:57,520 Speaker 2: think if I were to make a list of most 27 00:01:57,560 --> 00:02:00,560 Speaker 2: influential gadgets of all time, the iPhone would be way 28 00:02:00,760 --> 00:02:03,960 Speaker 2: higher up on that list than the very bottom. You know, 29 00:02:04,000 --> 00:02:07,680 Speaker 2: the iPhone really ushered in the era of the consumer smartphone. 30 00:02:07,720 --> 00:02:12,480 Speaker 2: It was not the first smartphone. Apple rarely ever brings 31 00:02:12,520 --> 00:02:15,240 Speaker 2: a product to market as the first of its kind. 32 00:02:15,639 --> 00:02:19,360 Speaker 2: They bring refined products to the market, and it was 33 00:02:19,440 --> 00:02:23,720 Speaker 2: the first smartphone to see huge success with a mainstream audience, 34 00:02:23,800 --> 00:02:27,800 Speaker 2: not just you know, executives on the go or executives 35 00:02:27,800 --> 00:02:32,639 Speaker 2: who wanted to have a technological status symbol. Plus, I mean, 36 00:02:32,720 --> 00:02:36,919 Speaker 2: the entire nature of the web changed due to a 37 00:02:36,960 --> 00:02:40,960 Speaker 2: shift toward mobile computing, and I think we have to 38 00:02:41,040 --> 00:02:44,240 Speaker 2: lay that largely at the feet of the Apple iPhone. 39 00:02:44,600 --> 00:02:48,040 Speaker 2: While the iPhone is not the most popular smartphone in 40 00:02:48,080 --> 00:02:51,960 Speaker 2: the world, I think that it's really what got the 41 00:02:52,000 --> 00:02:56,519 Speaker 2: trend moving toward mobile computing, and that in turn changed 42 00:02:57,080 --> 00:02:59,280 Speaker 2: really like the entire web. So I would put it 43 00:02:59,360 --> 00:03:01,560 Speaker 2: higher on the list. Then my guess is that making 44 00:03:01,680 --> 00:03:04,720 Speaker 2: a list of the fifty most influential gadgets is hard. 45 00:03:05,000 --> 00:03:07,680 Speaker 2: And anyway, today's episode is not about the iPhone at all. 46 00:03:08,000 --> 00:03:10,360 Speaker 2: It's just this was the article that kind of launched 47 00:03:10,360 --> 00:03:13,160 Speaker 2: me into where I wanted to go today. So instead 48 00:03:13,160 --> 00:03:16,160 Speaker 2: of talking about number fifty, because I've done episodes about 49 00:03:16,160 --> 00:03:18,960 Speaker 2: the iPhone before, I thought we would talk about number 50 00:03:19,240 --> 00:03:23,560 Speaker 2: forty seven on this list. So this is more influential 51 00:03:23,639 --> 00:03:26,560 Speaker 2: than the iPhone according to that group of writers, and 52 00:03:26,600 --> 00:03:31,040 Speaker 2: it's the Sony Walkman, as in the portable cassette player. 53 00:03:31,520 --> 00:03:33,520 Speaker 2: It's still not very high up on the list, but 54 00:03:33,720 --> 00:03:36,240 Speaker 2: you know, what can you do? So the Walkman created 55 00:03:36,280 --> 00:03:40,960 Speaker 2: the chance for folks to experience pre recorded audio in 56 00:03:41,000 --> 00:03:44,520 Speaker 2: a pretty new way, a way that was portable, and 57 00:03:44,560 --> 00:03:47,600 Speaker 2: it let them create a kind of bubble around themselves 58 00:03:47,720 --> 00:03:50,520 Speaker 2: even if they were walking around in public. And it 59 00:03:50,560 --> 00:03:54,200 Speaker 2: meant you weren't tethered to like a wall outlet or 60 00:03:54,440 --> 00:03:58,720 Speaker 2: lugging around a large tape deck or tape recorder, so 61 00:03:58,760 --> 00:04:01,000 Speaker 2: that you could listen to your pre recorded cassettes. You 62 00:04:01,000 --> 00:04:04,280 Speaker 2: could just PLoP in some batteries, a pair of double 63 00:04:04,320 --> 00:04:07,040 Speaker 2: A batteries into this thing. You put in your favorite 64 00:04:07,040 --> 00:04:09,640 Speaker 2: audio cassette, You plug in your headphones, put them on 65 00:04:09,680 --> 00:04:12,200 Speaker 2: your ears, you push play, you head out into the world. 66 00:04:12,560 --> 00:04:14,760 Speaker 2: I think it's easy for us to take for granted 67 00:04:15,120 --> 00:04:18,919 Speaker 2: how portable the music experience is today. You know, the 68 00:04:18,960 --> 00:04:22,880 Speaker 2: fact that we had MP three players, iPods, and then 69 00:04:23,040 --> 00:04:27,240 Speaker 2: smartphones and streaming services and all that that's transformed the 70 00:04:27,279 --> 00:04:30,880 Speaker 2: way we experience music in large part, but once upon 71 00:04:30,920 --> 00:04:33,560 Speaker 2: a time that wasn't so much of an option. So 72 00:04:33,680 --> 00:04:36,360 Speaker 2: let's turn back the clock and learn about the development, 73 00:04:36,600 --> 00:04:40,200 Speaker 2: the release, and the impact of the Sony Walkman. And 74 00:04:40,240 --> 00:04:42,400 Speaker 2: before we get to that, we have to have some preamble, 75 00:04:42,480 --> 00:04:44,880 Speaker 2: because you know, this is tech stuff. You know tech stuff. 76 00:04:44,920 --> 00:04:47,960 Speaker 2: I like to talk about the history of technologies, and 77 00:04:48,000 --> 00:04:50,359 Speaker 2: not just the technology, but the stuff that led to 78 00:04:50,400 --> 00:04:53,440 Speaker 2: the development of that tech. So let's talk about recorded 79 00:04:53,680 --> 00:04:58,080 Speaker 2: media and the development of the cassette tape medium. Now 80 00:04:58,240 --> 00:05:01,520 Speaker 2: I've done full episodes about the en of recorded media. 81 00:05:01,720 --> 00:05:06,039 Speaker 2: How one of the earliest versions was recording sound to 82 00:05:06,200 --> 00:05:10,240 Speaker 2: cylinders that were coated in wax. Recording to a wax 83 00:05:10,279 --> 00:05:14,720 Speaker 2: cylinder essentially involved shouting into an acoustic horn, and that 84 00:05:14,800 --> 00:05:18,080 Speaker 2: acoustic horn at the narrow end had a little membrane 85 00:05:18,520 --> 00:05:21,760 Speaker 2: that was connected to a needle, and the membrane would 86 00:05:21,839 --> 00:05:26,240 Speaker 2: vibrate when sound waves would come into the horn. The 87 00:05:26,279 --> 00:05:31,320 Speaker 2: needle that vibrates would carve into the wax on the cylinder. 88 00:05:31,400 --> 00:05:35,200 Speaker 2: The cylinder would be turned and the needle would start 89 00:05:35,240 --> 00:05:39,320 Speaker 2: to carve a spiral into the cylinder. You could take 90 00:05:39,600 --> 00:05:43,520 Speaker 2: the carved cylinder and put that into a player, which 91 00:05:43,600 --> 00:05:46,719 Speaker 2: essentially did the same process, but in reverse. You would 92 00:05:46,720 --> 00:05:50,120 Speaker 2: put a stylist like another needle, and fit it into 93 00:05:50,240 --> 00:05:53,719 Speaker 2: the groove in the cylinder. You would begin to rotate 94 00:05:53,880 --> 00:05:56,919 Speaker 2: the cylinder. The needle would travel through the groove and 95 00:05:56,960 --> 00:05:59,640 Speaker 2: it would vibrate as it did so, which would cause 96 00:05:59,640 --> 00:06:01,839 Speaker 2: a memor brain to vibrate at the narrow end of 97 00:06:01,839 --> 00:06:05,320 Speaker 2: an acoustic horn, And if you listened real carefully at 98 00:06:05,320 --> 00:06:07,880 Speaker 2: the wide end of the acoustic horn, you would be 99 00:06:07,920 --> 00:06:12,159 Speaker 2: able to hear the recorded sound, the playback of whatever 100 00:06:12,160 --> 00:06:15,920 Speaker 2: sound had been recorded originally. Now, it didn't take too 101 00:06:16,080 --> 00:06:20,720 Speaker 2: much longer after the invention of the cylinder for various 102 00:06:20,760 --> 00:06:25,360 Speaker 2: folks to come up with flat recorded discs as an alternative, 103 00:06:25,640 --> 00:06:27,640 Speaker 2: so instead of a cylinder, you would just have a 104 00:06:27,680 --> 00:06:31,360 Speaker 2: flat disc with audio recorded on one and then eventually 105 00:06:31,839 --> 00:06:36,400 Speaker 2: both sides of the disc. These would ultimately become easier 106 00:06:36,440 --> 00:06:40,520 Speaker 2: to store and to produce than wax cylinders were. They 107 00:06:40,560 --> 00:06:43,520 Speaker 2: were originally made all of stuff like shell ac, which 108 00:06:43,600 --> 00:06:47,600 Speaker 2: is essentially something that you get from insects. But eventually 109 00:06:48,160 --> 00:06:52,080 Speaker 2: companies would make the shift to vinyl. While different music 110 00:06:52,080 --> 00:06:56,520 Speaker 2: companies battled it out over formats, we would mostly settle 111 00:06:56,520 --> 00:07:01,000 Speaker 2: on albums playing back at either forty five revolutions or 112 00:07:01,160 --> 00:07:04,719 Speaker 2: thirty three and a third revolutions per minent on turntables. 