Walk, man!

[Freya]

Come on, old people on TFF, be nostalgic: Who owned a walkman (the thing that plays audio cassettes)?
What did you do to it?
When did you have it? (when you were a child, a teenager, an adult even?!)
And most importantly: Do you STILL have it?

I'm asking, as you might imagine, because I've found my old walkman - which is probably about fifteen years old - today on the attic. I didn't know it was there, but I was veeery happy to find it (alongside with about ten old audio cassettes, yays).
I used it back when I was about 8... 9... or 10... I don't remember. I think when I got 11 I got a discman (which is still working, but in a bad condition!) - so it's very very old. I remember going for walks with my dog and the walkman, of course. I also recorded lots of stuff from the radio, all the songs I loved back then.
And, embarrassing but true: I recorded a radio show with an elementary school friend. XD I met her at university (! XD) a few months ago and she even remembered the old cassettes. I thought they were all broken, but it seems one of them survived (currently listening to it; don't really recognize my own voice - but hers!).

Plus, I'm really surprised it's still working perfectly fine - technology back in the 90's seems to be better than today. A modern mobile phone probably wouldn't last 15 years...


So tell me your walkman stories!

[che]

To be fair here, I don't think the technology is "better", but when you complicate something there tends to be more things that can possibly go wrong with it. Also, my original iPhone still works, and is like 5 years old. I don't forsee it breaking in the 10 years it's going to sit in my iPhone 4's case, similar to your walkman.

Anyway, wanted to come shit in your cheerios with that.

I did have a walkman. I even had the Sony boombox that was huge and yellow and you could pull out the middle, separate from the speakers (basically turned into a walkman). Yeah, I was spoiled.

[Lily]

I had a couple of walkmans when I was younger, early teens probably younger than that. I always dropped them and broke them though. We're lucky with ipods, because they get saved by the headphones, walkmans were too heavy ):

I loved mine, though i only tended to have like one or 2 tapes on me at any one time. Not sure how I coped with such a limkited supply of music!

The tape would get chewed up every so often as well, so id spend wuite a lot of time spinning the cassette round my little finger to get it all back in again

Still I preferred it to the CD players... i had one of those for a while but eventually just took to listening to songs on my phone for a good few years til I finally got my ipod

[Freya]

To be fair here, I don't think the technology is "better", but when you complicate something there tends to be more things that can possibly go wrong with it. Also, my original iPhone still works, and is like 5 years old. I don't forsee it breaking in the 10 years it's going to sit in my iPhone 4's case, similar to your walkman.

Anyway, wanted to come shit in your cheerios with that.

Heh, maybe I was just reckless with my stuff back then. But from what I've heard and seen, new technology breaks way easier than the old ones. To be fair as well, my mobile phone is about five years old now as well. But I don't think it'll last ten more years.
Also, the sound quality of the old walkmans is pretty bad. Every mobile phone that's at least seven years old has a better quality than them.

I didn't want to say that old is always better. It's just what I experienced.

[seanb]

The tape would get chewed up every so often as well, so id spend wuite a lot of time spinning the cassette round my little finger to get it all back in again

Aw remember that, most annoying thing ever, kinda sore aswell

Yea I had a walkman, but it wasn't a sony, was some cheaper brand like philips or something, and yes I used to record of the radio and listen to it over and over haha all the usual stuuf, eminem, nickleback, limp bizkit, from what I remember... the kinda rubbish you listen to when your 10

Got a cd one at a later stage... And I havent gotten an ipod yet

[Lily]

it used to drive me insane when i was recording songs off the radio and the wanker DJ would start talking before it finished or just as it was coming on, and it was always something Id been waiting for to come on for aaaaages as well

I still have a few old tapes knocking about somewhere... nothing to play them on mind. Stu Alan on Key 103 with his hardcore and the Top 40 were most of what I recorded. Dont care for either anymore

I wonder if Stu Alan is still about.. do they even still play hardcore on the radio these days?

[Dodie16]

I've owned a walkman before. Also owned a Talkboy that was featured in Home Alone 2. That thing was amazaaaaa~ Wish I still had it too.

I never bought cassettes that already had music on 'em. I just recorded whatever song I liked on the radio. Stupid DJs wouldn't shut up sometimes though, so I had some songs that had their voices introducing the song or talking about the weather forecast.

[Yoko]

Also owned a Talkboy that was featured in Home Alone 2. That thing was amazaaaaa~ Wish I still had it too.

Wasn't it a yakbak? I freakin loved that thing. My brother, sister and I all got one for Christmas one year. It was the best thing ever (at the time).

