Sony’s portable tape cassette player first released in 1979 has finally reached the end of its production life. The final batch was produced in Japan in April, 2010 and no more will be produced. Over 200 million cassette Walkman players have been sold.
The Walkman is widely credited with pioneering the concept of personal, portable audio beyond the radio. It helped spur on the cassette as a popular format and also maintained interest in albums. Interest began to fade in the 1990s when the Discman took over, and more decline followed with the iPod introduction. Wow, from revolutionary idea to demise in a few short years.