Friday, May 23rd, 2008
The Classic 1980s Walkman

Last night, I stopped by Courts Plus and decided to take my workout routine to the next level. Mission accomplished. I'm beat this morning.

When I was using the elliptical machine, I was listening to some music on my iPhone. At one point I looked at the gentleman on the machine next to me. He was your classic middle-aged guy at the gym. Next, I noticed his headphones. They looked old and much bigger than your standard iPod-style earbuds. These weren't quite your mid-1970s "Dark Side of the Moon" headphones, but they were still larger than usual.

After a while, I noticed that he started to slow down. He popped open the side of his music player, pulled out a white cassette and switched sides. It was sort of cool to see an old Walkman again. I wanted to ask what he was listening to. I couldn't see the lettering on the cassette. Let's just pretend he was listening to The Thompson Twins.
Tags:  music
12 Comments
George
1) Wow, that really is an old Walkman if it didn't have the auto-reverse function!
LimeyGeorge   Friday, May 23, 2008
gotshoo
2) There was a sweet program on the History Channel called "80's Tech" the other night. Didn't get to watch the whole show, but the Walkman was one of the items featured.
shoo   Friday, May 23, 2008
betsyradish
3) I think he was listening to Duran Duran.
I still have my old walkman, and a collection of cassette tapes that I can't seem to give up. Several NKOTB tapes, and the first tape I ever bought with my own money, "The Monkees Greatest Hits."
Betsy   Friday, May 23, 2008
George
4) Duran Duran were awesome!
LimeyGeorge   Friday, May 23, 2008
George
5) I saw a little of that 80s tech program the other day. I only saw the bit about the VCR....really interesting how VHS got the market and destroyed Betamax.
LimeyGeorge   Friday, May 23, 2008
daveheinzel
6) I've parted ways with my Walkman (which was my BFF in the 80s), but I do still have my first CD Walkman from the 90s. It might skip every other beat, and it might not be able to play any CD with so much as a fingerprint on the bottom. But I wouldn't trade it for.... wait, yes I would. You can have it. Please take it from me.
Dave Heinzel   Friday, May 23, 2008
justmeg
7) I still have my Walkman - and until Christmas when I got my mp3 player - still used it for walking
justmeg   Friday, May 23, 2008
George
8) I've never owned a CD Walkman let alone an iPod. Sad eh?
LimeyGeorge   Friday, May 23, 2008
moobi
9) I remember borrowing my sister's Walkman as a kid when I mowed the lawn. I distinctly remember playing the crap out of the Footloose soundtrack. At some point, I started making my own mixed tapes on my Granny's double tape deck. I mastered the art of calculating exactly which songs would use the most amount of tape time on each side.
Moobi   Friday, May 23, 2008
billpearch
10) This may be admitting too much information, but Duran Duran continue to release good music. That's a blog for another day.
Bill   Friday, May 23, 2008
courtneyheinzel
11) I recently had to purchase a walkman on eBay for my mom. She likes to listen to audio books from the library while she uses her elliptical machine, and a lot of them are still on cassettes. It was an embarrassing transaction.
Courtney Heinzel   Friday, May 23, 2008
George
12) But at least you're somewhat anonymous on ebay.
LimeyGeorge   Friday, May 23, 2008
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