What better way to commemorate the 30th anniversary of Sony's iconic Walkman than to ask a teenager for some feedback on the device?

The BBC couldn't think of one, and neither can I.

I like to imagine that the experience was similar to an archaeologist rediscovering how a recently excavated artifact was employed thousands of years ago. But I'm well aware that it must have been different for 13-year-old Scott Campbell, who co-edits his own news Web site. For one, teenage impatience must have stood in the place where I fantasize scientific curiosity should have been.

"My dad had told me it was the iPod of its day," Campbell wrote. "He had told me it was big, but I hadn't realized he meant that big. It was the size of a small book."

Sure enough, people on the street noticed the antique clinging from his belt with amusement and friends on his school bus were quick to come up with some witty remark.

Campbell went on to criticize the portable cassette player's size, appearance, functionality and the "hissy backtrack and odd warbly noises."

Even when he discovered the cassette had more music on the other side (it took him three days), Campbell was still disappointed it could only hold a small fraction of what an iPod can.

"Did my dad ... really ever think this was a credible piece of technology?"

Ouch.



{sf gate/yahoo}

Eh, walkmans werent THAT bad. I used to listen to my walkman all the time when I was younger. Sure cassette tapes didnt hold that much, but neither do audio cds, and I dont hear anyone complaining about them.

I used to have a walkman and im only 23, that 13 year old was an idiot. It blows my mind that he couldnt make the connection between it and the equally bulky portable CD players that people still use to this day.

I still use those bulky CD players LOL

But I had like 4 or 5 Walkmen. I loved them. It's just that kids these days don't understand that back in the 90s, if you would have went to the future (well, now) and went back and told them about the technology, most of them would probably have been in disbelief. Now they have cars that are coming out in 2010 that prevent accidents by waking you up when you start to doze off, slamming on it's own breaks when it comes close to having a wreck, and making noises when you veer off the lane you are on. Back when I was a kid, I would have only thought that this was the stuff sci-fi movies were made of.

Yeah, I still use CD players too. I value the physical product, which is why I dont have an ipod or mp3 player

He's talking about the ORIGINAL walk-man. It's friggin' huge.........WAY bigger than portable CD players of any kind.

Yes, I know that. and as I said, I used to my walkman all the time on road trips when I was younger, and we couldnt afford the newer ones, so I had to use the older ones. And some CD players are still pretty bulky, especially the cheaper ones.

I still have a walkman because i have over 400 cassettes and don't like them just sitting there not being listened to. I go through a crap load of AA batteries LOL

Yeah, Todd, AA batteries are like our lifeforce.

As someone who has a Walkman, a CD player, and an iPod, I'd like to slap this kid around with a wet fish. He needs to gain some perspective and realize that the universe didn't mysteriously explode into being when he was born.

I'd really screw up his paradigm if I told him about these things I used to play music on during MY youth, like a turntable and an 8-track player...