113 00:07:04,960 --> 00:07:07,560 Speaker 2: Some older albums would actually play it like seventy eight 114 00:07:07,920 --> 00:07:11,600 Speaker 2: revolutions per minuent. Now, the record album traces its history 115 00:07:11,680 --> 00:07:15,760 Speaker 2: back to the late nineteenth century. By the nineteen sixties, 116 00:07:16,240 --> 00:07:20,040 Speaker 2: you know, more than half a century later, vinyl albums 117 00:07:20,080 --> 00:07:23,640 Speaker 2: were the dominant form of recorded media for home use. 118 00:07:24,080 --> 00:07:29,000 Speaker 2: In fact, they were almost exclusively the media format for 119 00:07:29,080 --> 00:07:32,119 Speaker 2: home use unless you were really well off or maybe 120 00:07:32,120 --> 00:07:34,960 Speaker 2: you worked in the music industry or something, because then 121 00:07:35,000 --> 00:07:38,960 Speaker 2: you might have a real to real player. But otherwise 122 00:07:39,000 --> 00:07:42,040 Speaker 2: there just wasn't any call for that. So the music 123 00:07:42,080 --> 00:07:44,800 Speaker 2: industry had been relying upon real to reel players for 124 00:07:44,840 --> 00:07:47,920 Speaker 2: a while in order to make master recordings of performances, 125 00:07:47,960 --> 00:07:51,440 Speaker 2: as well as to edit and put together that master 126 00:07:51,520 --> 00:07:53,840 Speaker 2: in the first place. And this, of course is magnetic 127 00:07:53,920 --> 00:07:58,160 Speaker 2: tape we're talking about now. Magnetic tape also traces its 128 00:07:58,160 --> 00:08:01,680 Speaker 2: evolution back to the late nineteen teenth century, though at 129 00:08:01,720 --> 00:08:05,440 Speaker 2: that point we weren't yet talking about tape. So back 130 00:08:05,480 --> 00:08:09,360 Speaker 2: in the eighteen eighties, there was this feller named Oberlin Smith, 131 00:08:09,920 --> 00:08:13,480 Speaker 2: which what a name, What a great name, Oberlin Smith. 132 00:08:13,760 --> 00:08:18,360 Speaker 2: Oberlin reckoned that you could use magnetization to record sound 133 00:08:18,560 --> 00:08:22,640 Speaker 2: onto a magnetic medium, and it would have to obviously 134 00:08:22,680 --> 00:08:25,920 Speaker 2: be a medium that would respond to magnetic fields. So 135 00:08:25,960 --> 00:08:30,000 Speaker 2: his suggestion was using like silk thread that had been 136 00:08:30,080 --> 00:08:34,480 Speaker 2: coded in steel particles. And here's how he proposed such 137 00:08:34,480 --> 00:08:37,760 Speaker 2: a device would work. So first, for recording, you would 138 00:08:37,800 --> 00:08:41,120 Speaker 2: have a microphone. So sound goes into the microphone, like 139 00:08:41,200 --> 00:08:45,360 Speaker 2: speaking into the microphone, would then generate an alternating current. 140 00:08:45,800 --> 00:08:48,960 Speaker 2: I've done episodes about how microphones work, but essentially what 141 00:08:49,000 --> 00:08:51,040 Speaker 2: you're talking about is similar to what we were talking 142 00:08:51,040 --> 00:08:54,200 Speaker 2: about with recording with wax cylinders, except instead of the 143 00:08:54,280 --> 00:08:59,040 Speaker 2: membrane moving a needle to carve into wax, the vibrating 144 00:08:59,120 --> 00:09:04,200 Speaker 2: membrane would interact with an electromagnet and create a current, 145 00:09:04,360 --> 00:09:08,520 Speaker 2: a variable current. That current you could then use to 146 00:09:08,800 --> 00:09:11,880 Speaker 2: represent the sound. You could actually just send that current 147 00:09:12,160 --> 00:09:15,720 Speaker 2: to an amplifier and then to a speaker, a loud speaker, 148 00:09:15,960 --> 00:09:20,679 Speaker 2: and that's how you get microphone to loudspeaker amplified sound. Well, 149 00:09:20,760 --> 00:09:23,240 Speaker 2: in this case, you wouldn't be sending it to a loudspeaker. Instead, 150 00:09:23,280 --> 00:09:26,120 Speaker 2: you'd be using that current to go to an electromagnet 151 00:09:26,360 --> 00:09:31,880 Speaker 2: create a fluctuating magnetic field. And meanwhile, you would run 152 00:09:32,160 --> 00:09:38,600 Speaker 2: the steel dust coded string past this electromagnet, and that 153 00:09:38,960 --> 00:09:43,800 Speaker 2: fluctuating magnetic field would cause the particles on that string 154 00:09:43,920 --> 00:09:47,640 Speaker 2: to align a certain way according to whatever the magnetic 155 00:09:47,679 --> 00:09:50,520 Speaker 2: field was at the moment that the string was running 156 00:09:50,720 --> 00:09:54,520 Speaker 2: past it. And because that field is in flux, the 157 00:09:54,760 --> 00:09:58,800 Speaker 2: direction of those particles would vary over time, So the 158 00:09:58,840 --> 00:10:03,160 Speaker 2: string would actually become a record of the magnetic fluctuations 159 00:10:03,200 --> 00:10:07,000 Speaker 2: over time. And you know, obviously the rate at which 160 00:10:07,040 --> 00:10:11,240 Speaker 2: you pulled the string past this electromagnet would determine the 161 00:10:11,280 --> 00:10:14,560 Speaker 2: speed of recording. So to play it back, you would 162 00:10:14,640 --> 00:10:18,600 Speaker 2: put the string near a conductor essentially connected to some 163 00:10:19,240 --> 00:10:22,720 Speaker 2: sort of playback device like a speaker, with an amplifier 164 00:10:22,720 --> 00:10:25,200 Speaker 2: in between. Because the signal you're going to get is 165 00:10:25,240 --> 00:10:27,880 Speaker 2: going to be too weak to really drive a speaker. 166 00:10:28,200 --> 00:10:32,360 Speaker 2: So the magnetized particles on the string when you pull 167 00:10:32,360 --> 00:10:36,760 Speaker 2: it past a conductor, then you can induce current to 168 00:10:36,960 --> 00:10:41,880 Speaker 2: flow through that conductor, and that current, when amplified and 169 00:10:41,880 --> 00:10:44,360 Speaker 2: then sent to a speaker, would play back the recorded 170 00:10:44,440 --> 00:10:47,840 Speaker 2: sound used to create the record on the string in 171 00:10:47,880 --> 00:10:52,400 Speaker 2: the first place. Now, all Obey never build a working 172 00:10:52,440 --> 00:10:57,480 Speaker 2: model of his idea. However, a Danish inventor named Valdemar 173 00:10:57,640 --> 00:11:02,280 Speaker 2: Poulsen built upon this note. He either had read about 174 00:11:02,640 --> 00:11:09,439 Speaker 2: the previous concept or had come to the same conclusion independently. 175 00:11:10,000 --> 00:11:12,440 Speaker 2: It's not clear which is the case. But you know 176 00:11:12,800 --> 00:11:18,720 Speaker 2: Obey didn't build it. So Valdemar creates a patent for 177 00:11:18,880 --> 00:11:24,600 Speaker 2: a similar invention that he called the telegraphone, and he 178 00:11:25,000 --> 00:11:27,360 Speaker 2: got the patent. He was awarded the patent for this 179 00:11:27,600 --> 00:11:31,280 Speaker 2: invention in the late eighteen hundreds, and he landed essentially 180 00:11:31,320 --> 00:11:34,880 Speaker 2: a licensing deal here in America. He also landed other 181 00:11:34,920 --> 00:11:37,480 Speaker 2: deals elsewhere in the world. But in America he got 182 00:11:37,840 --> 00:11:40,440 Speaker 2: some folks to buy into it and they created the 183 00:11:40,480 --> 00:11:47,319 Speaker 2: American Telegraphone Company of Washington, DC. So that device used 184 00:11:47,760 --> 00:11:52,560 Speaker 2: like steel wire to record upon, but same sort of 185 00:11:52,800 --> 00:11:56,120 Speaker 2: basic idea. What you would run the steel wire past 186 00:11:56,520 --> 00:12:00,000 Speaker 2: a magnet that would magnetize the wire in various alignments, 187 00:12:00,240 --> 00:12:03,839 Speaker 2: and then running it back across a reader would play 188 00:12:03,920 --> 00:12:07,840 Speaker 2: back the recorded medium or media I should say. In 189 00:12:07,880 --> 00:12:10,880 Speaker 2: that case, well, the device didn't make that big of 190 00:12:10,920 --> 00:12:13,320 Speaker 2: an impact here in the United States. The utility was 191 00:12:13,360 --> 00:12:16,280 Speaker 2: somewhat limited, and the idea was that it really would 192 00:12:16,320 --> 00:12:21,839 Speaker 2: be more like a business equipment, right. It was meant 193 00:12:21,880 --> 00:12:24,720 Speaker 2: for things like taking notes, for dictation, that kind of thing. 194 00:12:24,880 --> 00:12:30,240 Speaker 2: The sound quality wasn't fantastic. It was not really intended 195 00:12:30,640 --> 00:12:34,400 Speaker 2: for pre recorded music. It wouldn't do well for that purpose. 