Sony Walkman turns 30

The grandfather of today’s hand-held digital audio players sold for $340 and weighed a little under one pound.

By Mark Gresham Thursday July 2, 2009 03:55 AM EDT

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On July 1, 1979, thirty years ago today, the original Sony Walkman made its public debut as the world’s first portable music player, making delivery of pre-recorded music on-the-go truly practical for the first time, and freeing listeners to take their tunes with them wherever they liked, essentially hands-free.-

The grandfather of today’s hand-held digital audio players sold for $340 and weighed a little under one pound. Although retailers were initially reluctant due to the Walkman’s high price, Sony sold over 30,000 in the first month alone, securing its place on store shelves. It also pushed the popularity of the compact audio cassette format higher than vinyl for a time until eventually replaced in popularity by compact discs.-

While an international standard for compact audio cassette tapes had been around since the mid-1960s, battery operated recorders were comparatively large, heavy, clunky, of very poor sound quality by comparison, and not truly portable.