NewsFeed is fairly young, but it distinctly remembers rocking out to New Kids on the Block with an old-school Walkman cassette player. Now those days are finally gone.
Sony has announced it has stopped the Japanese production and sales of its Walkman portable cassette player. More than 30 years have passed since the first Walkman was produced, and Sony shipped its last batch this past April. (The Walkman made our list of the 100 best gadgets of all TIME.)
Walkman, NewsFeed will always remember you — even though you sometimes tangled up the ribbon inside its tapes. And even though you predated being able to scan through tracks on an album. Still, there’s something about the sound of a tape being rewound and fast-forwarded that will be fondly remembered. (See the top 10 things today’s kids will never experience.)
But all is not lost – Chinese manufacturers can still make devices with the name Walkman, to be sold in Asia and the Middle East. Plus, the brand name will still be used for portable radios and digital media players. So if you can’t make the jump to the iPod just yet, there’s still hope for good old Walkmen. (Walkmans?) (via Slashgear, Switched, Huffington Post)