196 00:12:34,800 --> 00:12:37,720 Speaker 2: The invention actually did a little bit better in Europe 197 00:12:37,800 --> 00:12:39,640 Speaker 2: than it did here in the United States. Here in 198 00:12:39,679 --> 00:12:43,000 Speaker 2: the US, the business didn't stay around for very long. 199 00:12:43,040 --> 00:12:48,360 Speaker 2: But other businesses that also took Polson's patent and licensed it, 200 00:12:48,520 --> 00:12:52,120 Speaker 2: they were able to create a business that stood the 201 00:12:52,200 --> 00:12:55,040 Speaker 2: test of time a bit better than the American version, 202 00:12:55,640 --> 00:12:58,480 Speaker 2: but let's get to the development of magnetic tape. So 203 00:12:58,920 --> 00:13:03,839 Speaker 2: this approach which showed that it was viable to use 204 00:13:03,920 --> 00:13:08,360 Speaker 2: magnetism as a recording medium or recording method, but the 205 00:13:08,480 --> 00:13:12,480 Speaker 2: steel wire just wasn't really the best approach. In the 206 00:13:12,480 --> 00:13:16,319 Speaker 2: mid nineteen twenties, there was an American named Joseph O'Neill 207 00:13:16,400 --> 00:13:19,360 Speaker 2: who theorized that you could quote quote a strip of 208 00:13:19,400 --> 00:13:23,400 Speaker 2: paper or some other cheap material end quote with magnetic 209 00:13:23,440 --> 00:13:26,760 Speaker 2: material for the purposes of recording audio to it, and 210 00:13:26,880 --> 00:13:30,280 Speaker 2: this would remove the need to use steel wire, or 211 00:13:30,320 --> 00:13:35,840 Speaker 2: steel coated threads, or steel tape. These all had limited utility. 212 00:13:36,000 --> 00:13:38,920 Speaker 2: With the case of thread, there was limited resilience, like 213 00:13:39,000 --> 00:13:43,280 Speaker 2: it could eventually break or fray. So he said, why 214 00:13:43,320 --> 00:13:47,560 Speaker 2: not just use a strip of material, coat it with 215 00:13:47,600 --> 00:13:51,840 Speaker 2: this magnetic stuff, and then use that for recording. However, 216 00:13:52,320 --> 00:13:56,400 Speaker 2: while he had suggested the concept, he didn't appear to 217 00:13:56,440 --> 00:13:59,520 Speaker 2: pursue this in any serious way as far as I 218 00:13:59,559 --> 00:14:03,640 Speaker 2: am aware, where he did not produce an actual example 219 00:14:03,679 --> 00:14:06,520 Speaker 2: of this. He just kind of theorized that it could 220 00:14:06,520 --> 00:14:11,760 Speaker 2: be done. Whereas a German engineer named Fritz Fleoimer had 221 00:14:11,920 --> 00:14:15,880 Speaker 2: developed a method to put metal stripes on cigarette paper 222 00:14:16,200 --> 00:14:19,480 Speaker 2: to want purpose. I do not know. I'm sure there 223 00:14:19,640 --> 00:14:22,680 Speaker 2: was a reason to put metal stripes on cigarette paper, 224 00:14:22,960 --> 00:14:25,240 Speaker 2: but I don't know what it was. But I didn't 225 00:14:25,240 --> 00:14:27,920 Speaker 2: look it up because I've got enough bunny trails going 226 00:14:27,960 --> 00:14:30,800 Speaker 2: on in this episode anyway. But he reasoned that because 227 00:14:30,840 --> 00:14:33,000 Speaker 2: he had figured out how to do that, how to 228 00:14:33,000 --> 00:14:36,640 Speaker 2: put metal stripes on cigarette paper, he could use a 229 00:14:36,680 --> 00:14:41,000 Speaker 2: similar approach to coat a strip of paper like paper tape, 230 00:14:41,360 --> 00:14:44,720 Speaker 2: with magnetic material, and then the paper tape could be 231 00:14:44,840 --> 00:14:47,680 Speaker 2: used as a recording medium for audio. The process of 232 00:14:47,720 --> 00:14:50,880 Speaker 2: recording and playback would be pretty similar as what it 233 00:14:51,000 --> 00:14:54,440 Speaker 2: was with the telegraphones, so not that different from steel 234 00:14:54,440 --> 00:14:57,440 Speaker 2: wire or steel tape. You would still have a right 235 00:14:57,560 --> 00:15:00,760 Speaker 2: head that would use a fluctuating magnetic fee to record 236 00:15:00,840 --> 00:15:06,240 Speaker 2: audio signals sent from a microphone to this magnetically coded 237 00:15:06,360 --> 00:15:09,240 Speaker 2: paper tape as it passed by underneath the right head, 238 00:15:09,560 --> 00:15:12,040 Speaker 2: and then later if you wanted to play it back, 239 00:15:12,080 --> 00:15:15,400 Speaker 2: a playback head. A red head would pick up the 240 00:15:15,960 --> 00:15:19,560 Speaker 2: magnetic stripe with its particles in various alignments, and this 241 00:15:19,600 --> 00:15:23,720 Speaker 2: would create the electric current that was created through induction, 242 00:15:24,240 --> 00:15:27,560 Speaker 2: and then that current would get amplified by an amplifier 243 00:15:27,840 --> 00:15:30,720 Speaker 2: and could then be sent as a signal to playback 244 00:15:30,760 --> 00:15:34,000 Speaker 2: sound on a loudspeaker. His work in the late nineteen 245 00:15:34,000 --> 00:15:37,800 Speaker 2: twenties would ultimately lead to the development of the Magnetophone 246 00:15:37,960 --> 00:15:41,280 Speaker 2: K one, which he unveiled in nineteen thirty five, which 247 00:15:41,360 --> 00:15:45,880 Speaker 2: was the first practical tape recorder. Okay, so that sets 248 00:15:46,320 --> 00:15:50,720 Speaker 2: the first stage for what would become the foundation for 249 00:15:50,880 --> 00:15:53,480 Speaker 2: the Walkman. When we come back, I'll talk a little 250 00:15:53,520 --> 00:15:56,760 Speaker 2: bit more about Walkman pre history, and we'll talk about 251 00:15:56,800 --> 00:16:00,920 Speaker 2: Sony itself and how it came about developing the Walkman 252 00:16:01,200 --> 00:16:04,120 Speaker 2: device and why it became one of the top fifty 253 00:16:04,200 --> 00:16:07,600 Speaker 2: most influential gadgets in history according to these folks in time. 254 00:16:08,000 --> 00:16:21,320 Speaker 2: But first, let's take a quick break. Okay. When we 255 00:16:21,400 --> 00:16:26,520 Speaker 2: left off, before the break, I was talking about Fritz Fleoimer, 256 00:16:26,960 --> 00:16:32,000 Speaker 2: a German engineer, an Austrian German engineer who developed this 257 00:16:32,560 --> 00:16:36,760 Speaker 2: magnetic tape that ultimately he would unveil in nineteen thirty five, 258 00:16:37,200 --> 00:16:40,760 Speaker 2: and that was the Magnetophone K one that was the 259 00:16:40,800 --> 00:16:45,000 Speaker 2: first practical tape recorder. But this was also during a 260 00:16:45,080 --> 00:16:48,920 Speaker 2: time where the world was heading into World War Two. Obviously, 261 00:16:49,040 --> 00:16:53,920 Speaker 2: World War two ends up being this massive conflict and 262 00:16:54,520 --> 00:16:59,640 Speaker 2: US forces were very much interested in one learning what 263 00:16:59,720 --> 00:17:04,159 Speaker 2: technology the Germans had access to and to stealing it. 264 00:17:05,720 --> 00:17:08,320 Speaker 2: Now that's not just the Americans. Everybody was like this, 265 00:17:08,480 --> 00:17:12,720 Speaker 2: right in. Any country that perceived that another country had a 266 00:17:12,760 --> 00:17:17,480 Speaker 2: technological advantage wanted to remove that advantage from their opponents, 267 00:17:17,520 --> 00:17:20,240 Speaker 2: wanted to be able to exploit it themselves. So this 268 00:17:20,400 --> 00:17:24,840 Speaker 2: was going on across all enemy lines, like everybody was 269 00:17:25,440 --> 00:17:29,080 Speaker 2: spying on and stealing from everyone else, even allies in 270 00:17:29,119 --> 00:17:32,680 Speaker 2: some cases. But here US forces were able to get 271 00:17:32,720 --> 00:17:35,520 Speaker 2: possession of some German recording equipment as well as some 272 00:17:35,640 --> 00:17:39,959 Speaker 2: German tapes, and soon Americans began developing their own version 273 00:17:40,280 --> 00:17:44,960 Speaker 2: of Floimer's technology. They began to create their own magnetic 274 00:17:45,040 --> 00:17:49,640 Speaker 2: tape systems and magnetic tapes themselves. By the late nineteen forties, 275 00:17:49,960 --> 00:17:54,159 Speaker 2: the recording industry had begun to use magnetic tape in 276 00:17:54,240 --> 00:17:58,879 Speaker 2: order for music production. Tape actually opened up a ton 277 00:17:59,160 --> 00:18:02,800 Speaker 2: of new opportunit unities. For one thing, you could record 278 00:18:03,160 --> 00:18:07,320 Speaker 2: several sessions to tape, and then you could physically cut 279 00:18:07,359 --> 00:18:11,000 Speaker 2: and edit the tape to put together a master recording. 