I owned a walkman, the portable CD player and bought CDs for it way back when. I still try to buy CDs, but with the growing ability to download things off the internet, I would rather just hold onto my money. That thing was durable too. I dropped it almost a million times. I left my window open at camp once and it rained. The thing got completely soaked and didn't work that night. I left it alone for a few days in disappointment, then I tried it randomly and it worked! I was so happy.

I was eventually given an MP3 played for one christmas and it put my CD player to shame. I don't even know where it went. But it wasn't an iPod or anything like that. Remember those old school creative zen MP3 players? It looked like:
It worked for a while until I dropped it this one time and the screen cracked. It was one of those cracks where the ink inside leaked all over the screen internally and I couldn't see anything. It wasn't harmful, just annoying. My mom got me a new one and it was a monster! There was no way I could fill it. It was like 8GB or something like that. I fit like 2000 songs onto it and it didn't budge. The thing was huge. It didn't fit into many of my pockets. It looked like this:
It's lasted five years, but where was a year where I completely neglected it (after I broke up with my ex...all of the music on it reminded me of him. It was sad). I stopped listening to it altogether and enjoyed the silence for a while. It was nice. I eventually picked it back up again when I went to the gym. Uploaded more songs onto it, but didn't delete the old ones. I don't know where it went now. It's probably in my house somewhere.

My phone is my main use for music now. She's a ****ing beauty. Holds over 2000 songs, records voice clips, takes videos and holds loads of pictures. I filled it up once, but that was after I crammed a bunch of long videos and songs onto it and she went STOOOOOOOOP! We're on better terms now.

I didn't listen to the radio all that often. I did listen to cassettes and recorded over things, recorded my own voice. I think my brother left it on record once and left the room, when I went to play in my room, I didn't know it was recording and you can hear a bunch of little things that little kids used to say. It was really funny. Nothing bad of course. I was an innocent little kid. I don't know where that one went or what happened to my innocence. hehehe. Oh the days.

[Dodie16]

Wasn't it a yakbak? I freakin loved that thing. My brother, sister and I all got one for Christmas one year. It was the best thing ever (at the time).

No, it was definitely a Talkboy:



Though I had a yakbak too. Mine would play things backwards if you pressed "Yalp". Traded it to some kid when I was in 6th grade, though I can't remember what it was traded for.

[seanb]

It worked for a while until I dropped it this one time the the screen cracked.

[NikkiLinkle]

I had one with my siblings, we had to share. I actually liked them. There's something about cassette tapes that do it for me.

I actually saw a discman for sale in Target, about 2 weeks ago. I laughed. It was funny.

[Cyanist]

I remember my siblings and I getting 3 walkmans for Christmas one year from my big sis. But they weren't brand new or anything. They were refurbished, but they worked well, mine still does, and I've been keeping it with some of my old papers. (mysterious auld scrolls with random snatches of wisdom from my childhood)

[Taco-Calamitous]

Anyway, wanted to come shit in your cheerios with that.

It's because you're a ****. We already knew that though

Yeah, I had one. Had a bunch of boomboxes too that my dad would bring home from the lost and found at the college. Would record stuff from the radio and listen to it on my walkman when we'd go somewhere. Or when we didn't. I was fascinated by the sound equipment, I guess. I'd also record myself on the boomboxes all the time. We also had a little walkman that recorded stuff. It could play things at fast speed but not slow speed, I believe. Also had some official tapes, like the soundtrack to Yellow Submarine, and I dunno about anything else. I still use tapes in my car; no CD player. Still like making mixed tapes, too.

Funny how I'd record myself all the time as a kid. I can't stand hearing my voice most of the time now. Although I will still make people suffer through my singing (although people generally like my singing...) Anyhoo...

Wuv, Yer Mom

[che]

It's because you're a ****. We already knew that though

Thanks Tele! I don't even have to try!

[Maridia]

I had a walkman but had like no tapes for it, just a couple shit ones I had from my parents. I had a portable cd player which was really the bees knees though. Panasonic, thing was a tank. And then came the Ipod to Iphone.

And no I haven't had it in about 10 years.

[IcyJJ]

I don't think I ever owned a walkman. I remember have my old discman when CDs first started coming out.

[Crescent]

Oh God.. That Discman..I cant believe I was carrying that thing around like I was cool..FOR SHAME

[Tiffany]

Had a walkman. I can remember the first of my friends who got a discman. The thing was so twitchy he had to walk with it in his hand like it was a serving tray so it wouldn't skip. Ha ha ha.

[Xanatos]

I'm almost positive this is the one I had, like 99%...



...looked pretty slick back then, it was a birthday present from my aunt, I kinda wish I still had it. After that I got my first MP3 player, it had capacity of 128 MB's which meant I could store up to 30-40 songs, depending on quality of course.