Why I like my iPod, or: How to carry 90 minutes of music in your cargo-pants pocket

Or strapped around your neck and shoulders like a purse!

We have here something I found when cleaning yet MORE crap out my closet: An original Sony WM-8 cassette walkman. As I looked over it, boggling at how huge it is, and how much power it uses (requiring 4 AA cells), it reminded me of my iPod, in that it doesn't have an AM/FM tuner!

Yup, this was one of the first Sony Walkmans. (Walkmen?) It only played tapes; no AM/FM. No 5000 songs in your pocket. Nothing; just tapes, 90 minutes a pop at most. It was cutting edge for the early 80s, too, having a Normal/Metal (CrO2) switch. No Dolby B noise reduction, though; that probably would have reduced battery life to an hour instead of the two or three the four AA cells gave you.

Of course, you couldn't just clip this on your belt, or put it in your pocket. It was too huge and heavy to do any of those things. Nope, you had to strap it on, much like a lady would wear a purse. Note the heavy duty kevlar straps. Well, at least they remind me of kevlar; I doubt they actually are.

This thing served me well as a kid; if I recall, it was an xmas present when I was still in grade school. I listened to all the tapes I recorded off the radio using my boom box, another staple of the 80s. Who knows how many AA cells I went through! And they're probably still in a landfill somewhere, faithfully leaking mercury into the environment.

In 1982, this was an amazing technical achievement. I mean, holy crap, a tape player you could carry around with you and listen with headphones! People were practically shitting themselves trying to get these when they came out. I wonder what would happen if I went back in time and waved my iPod at them?

Hee. One can dream, right?