280 00:18:11,280 --> 00:18:16,400 Speaker 2: You know, maybe you have some various takes that are 281 00:18:16,400 --> 00:18:19,880 Speaker 2: all pretty close to each other. But maybe take three 282 00:18:20,520 --> 00:18:23,680 Speaker 2: the band had a really great intro into the song. 283 00:18:23,720 --> 00:18:27,320 Speaker 2: It just sounded really good. But take five has the 284 00:18:27,359 --> 00:18:31,240 Speaker 2: best version of the bridge, and the group really nailed 285 00:18:31,520 --> 00:18:35,200 Speaker 2: the ending of the song just on the second take. Now, 286 00:18:35,400 --> 00:18:38,680 Speaker 2: before the days of magnetic tape, you pretty much had 287 00:18:38,680 --> 00:18:42,840 Speaker 2: to decide which of these takes was your favorite. And 288 00:18:43,400 --> 00:18:45,880 Speaker 2: it may not have all the best qualities of all 289 00:18:45,920 --> 00:18:48,800 Speaker 2: the best takes, but you're stuck with what you've got, 290 00:18:48,960 --> 00:18:50,840 Speaker 2: and so you got to pick whichever one is going 291 00:18:50,880 --> 00:18:52,440 Speaker 2: to be the master, and that's what you go with. 292 00:18:52,680 --> 00:18:55,840 Speaker 2: But with tape, with a really good editor, you could 293 00:18:55,840 --> 00:18:59,520 Speaker 2: actually put together a recording that doesn't really exist right 294 00:18:59,600 --> 00:19:03,120 Speaker 2: or at least it doesn't exist in one performance. It's 295 00:19:03,119 --> 00:19:06,199 Speaker 2: actually a combination of performances. You could do that if 296 00:19:06,240 --> 00:19:08,879 Speaker 2: you were really good with editing, and if the band 297 00:19:09,000 --> 00:19:11,879 Speaker 2: was really consistent, you could actually put this together. And 298 00:19:12,200 --> 00:19:14,159 Speaker 2: you could also do other things, like you could do 299 00:19:14,320 --> 00:19:18,200 Speaker 2: multi track recording. You could do overdubbing. That really opened 300 00:19:18,280 --> 00:19:23,080 Speaker 2: up a lot of opportunities. Overdubbing means you would record someone, 301 00:19:23,359 --> 00:19:25,879 Speaker 2: Let's say it's a vocalist singing, but it could just 302 00:19:25,880 --> 00:19:29,439 Speaker 2: as easily be a musician playing some instrument like guitar 303 00:19:29,640 --> 00:19:32,880 Speaker 2: or piano or whatever, and then you've got your recording. 304 00:19:33,200 --> 00:19:36,800 Speaker 2: Then you could play the recording back, and meanwhile the 305 00:19:36,920 --> 00:19:41,120 Speaker 2: vocalist or musician or whatever could play their own harmonies 306 00:19:41,359 --> 00:19:45,640 Speaker 2: along with the original recording, so they're accompanying themselves. They're 307 00:19:45,640 --> 00:19:49,640 Speaker 2: accompanying the recorded version of themself live. Then you could 308 00:19:49,640 --> 00:19:53,760 Speaker 2: record that. That's overdubbing. This way, you could layer your 309 00:19:53,800 --> 00:19:57,560 Speaker 2: recordings to get a more lush, rich sound than would 310 00:19:57,560 --> 00:20:00,639 Speaker 2: be possible if you were just relying on and you know, 311 00:20:00,720 --> 00:20:03,960 Speaker 2: a single artist or band or whatever. You could really 312 00:20:04,200 --> 00:20:08,000 Speaker 2: flesh sounds out that way. The tape machines in those 313 00:20:08,119 --> 00:20:11,680 Speaker 2: days were often these big, real to real devices, and 314 00:20:11,720 --> 00:20:14,280 Speaker 2: so it was not common for your average person to 315 00:20:14,320 --> 00:20:16,200 Speaker 2: get hold of one of those. I mean, they were 316 00:20:16,280 --> 00:20:21,119 Speaker 2: sold sometimes to consumers, but they were expensive and to 317 00:20:21,160 --> 00:20:23,760 Speaker 2: get the actual media was hard to There weren't a 318 00:20:23,800 --> 00:20:27,720 Speaker 2: lot of places selling real to real tape of performances. 319 00:20:28,119 --> 00:20:31,440 Speaker 2: So vinyl records were still the dominant form of recorded 320 00:20:31,480 --> 00:20:34,800 Speaker 2: media in the consumer space, but that would change thanks 321 00:20:34,840 --> 00:20:40,200 Speaker 2: to a Dutch electronics company called Phillips. Now the Phillips 322 00:20:40,280 --> 00:20:44,760 Speaker 2: Electronics Company dated back to eighteen ninety one sensing a 323 00:20:44,760 --> 00:20:47,560 Speaker 2: theme here, I'm sure like all these technologies and companies 324 00:20:47,920 --> 00:20:51,800 Speaker 2: date back to like the late nineteenth century, Brothers Anton 325 00:20:51,920 --> 00:20:55,560 Speaker 2: and Gerard Phillips created the Phillips Company in the Netherlands. 326 00:20:55,640 --> 00:20:58,760 Speaker 2: Their original focus was on light bulbs, and generally the 327 00:20:58,800 --> 00:21:02,480 Speaker 2: company's philosophy was that they would aim to create high 328 00:21:02,640 --> 00:21:06,440 Speaker 2: quality products, even though that meant that their products would 329 00:21:06,440 --> 00:21:08,960 Speaker 2: be priced for a fairly limited market, which is a 330 00:21:09,040 --> 00:21:12,640 Speaker 2: nice way of saying their stuff was expensive, you know. Now, 331 00:21:12,680 --> 00:21:15,280 Speaker 2: for a while, their company was part of a global 332 00:21:15,359 --> 00:21:18,520 Speaker 2: cartel that dominated the light bulb market, and on the 333 00:21:18,520 --> 00:21:22,159 Speaker 2: one hand, that did lead to forming certain standards in 334 00:21:22,200 --> 00:21:24,960 Speaker 2: the light bulb industry, but on the other it arguably 335 00:21:25,000 --> 00:21:29,360 Speaker 2: prevented competition in the marketplace. Anyway. By the late nineteen forties, 336 00:21:29,720 --> 00:21:32,720 Speaker 2: Phillips was starting to get into other types of technologies, 337 00:21:32,800 --> 00:21:35,400 Speaker 2: you know, like electric shavers, but they found out the 338 00:21:35,440 --> 00:21:38,679 Speaker 2: profit margins are razor thin. Not really, but I couldn't 339 00:21:38,720 --> 00:21:42,120 Speaker 2: resist the pun. But in the nineteen fifties, Phillips got 340 00:21:42,160 --> 00:21:45,239 Speaker 2: into the recording business. They launched a music label. They 341 00:21:45,320 --> 00:21:48,840 Speaker 2: later in the nineteen sixties acquired smaller record labels like 342 00:21:49,000 --> 00:21:52,720 Speaker 2: Mercury Records, and they were also thinking, well, how can 343 00:21:52,720 --> 00:21:55,920 Speaker 2: we also be in the business of the medium upon 344 00:21:56,040 --> 00:21:59,600 Speaker 2: which recorded music can go. So an engineer at Phillips 345 00:21:59,680 --> 00:22:03,000 Speaker 2: named lew Atten's worked out of an office in Belgium 346 00:22:03,119 --> 00:22:06,200 Speaker 2: where he was pioneering a new technology that would bring 347 00:22:06,240 --> 00:22:10,280 Speaker 2: magnetic tape media to home consumers. This was in nineteen 348 00:22:10,400 --> 00:22:13,760 Speaker 2: sixty two, and the invention that he pioneered was the 349 00:22:13,800 --> 00:22:17,159 Speaker 2: cassette tape. This tape would use a very thin strip 350 00:22:17,200 --> 00:22:21,120 Speaker 2: of plastic film coded in magnetic material. The film would 351 00:22:21,160 --> 00:22:24,520 Speaker 2: wrap around a pair of reels. Those reels would be 352 00:22:24,720 --> 00:22:29,439 Speaker 2: encased inside a plastic cartridge. On the outside of this 353 00:22:29,480 --> 00:22:31,920 Speaker 2: cartridge you would see like the two holes that'd be 354 00:22:31,960 --> 00:22:34,840 Speaker 2: the center of these two reels. They'd be pronged so 355 00:22:34,880 --> 00:22:38,560 Speaker 2: that they could fit onto a tape player's spokes, and 356 00:22:38,760 --> 00:22:42,160 Speaker 2: a small length of this tape is obviously uncovered. That 357 00:22:42,200 --> 00:22:45,359 Speaker 2: section could be then inserted into a tape recorder for 358 00:22:45,520 --> 00:22:49,160 Speaker 2: recording or playback. The cassette was such a small form 359 00:22:49,240 --> 00:22:54,040 Speaker 2: factor that immediately people saw advantages over larger reel to 360 00:22:54,119 --> 00:22:57,760 Speaker 2: reel machines that were far more bulky and expensive. Now, 361 00:22:57,760 --> 00:23:00,280 Speaker 2: the initial plan for the audio cassette was to sell 362 00:23:00,320 --> 00:23:03,199 Speaker 2: them as business tools like this was an idea like 363 00:23:03,359 --> 00:23:06,479 Speaker 2: again for dictation and taking notes and that kind of stuff. 364 00:23:06,720 --> 00:23:11,480 Speaker 2: It didn't take long, however, before Phillips and other companies said, hey, 365 00:23:12,280 --> 00:23:15,399 Speaker 2: what if we put pre recorded music on these and 366 00:23:15,440 --> 00:23:18,760 Speaker 2: sold them like we do with vinyl albums. Now you 367 00:23:18,840 --> 00:23:22,240 Speaker 2: might wonder what artist was the first to offer an 368 00:23:22,320 --> 00:23:26,240 Speaker 2: album on cassette tape. The answer to that is unclear. 369 00:23:27,000 --> 00:23:31,679 Speaker 2: Christian Romer has a blog post on legacybox dot com 370 00:23:31,720 --> 00:23:35,960 Speaker 2: about this and lists a few potential contenders for the 371 00:23:36,000 --> 00:23:40,040 Speaker 2: first album on cassette tape. One is Nina Simone's Wild 372 00:23:40,280 --> 00:23:44,479 Speaker 2: Is the Wind, Another is Johnny Mathis's The Shadow of 373 00:23:44,520 --> 00:23:49,000 Speaker 2: Your Smile. But my favorite is Eartha Kit's Love for 374 00:23:49,240 --> 00:23:54,880 Speaker 2: Sale album. I love Eartha Kit, what an amazing performer. 375 00:23:55,200 --> 00:23:58,400 Speaker 2: But as Romer points out, no one was really documenting 376 00:23:58,440 --> 00:24:02,000 Speaker 2: the history of albums on cassette when they first started 377 00:24:02,040 --> 00:24:04,600 Speaker 2: to become a thing, so it's unclear what the actual 378 00:24:04,640 --> 00:24:07,000 Speaker 2: answer is of who was first. I would also like 379 00:24:07,000 --> 00:24:10,120 Speaker 2: to point out that music labels likely produced more than 380 00:24:10,200 --> 00:24:13,199 Speaker 2: just one album on cassette at a time, because it 381 00:24:13,200 --> 00:24:15,560 Speaker 2: seems like an odd choice to just go with let's 382 00:24:15,600 --> 00:24:18,200 Speaker 2: just do one and see how it goes. Someone's album 383 00:24:18,240 --> 00:24:21,160 Speaker 2: obviously had to be the first off the manufacturing line, 384 00:24:21,160 --> 00:24:23,600 Speaker 2: but I think that's just splitting hairs. At that point, 385 00:24:24,119 --> 00:24:28,200 Speaker 2: cassettes were easier to store than vinyl albums, they took 386 00:24:28,280 --> 00:24:31,919 Speaker 2: up less space. They did have their own peculiarities. However, 387 00:24:32,040 --> 00:24:35,200 Speaker 2: if you brought a cassette tape near a strong magnet, 388 00:24:35,359 --> 00:24:37,639 Speaker 2: well you just screwed up the recording on your cassette 389 00:24:37,640 --> 00:24:40,800 Speaker 2: tape because the magnetic particles on the tape would realign 390 00:24:41,240 --> 00:24:45,240 Speaker 2: to this new powerful magnetic field, so effectively you would 391 00:24:45,280 --> 00:24:49,080 Speaker 2: erase your cassette. Anyone who had cassette tapes also knows 392 00:24:49,119 --> 00:24:52,720 Speaker 2: the pain of tape getting snagged on something and then 393 00:24:52,920 --> 00:24:55,720 Speaker 2: unreeling from inside the cassette. You would just have this 394 00:24:56,240 --> 00:25:01,320 Speaker 2: massive plastic film just unspooled from out side inside the cassette. 395 00:25:01,320 --> 00:25:03,840 Speaker 2: Now it's outside the cassette. So to fix that you 396 00:25:03,880 --> 00:25:07,879 Speaker 2: would have to do the old standby, which is what 397 00:25:07,920 --> 00:25:10,640 Speaker 2: I call inserting a pencil into the spokes on one 398 00:25:10,760 --> 00:25:14,160 Speaker 2: reel and gently coaxing the tape back into place by 399 00:25:14,440 --> 00:25:18,359 Speaker 2: twisting the pencil slowly, one twist at a time. What 400 00:25:18,520 --> 00:25:21,800 Speaker 2: a joy that was. But you know, while the cassette 401 00:25:21,840 --> 00:25:26,479 Speaker 2: media was far more portable than vinyl, the players weren't 402 00:25:26,640 --> 00:25:29,760 Speaker 2: that much more portable, at least not at first. I mean, 403 00:25:29,800 --> 00:25:34,360 Speaker 2: they were smaller than turntables, but they weren't pocket sized, 404 00:25:34,840 --> 00:25:39,000 Speaker 2: you know. Tape decks, like tape recorders, were still fairly large. 405 00:25:39,720 --> 00:25:42,560 Speaker 2: They were too large to carry around easily. Like you 406 00:25:42,560 --> 00:25:45,480 Speaker 2: could put a strap on one and wear it around 407 00:25:45,640 --> 00:25:48,760 Speaker 2: your neck like it was like a handbag or something, 408 00:25:49,119 --> 00:25:52,040 Speaker 2: but it was still pretty bulky. A lot of tape 409 00:25:52,040 --> 00:25:54,720 Speaker 2: decks did have headphone jacks, but not all of them, 410 00:25:54,880 --> 00:25:57,320 Speaker 2: because a lot of them had a built in speaker 411 00:25:57,920 --> 00:26:00,280 Speaker 2: in the tape deck itself, so you would just push 412 00:26:00,320 --> 00:26:02,560 Speaker 2: play and listened to the music coming straight out of 413 00:26:02,600 --> 00:26:05,640 Speaker 2: the tape deck. It's usually pretty tenny. It wasn't typically 414 00:26:05,680 --> 00:26:09,120 Speaker 2: a very good quality of sound, but it worked. But yeah, 415 00:26:09,400 --> 00:26:12,760 Speaker 2: it wasn't necessarily the case that a tape deck would 416 00:26:12,800 --> 00:26:15,560 Speaker 2: have a headphone jack. A lot of them did, but 417 00:26:15,640 --> 00:26:18,680 Speaker 2: it wasn't a sure thing. And that's kind of where 418 00:26:18,720 --> 00:26:22,480 Speaker 2: things sat for about a decade. But now let's flash 419 00:26:22,520 --> 00:26:26,560 Speaker 2: forward to the nineteen seventies in Japan. So the story 420 00:26:26,640 --> 00:26:30,639 Speaker 2: goes that one of Sony's co founders, a guy named 421 00:26:30,840 --> 00:26:34,920 Speaker 2: Masaru Ibuka, wanted to be able to listen to albums 422 00:26:35,280 --> 00:26:38,119 Speaker 2: on a portable playback device. Specifically, he wanted to be 423 00:26:38,119 --> 00:26:41,080 Speaker 2: able to listen to opera. He took lots of flights. 424 00:26:41,600 --> 00:26:45,119 Speaker 2: Being the head of a major electronics company in Japan, 425 00:26:45,320 --> 00:26:47,639 Speaker 2: he had to fly a lot, and he liked to 426 00:26:47,680 --> 00:26:50,440 Speaker 2: listen to opera, and he wanted a way to bring 427 00:26:50,640 --> 00:26:53,480 Speaker 2: opera albums with him on flights so that he wasn't 428 00:26:53,520 --> 00:26:55,840 Speaker 2: having to pay attention to everything else that's going on 429 00:26:55,840 --> 00:26:59,440 Speaker 2: on a plane. And he asked his engineers to look 430 00:26:59,480 --> 00:27:01,960 Speaker 2: into a way to achieve this goal, like how could 431 00:27:01,960 --> 00:27:05,960 Speaker 2: he listen to stuff on a device that was small 432 00:27:06,040 --> 00:27:08,159 Speaker 2: enough for him to easily bring it with him on 433 00:27:08,200 --> 00:27:12,879 Speaker 2: a flight. And a designer named Noria Oga got the 434 00:27:13,359 --> 00:27:17,200 Speaker 2: high pressure assignment of figuring out how to make something 435 00:27:17,200 --> 00:27:21,520 Speaker 2: that Ebuka would appreciate. So then Oga turns to a 436 00:27:21,560 --> 00:27:25,080 Speaker 2: product that Sony had already started producing at that point. 437 00:27:25,280 --> 00:27:27,639 Speaker 2: This was a product that they were producing for the 438 00:27:27,640 --> 00:27:32,320 Speaker 2: business market, and it was a small handheld tape recorder 439 00:27:32,480 --> 00:27:36,400 Speaker 2: called the TCM one hundred B. It was also known 440 00:27:36,480 --> 00:27:39,640 Speaker 2: as the Pressman because they were thinking that this would 441 00:27:39,640 --> 00:27:42,680 Speaker 2: be a device that reporters for newspapers would want to 442 00:27:42,800 --> 00:27:45,119 Speaker 2: use in order to make verbal notes. That kind of 443 00:27:45,160 --> 00:27:48,280 Speaker 2: thing did not digital, but recorded notes, and so it 444 00:27:48,320 --> 00:27:52,040 Speaker 2: was a handheld cassette recorder for voice memos and stuff. 445 00:27:52,080 --> 00:27:54,199 Speaker 2: It was small enough that you could hold it in 446 00:27:54,280 --> 00:27:57,880 Speaker 2: one hand. You would operate it by pressing the various buttons, 447 00:27:57,880 --> 00:28:00,639 Speaker 2: and they had buttons for stuff like rewind and fast 448 00:28:00,680 --> 00:28:05,040 Speaker 2: forward and record and play. All the basic functions of 449 00:28:05,080 --> 00:28:09,480 Speaker 2: your tape deck all built in. So the base elements 450 00:28:09,480 --> 00:28:13,560 Speaker 2: for a Walkman were already present in the Pressman. So 451 00:28:13,600 --> 00:28:16,399 Speaker 2: Oga just used the Pressman as kind of a launching pad, 452 00:28:16,640 --> 00:28:20,280 Speaker 2: and he created a prototype portable cassette player. He worked 453 00:28:20,280 --> 00:28:24,000 Speaker 2: with engineers to take the Pressman and tweak the design 454 00:28:24,280 --> 00:28:27,120 Speaker 2: of that product. So one thing they did was they 455 00:28:27,200 --> 00:28:31,439 Speaker 2: removed the recording feature, so it was purely a playback device, 456 00:28:31,520 --> 00:28:34,439 Speaker 2: not a recording device. They also changed it so that 457 00:28:34,720 --> 00:28:38,400 Speaker 2: the Pressman was monaural mono in other words, so you 458 00:28:38,440 --> 00:28:41,800 Speaker 2: didn't have two different channels of sound going to the 459 00:28:41,840 --> 00:28:45,080 Speaker 2: different speakers in your headset. It was all mono. They 460 00:28:45,200 --> 00:28:47,080 Speaker 2: changed it to stereo so it would be able to 461 00:28:47,080 --> 00:28:51,440 Speaker 2: support stereo recording. He then gave this prototype to Abuka 462 00:28:51,440 --> 00:28:54,640 Speaker 2: before Abuka was to go on another flight around the 463 00:28:54,680 --> 00:28:57,200 Speaker 2: world to do business e things in order to test 464 00:28:57,240 --> 00:28:59,479 Speaker 2: it out. And Abuka must have really liked the result, 465 00:28:59,640 --> 00:29:03,760 Speaker 2: because Sony would then go on to produce the Walkman 466 00:29:03,920 --> 00:29:07,960 Speaker 2: portable cassette player the following year, in nineteen seventy nine. Now, 467 00:29:07,960 --> 00:29:12,000 Speaker 2: this was never a sure thing. In fact, within the company, 468 00:29:12,000 --> 00:29:14,000 Speaker 2: there was a lot of resistance to this idea. There 469 00:29:14,040 --> 00:29:16,200 Speaker 2: were a lot of executives who said, I don't know 470 00:29:16,240 --> 00:29:18,680 Speaker 2: about this. I don't think there's actually a market big 471 00:29:18,760 --> 00:29:24,520 Speaker 2: enough to support the production and marketing of a portable 472 00:29:24,600 --> 00:29:28,480 Speaker 2: cassette player. But then Sony's other co founder, a guy 473 00:29:28,560 --> 00:29:32,720 Speaker 2: named Marita Akio, saw the potential for great success and 474 00:29:33,040 --> 00:29:35,400 Speaker 2: he said, no, Abuka was right, Like, this wasn't just 475 00:29:35,440 --> 00:29:38,120 Speaker 2: a project for Abuka so that he could listen to 476 00:29:38,240 --> 00:29:40,360 Speaker 2: music when he was on his flights. This thing could 477 00:29:40,440 --> 00:29:44,760 Speaker 2: be a real blockbuster hit for our company. So, with 478 00:29:44,840 --> 00:29:48,880 Speaker 2: the support of the co founders, the company did go 479 00:29:49,040 --> 00:29:53,600 Speaker 2: into the development for a consumer portable cassette player and 480 00:29:53,680 --> 00:29:57,400 Speaker 2: they began to develop the Walkman. All right, we're going 481 00:29:57,480 --> 00:29:59,680 Speaker 2: to take another quick break. When we come back, i'll 482 00:29:59,680 --> 00:30:12,480 Speaker 2: talk more about the Walkman story and its place in history. So, 483 00:30:12,640 --> 00:30:16,360 Speaker 2: with the support of Sony's co founder's engineers, that Sony 484 00:30:16,400 --> 00:30:20,320 Speaker 2: got to work in creating a consumer version of the 485 00:30:20,360 --> 00:30:25,760 Speaker 2: prototype that OGA had created for Ibuka, and they created 486 00:30:25,840 --> 00:30:32,120 Speaker 2: a device that had the designation TPSL two, but it 487 00:30:32,160 --> 00:30:36,000 Speaker 2: would get the name Walkman. Akio came up with that 488 00:30:36,080 --> 00:30:38,280 Speaker 2: name and said it should be called the Walkman because 489 00:30:38,320 --> 00:30:41,840 Speaker 2: you can walk around with it and listen to music. Pressman, 490 00:30:42,480 --> 00:30:47,720 Speaker 2: the voice recording device that was for the press. Walkman 491 00:30:47,920 --> 00:30:50,760 Speaker 2: is for walking around and listening to your music, and 492 00:30:51,440 --> 00:30:54,880 Speaker 2: they launched it in Japan in July nineteen seventy nine 493 00:30:55,000 --> 00:30:59,040 Speaker 2: for the equivalent of around one hundred and fifty dollars, 494 00:30:59,480 --> 00:31:02,280 Speaker 2: which is a big o' yikes, one hundred and fifty 495 00:31:02,320 --> 00:31:06,000 Speaker 2: dollars in nineteen seventy nine. The United States would not 496 00:31:06,280 --> 00:31:10,920 Speaker 2: get the Walkman until nineteen eighty. Meanwhile, you might wonder, okay, 497 00:31:11,080 --> 00:31:13,760 Speaker 2: one hundred and fifty bucks in nineteen seventy nine, what 498 00:31:13,880 --> 00:31:17,880 Speaker 2: would that be equivalent to today? Well, using a handy 499 00:31:17,960 --> 00:31:22,000 Speaker 2: dandy inflation calculator, that comes out to around six hundred 500 00:31:22,160 --> 00:31:26,880 Speaker 2: forty six dollars for a portable cassette player. Keep in 501 00:31:26,880 --> 00:31:31,040 Speaker 2: mind that the original Walkman didn't have recording capabilities. Just playback, 502 00:31:31,520 --> 00:31:35,440 Speaker 2: Holy cats, y'all. That is as incredibly expensive. Like again, 503 00:31:35,480 --> 00:31:38,680 Speaker 2: I always think about things like video game consoles that 504 00:31:38,800 --> 00:31:41,360 Speaker 2: launch for around five hundred to seven hundred dollars, and 505 00:31:41,400 --> 00:31:43,960 Speaker 2: people talk about how expensive that is. Keep in mind 506 00:31:43,960 --> 00:31:48,040 Speaker 2: that original Walkman would have set you back six hundred 507 00:31:48,080 --> 00:31:51,680 Speaker 2: forty six dollars, more than what some video game consoles 508 00:31:51,760 --> 00:31:56,080 Speaker 2: launch at. That's expensive. Now. When it did launch in 509 00:31:56,120 --> 00:31:58,680 Speaker 2: the United States, the original name for the device wasn't 510 00:31:58,720 --> 00:32:02,560 Speaker 2: the Walkman. It was the Soundabout which sounds about wrong 511 00:32:02,640 --> 00:32:06,160 Speaker 2: to me anyway. But eventually Sony would migrate back to 512 00:32:06,200 --> 00:32:09,240 Speaker 2: the Walkman, which was a Buka's suggestion from the get 513 00:32:09,280 --> 00:32:11,880 Speaker 2: Go and Occhio suggestion. The two of them argued that 514 00:32:12,040 --> 00:32:16,440 Speaker 2: it should have been that from the beginning. Interestingly, there 515 00:32:16,760 --> 00:32:23,040 Speaker 2: was a dispute about the origins of the Walkman concept 516 00:32:23,320 --> 00:32:27,200 Speaker 2: because there was another inventor who came up with a 517 00:32:27,560 --> 00:32:31,640 Speaker 2: very similar idea and in fact patented that idea in 518 00:32:31,800 --> 00:32:36,320 Speaker 2: nineteen seventy seven, two years before the Walkman came out. Now, 519 00:32:36,640 --> 00:32:43,560 Speaker 2: this inventor was Andreas Pavel, who had an invention that 520 00:32:43,600 --> 00:32:47,520 Speaker 2: he called the stereo belt, and as the name suggests, 521 00:32:47,640 --> 00:32:53,400 Speaker 2: the stereo belt was a belt that had audio equipment 522 00:32:53,440 --> 00:32:56,840 Speaker 2: attached to it, which included a battery pack as well 523 00:32:56,960 --> 00:33:01,040 Speaker 2: as audio players, and you would can headphones to this 524 00:33:01,160 --> 00:33:03,960 Speaker 2: belt in order to listen to it. So not exactly 525 00:33:04,000 --> 00:33:07,400 Speaker 2: the same thing as the Walkman, but the idea that 526 00:33:07,560 --> 00:33:11,960 Speaker 2: being a portable music playing device is what made it 527 00:33:12,160 --> 00:33:18,560 Speaker 2: similar to Walkman. Eventually, Pavel would bring lawsuits against Sony 528 00:33:18,680 --> 00:33:22,840 Speaker 2: in various regions, arguing that there was a patent infringement 529 00:33:22,920 --> 00:33:27,200 Speaker 2: going on that Sony had essentially copied the design that 530 00:33:27,240 --> 00:33:31,200 Speaker 2: Pavel had created without paying for it, without licensing it. 531 00:33:31,680 --> 00:33:37,120 Speaker 2: In several places, these complaints were ultimately dismissed. In other places, 532 00:33:37,120 --> 00:33:41,200 Speaker 2: Sony would settle out of court with Pavel rather than 533 00:33:41,280 --> 00:33:45,680 Speaker 2: have to go through the whole process of a legal proceedings, 534 00:33:45,720 --> 00:33:48,680 Speaker 2: which can be really expensive even if you win. So 535 00:33:49,400 --> 00:33:54,040 Speaker 2: while Sony never admitted any fault in this, they did 536 00:33:54,080 --> 00:33:58,440 Speaker 2: eventually pay a pretty hefty settlement out of court. Anyway, 537 00:33:58,920 --> 00:34:02,160 Speaker 2: back to the Walkman, so I mentioned earlier, the Walkmen 538 00:34:02,280 --> 00:34:05,000 Speaker 2: ran on a pair of double A batteries, which was great. 539 00:34:05,280 --> 00:34:08,560 Speaker 2: You know, their batteries weren't too expensive. You could take 540 00:34:08,600 --> 00:34:10,640 Speaker 2: them on the go, you didn't have to be tethered 541 00:34:10,680 --> 00:34:16,080 Speaker 2: to an outlet. They did require headphones because the Walkman 542 00:34:16,239 --> 00:34:19,600 Speaker 2: had no on board speaker. If you pushed play on 543 00:34:19,640 --> 00:34:21,640 Speaker 2: a Walkman and there were no headphones plugged into it, 544 00:34:21,920 --> 00:34:24,399 Speaker 2: all you would hear would be the gears turning as 545 00:34:24,520 --> 00:34:30,160 Speaker 2: the spokes were being rotated by the player itself. Sony 546 00:34:30,200 --> 00:34:34,239 Speaker 2: made around thirty thousand units initially in nineteen seventy nine 547 00:34:34,280 --> 00:34:38,000 Speaker 2: when they launched it in Japan, and sales were a 548 00:34:38,080 --> 00:34:41,279 Speaker 2: little slow in the beginning. However, Sony used some good 549 00:34:41,320 --> 00:34:44,160 Speaker 2: old fashioned elbow grease to get interest up in the product. 550 00:34:44,200 --> 00:34:47,799 Speaker 2: And by that I mean that Sony employees would literally 551 00:34:47,920 --> 00:34:51,560 Speaker 2: hit the streets in Japan with a Walkman and cassettes 552 00:34:51,920 --> 00:34:55,279 Speaker 2: and find people out there on the street and have 553 00:34:55,480 --> 00:34:59,160 Speaker 2: them listen to cassettes on the Walkmen and let them 554 00:34:59,200 --> 00:35:02,520 Speaker 2: have the experience of this portable music player. And it worked. 555 00:35:03,280 --> 00:35:08,439 Speaker 2: That marketing push really was effective. By August, just two 556 00:35:08,520 --> 00:35:12,200 Speaker 2: months after they launched, Sony had sold out of their 557 00:35:12,239 --> 00:35:14,880 Speaker 2: initial run of units. They were hoping for around like 558 00:35:14,960 --> 00:35:17,920 Speaker 2: five thousand units a month. Instead, they sold thirty thousand 559 00:35:17,960 --> 00:35:21,840 Speaker 2: and two months pretty incredible. Now, not everyone was super 560 00:35:21,880 --> 00:35:25,839 Speaker 2: happy about the Walkman and its success in the marketplace, 561 00:35:25,920 --> 00:35:28,240 Speaker 2: like it also saw great success here in the United 562 00:35:28,239 --> 00:35:30,719 Speaker 2: States once it came out in nineteen eighty, but not 563 00:35:30,800 --> 00:35:33,680 Speaker 2: everybody was really thrilled about this. There were people who 564 00:35:33,680 --> 00:35:37,480 Speaker 2: were warning that this technology was inspiring young folks to 565 00:35:37,520 --> 00:35:41,160 Speaker 2: shut themselves away from the world even while they were 566 00:35:41,239 --> 00:35:46,560 Speaker 2: walking around in the world, rather than being engaged in 567 00:35:46,640 --> 00:35:51,439 Speaker 2: the wholesome surroundings. Undoubtedly learning great moral lessons from their 568 00:35:51,600 --> 00:35:56,680 Speaker 2: wise elders, these hooligans would be listening to their Bob 569 00:35:56,760 --> 00:36:01,440 Speaker 2: Dylans and their Judas priests at even and their Smothers 570 00:36:01,560 --> 00:36:05,880 Speaker 2: brothers on headphones and blocking out the outside world and 571 00:36:05,960 --> 00:36:10,160 Speaker 2: allowing themselves to be shaped by the evil, wicked whims 572 00:36:10,200 --> 00:36:15,560 Speaker 2: of professional musicians. Oh the humanity. I'm making fun of it, 573 00:36:15,640 --> 00:36:19,400 Speaker 2: but the moral panic was real, right, There was moral 574 00:36:19,520 --> 00:36:25,920 Speaker 2: panic around portable cassette players. It just shows that fuddy 575 00:36:26,000 --> 00:36:29,719 Speaker 2: duddies will find moral panic in the oddest of places. 576 00:36:30,320 --> 00:36:32,720 Speaker 2: Heaven help you if you happen to also play dungeons 577 00:36:32,760 --> 00:36:35,680 Speaker 2: and dragons while listening to music on a Walkman, because 578 00:36:35,719 --> 00:36:40,480 Speaker 2: you were just destined for h double hockey sticks. Alan Bloom, 579 00:36:40,560 --> 00:36:44,440 Speaker 2: the author, said essentially as much in a book titled 580 00:36:44,440 --> 00:36:48,479 Speaker 2: The Closing of the American Mind. Bloom argued that young 581 00:36:48,520 --> 00:36:52,080 Speaker 2: people listening to personal music devices would eventually lead to 582 00:36:52,200 --> 00:36:57,880 Speaker 2: moral decay. Pretty crazy stuff. Sony would release many follow 583 00:36:58,000 --> 00:37:00,920 Speaker 2: ups to the original Walkmen, so there were lots of 584 00:37:00,960 --> 00:37:05,200 Speaker 2: improvements over the device over the following models. Some of 585 00:37:05,200 --> 00:37:08,360 Speaker 2: them were even smaller. Some of them would incorporate a 586 00:37:08,440 --> 00:37:13,399 Speaker 2: record function because people missed having that. The Walkmen would 587 00:37:13,440 --> 00:37:16,840 Speaker 2: also become almost synonymous with portable cassette players, kind of 588 00:37:16,880 --> 00:37:20,319 Speaker 2: like how the iPod would become almost synonymous with MP 589 00:37:20,440 --> 00:37:24,400 Speaker 2: three players. Folks would use the term Walkman even if 590 00:37:24,440 --> 00:37:27,360 Speaker 2: they were talking about a product from a competing company. 591 00:37:27,600 --> 00:37:30,279 Speaker 2: You know, it wasn't a portable cassette player. It was 592 00:37:30,320 --> 00:37:33,520 Speaker 2: a Walkman, even if it wasn't actually a Walkman, which 593 00:37:33,520 --> 00:37:35,120 Speaker 2: meant that Sony had to do a lot of work 594 00:37:35,160 --> 00:37:39,200 Speaker 2: to protect their trademark. Now, around the same time, you 595 00:37:39,280 --> 00:37:43,400 Speaker 2: had the fate of the cassette tape itself. So initially, 596 00:37:43,440 --> 00:37:46,680 Speaker 2: cassette sales were going very strong in the nineteen eighties, 597 00:37:47,120 --> 00:37:51,560 Speaker 2: but cassettes didn't totally replace vinyl records. For one thing, 598 00:37:51,640 --> 00:37:56,040 Speaker 2: you had music lovers who would call themselves audio files, 599 00:37:56,120 --> 00:38:00,080 Speaker 2: who would tend to prefer vinyl records over cassette tapes. 600 00:38:00,280 --> 00:38:04,680 Speaker 2: That cassettes could warp over time, you would get audio distortion, 601 00:38:04,920 --> 00:38:08,359 Speaker 2: you would get a hiss. There was a hiss associated 602 00:38:08,400 --> 00:38:13,400 Speaker 2: with audio cassettes, and therefore people who really valued the 603 00:38:13,560 --> 00:38:17,120 Speaker 2: experience of listening to music on high end equipment tended 604 00:38:17,120 --> 00:38:20,920 Speaker 2: to prefer vinyl to cassette tapes. However, the convenience of 605 00:38:20,960 --> 00:38:23,880 Speaker 2: cassette tapes plus the fact that you could purchase a 606 00:38:23,880 --> 00:38:26,600 Speaker 2: blank cassette and then record stuff to make your own tapes, 607 00:38:26,640 --> 00:38:31,680 Speaker 2: and thus giving birth to the cultural phenomenon of the mixtape. 608 00:38:32,040 --> 00:38:35,120 Speaker 2: Now making a mixtape that's an art form unto itself. 609 00:38:35,440 --> 00:38:38,520 Speaker 2: That meant that the cassette had a really firm foothold 610 00:38:38,560 --> 00:38:41,560 Speaker 2: and culture, and the incorporation of tape decks into car 611 00:38:41,680 --> 00:38:45,480 Speaker 2: entertainment systems helped too. This gets complicated by the introduction 612 00:38:45,560 --> 00:38:48,880 Speaker 2: of eight tracks, but that's a different matter. Anyway, it 613 00:38:48,920 --> 00:38:53,160 Speaker 2: appeared as though the party would never end. In nineteen 614 00:38:53,200 --> 00:38:56,759 Speaker 2: eighty four, Billboard reported that cassette tape sales were outpacing 615 00:38:56,880 --> 00:38:59,680 Speaker 2: vinyl LPs for the first time, and at that point 616 00:38:59,719 --> 00:39:03,360 Speaker 2: made up around fifty three percent of all albums shipped. 617 00:39:03,680 --> 00:39:08,399 Speaker 2: Now that shipped not necessarily sold, but still cassettes were 618 00:39:08,560 --> 00:39:12,360 Speaker 2: clearly making a lot of headway. They were easy to manufacture, 619 00:39:12,400 --> 00:39:14,400 Speaker 2: They again took up less space, You could sell a 620 00:39:14,440 --> 00:39:17,480 Speaker 2: whole lot more of them, You could get a lot 621 00:39:17,560 --> 00:39:20,319 Speaker 2: more in stock at a record store than you could 622 00:39:20,360 --> 00:39:26,080 Speaker 2: with vinyl, and yeah, people were digging them. However, the 623 00:39:26,120 --> 00:39:29,239 Speaker 2: introduction of the compact disc, which also was introduced in 624 00:39:29,280 --> 00:39:32,120 Speaker 2: the early nineteen eighties, would ultimately set the stage for 625 00:39:32,200 --> 00:39:35,759 Speaker 2: the cassette's decline. Now, it would take quite a few 626 00:39:35,840 --> 00:39:39,960 Speaker 2: years for compact discs to really establish themselves in the market, 627 00:39:40,200 --> 00:39:46,520 Speaker 2: particularly since early CD players were ridiculously expensive, like just 628 00:39:46,960 --> 00:39:51,840 Speaker 2: prohibitively expensive for most people. However, over time CDs would 629 00:39:51,880 --> 00:39:54,920 Speaker 2: start to catch on and cassette sales began to take 630 00:39:54,960 --> 00:39:57,759 Speaker 2: a turn, just as vinyl had done before it. In 631 00:39:57,840 --> 00:40:01,719 Speaker 2: nineteen ninety one, CD sales were higher, at least from 632 00:40:01,760 --> 00:40:05,000 Speaker 2: a dollar value, than cassette sales. So it doesn't mean 633 00:40:05,040 --> 00:40:08,759 Speaker 2: that there were more CDs sold, but more money was 634 00:40:08,880 --> 00:40:13,000 Speaker 2: made selling CDs than cassettes starting in nineteen ninety one. 635 00:40:13,200 --> 00:40:16,960 Speaker 2: So the nineties saw the decline of cassette sales continue 636 00:40:17,480 --> 00:40:21,400 Speaker 2: with more and more people switching to CDs. Vinyl became 637 00:40:21,440 --> 00:40:25,000 Speaker 2: an almost obsolete format for the general public. It never 638 00:40:25,160 --> 00:40:28,520 Speaker 2: fully went away, and of course it's enjoyed a resurgence 639 00:40:28,600 --> 00:40:31,920 Speaker 2: in more recent years, but in the nineties and early 640 00:40:31,960 --> 00:40:37,280 Speaker 2: two thousands it almost disappeared. Cassettes did enjoy a brief 641 00:40:37,360 --> 00:40:40,080 Speaker 2: little bit of a comeback. I mean, I guess arguably 642 00:40:40,120 --> 00:40:44,160 Speaker 2: it's still going now because some artists have released some 643 00:40:44,280 --> 00:40:48,200 Speaker 2: of their albums on cassette formats, including like Megan v. 644 00:40:48,360 --> 00:40:52,520 Speaker 2: Stallion and Taylor Swift, but it's not like a common thing. 645 00:40:52,880 --> 00:40:56,640 Speaker 2: Cassette sales in general were pretty low, and that also 646 00:40:56,760 --> 00:41:00,319 Speaker 2: meant that cassette players weren't really flying off store shelves either, 647 00:41:00,360 --> 00:41:02,520 Speaker 2: so it didn't make much sense to keep making them, 648 00:41:02,719 --> 00:41:06,920 Speaker 2: which brings us to our sad little tale coming to 649 00:41:06,960 --> 00:41:10,520 Speaker 2: a close here, because Sony actually did continue producing The 650 00:41:10,560 --> 00:41:13,120 Speaker 2: Walkman all the way through the nineteen nineties and all 651 00:41:13,160 --> 00:41:16,239 Speaker 2: through the first decade of the two thousands, despite the 652 00:41:16,360 --> 00:41:19,839 Speaker 2: plunge in cassette sales over that time period. But in 653 00:41:19,920 --> 00:41:23,239 Speaker 2: twenty ten, Sony threw in the towel and announced it 654 00:41:23,280 --> 00:41:26,759 Speaker 2: would shut down the portable cassette player line, so the 655 00:41:27,080 --> 00:41:32,040 Speaker 2: Walkman cassette player would be no more. They stopped production 656 00:41:32,120 --> 00:41:34,799 Speaker 2: in twenty ten. It however, was not the end of 657 00:41:34,880 --> 00:41:39,240 Speaker 2: the Walkman as a brand, because Sony gave the Walkman 658 00:41:39,320 --> 00:41:42,920 Speaker 2: brand to other products that were also in the music space. 659 00:41:43,040 --> 00:41:47,200 Speaker 2: They just weren't cassette players. So the main one would 660 00:41:47,239 --> 00:41:51,480 Speaker 2: be digital music players, digital audio players or DAPs, and 661 00:41:51,960 --> 00:41:54,560 Speaker 2: this is what I would often just call an MP 662 00:41:54,680 --> 00:41:57,680 Speaker 2: three player back in the old days. Like the Apple iPod, 663 00:41:58,040 --> 00:42:02,360 Speaker 2: Sony started introducing digital audio players way back in nineteen 664 00:42:02,480 --> 00:42:05,399 Speaker 2: ninety nine, which is actually two years before Apple would 665 00:42:05,440 --> 00:42:09,560 Speaker 2: introduce the iPod, But Sony's version initially only supported a 666 00:42:09,600 --> 00:42:14,080 Speaker 2: proprietary digital audio format called a track at r AC. 667 00:42:14,719 --> 00:42:18,680 Speaker 2: Sony had control over that file format and felt like 668 00:42:18,719 --> 00:42:23,280 Speaker 2: this would protect Sony's interests in the actual music production side. 669 00:42:23,400 --> 00:42:27,480 Speaker 2: In other words, this was a way to prevent piracy. 670 00:42:27,880 --> 00:42:32,160 Speaker 2: Sony specifically did not want to support file formats like 671 00:42:32,600 --> 00:42:37,960 Speaker 2: MP three. Now, the Walkmen would ultimately fall well behind 672 00:42:37,960 --> 00:42:41,879 Speaker 2: the iPod in sales in most countries. When it got 673 00:42:41,920 --> 00:42:45,680 Speaker 2: to digital audio players. The Walkman did okay in Japan, 674 00:42:45,840 --> 00:42:49,120 Speaker 2: but outside Japan it just it could not compete against 675 00:42:49,120 --> 00:42:53,120 Speaker 2: the iPod. However, you can still find digital audio players 676 00:42:53,160 --> 00:42:57,440 Speaker 2: that are branded as Walkman today, including high end players 677 00:42:57,480 --> 00:43:00,879 Speaker 2: that cost a whole bunch of money, like more than 678 00:43:00,880 --> 00:43:04,000 Speaker 2: one thousand dollars for some of these devices. I think 679 00:43:04,040 --> 00:43:06,279 Speaker 2: that's a pretty tall order when we live in a 680 00:43:06,280 --> 00:43:09,759 Speaker 2: world where smartphones have access to tons of music through 681 00:43:09,840 --> 00:43:15,279 Speaker 2: various music streaming platforms. Now, sure the fidelity isn't necessarily 682 00:43:15,360 --> 00:43:18,760 Speaker 2: top notch. You know, that depends on the streaming service, 683 00:43:18,800 --> 00:43:21,319 Speaker 2: the format they use, how much compression is used for 684 00:43:21,400 --> 00:43:24,759 Speaker 2: the files, and what kind of headphones or headset you're 685 00:43:24,840 --> 00:43:27,640 Speaker 2: using to listen to it. However, I think for the 686 00:43:27,640 --> 00:43:31,440 Speaker 2: majority of people out there, the convenience and accessibility that 687 00:43:31,680 --> 00:43:35,440 Speaker 2: is presented through smartphones that ends up being more important 688 00:43:35,480 --> 00:43:39,840 Speaker 2: than musical fidelity for most people, not everybody. Some folks 689 00:43:39,920 --> 00:43:42,640 Speaker 2: are more concerned with the quality of the experience. I 690 00:43:42,680 --> 00:43:45,800 Speaker 2: think that's legitimate. I think it's legit to really want 691 00:43:45,960 --> 00:43:49,640 Speaker 2: the absolute best quality of sound. However, that is also 692 00:43:49,760 --> 00:43:53,480 Speaker 2: a very subjective thing, right. You could have two people 693 00:43:54,040 --> 00:43:56,200 Speaker 2: and they could have the same taste in music, but 694 00:43:56,280 --> 00:43:59,319 Speaker 2: they might have very different perceptions of what set up 695 00:43:59,440 --> 00:44:04,279 Speaker 2: is best, and you can't you know, necessarily agree on 696 00:44:04,320 --> 00:44:08,080 Speaker 2: a common standard. The world of high fidelity audio is 697 00:44:08,120 --> 00:44:10,920 Speaker 2: filled with a lot of marketing that strikes me as 698 00:44:10,960 --> 00:44:14,759 Speaker 2: being just a stone's throw away from pure pseudoscience. But 699 00:44:14,800 --> 00:44:17,680 Speaker 2: I've talked about that before, so I'll leave it for now. 700 00:44:18,120 --> 00:44:21,160 Speaker 2: So the cassette Walkman has been out of production since 701 00:44:21,200 --> 00:44:24,760 Speaker 2: twenty ten. The brand still exists for digital audio players, 702 00:44:25,080 --> 00:44:28,080 Speaker 2: and some artists do continue to put stuff out on 703 00:44:28,200 --> 00:44:31,600 Speaker 2: cassette because nostalgia is a hell of a drug. Personally, 704 00:44:31,840 --> 00:44:35,919 Speaker 2: I do miss the days of putting together the perfect mixtape. 705 00:44:36,080 --> 00:44:39,080 Speaker 2: There's something really special about getting one just right, like 706 00:44:39,480 --> 00:44:42,759 Speaker 2: finding that right progress of songs so that you know 707 00:44:42,800 --> 00:44:45,719 Speaker 2: you've got like the really high energy number comes in 708 00:44:45,760 --> 00:44:48,120 Speaker 2: at song number three, and then you've got a cool 709 00:44:48,239 --> 00:44:50,680 Speaker 2: down number for song number four. That kind of thing. 710 00:44:51,200 --> 00:44:54,279 Speaker 2: Making a curative playlist doesn't really scratch the same itch 711 00:44:54,320 --> 00:44:58,840 Speaker 2: for me. There's something really tactle about using cassette tapes 712 00:44:58,880 --> 00:45:02,080 Speaker 2: and creating a mix tape that way, and slapping a 713 00:45:02,120 --> 00:45:04,960 Speaker 2: really good mixtape into a portable music player and then 714 00:45:05,040 --> 00:45:07,160 Speaker 2: just going for a walk is a pleasure that I 715 00:45:07,200 --> 00:45:10,040 Speaker 2: think people should really seek out if they're able to 716 00:45:10,480 --> 00:45:12,720 Speaker 2: that kind of thing is just one of the simple 717 00:45:12,719 --> 00:45:16,920 Speaker 2: pleasures of life if it's accessible to you. I hope 718 00:45:17,000 --> 00:45:19,680 Speaker 2: that this episode was interesting to all of y'all. I 719 00:45:19,680 --> 00:45:22,600 Speaker 2: hope you're doing well, and I will talk to you 720 00:45:22,680 --> 00:45:24,520 Speaker 2: again really soon. 721 00:45:33,400 --> 00:45:36,719 Speaker 1: For tech Stuff, I'm Cara Price. Kyle Murdoch wrote our 722 00:45:36,760 --> 00:45:40,040 Speaker 1: theme song. Join us next Wednesday for Textuff the Story, 723 00:45:40,400 --> 00:45:42,640 Speaker 1: when we will share an in depth conversation with the 724 00:45:42,640 --> 00:45:46,239 Speaker 1: co founder and CEO of Roadblocks, David Bizuki. If there 725 00:45:46,239 --> 00:45:48,520 Speaker 1: are children in your life, you'll definitely want to check 726 00:45:48,560 --> 00:45:52,279 Speaker 1: this one out. Please rate, review, and reach out to 727 00:45:52,360 --> 00:46:08,239 Speaker 1: us at Textuff Podcast at gmail dot com.