DON’T MISS THE NEXT ISSUE! ON SALE 5 SEPT
h, the original Walkman! Ancient
music tech with all the charm of
a brick – and the heft of one.
Listen, when you can suck all of
music history from the cloud into a svelte
blower, there’s a chance you’ve been spoilt.
But Sony’s chunky delight was a genuine slice
of wonder 40 years ago. Finally, you could
take your own music anywhere, without the
inconvenience of trailing a massive extension
lead behind you and trying to balance a record
player on your bonce while carrying an amp
and speakers. Not that Stuff ever tried that,
obviously. Well, certainly not more than once.But the Walkman wasn’t that much more
portable. And it didn’t even have a belt clip.
No, presumably on the basis that the weight
would’ve pulled down your trousers – though
brave souls did try with subsequent plastic
contraptions. The original, though, had a
swish carrying case with a shoulder strap.
Various models of Walkman also integrated
the strap directly into the unit. This was handy
for carting one about – but also for giving you
the means to swing the thing around like a
mace and give someone a swift crack about
the head if they dared ridicule the genius mix
you’d committed to your C90.Oh yes, cassette – the music medium from
hell. Who’d celebrate that abomination?
You might if you fully appreciated music as an
art form. Great skill and patience were required
to fashion the perfect mix tape. You’d listen to
it again and again, each time finding something
new, rather than flitting between 30 million
albums like a glutton at an all-you-can-eat
buffet. As for celebrating, haven’t you heard?
Cassettes are back! (Blame hipsters.) And
the TPS-L2 has even been infused into
mainstream media thanks to Peter Quill’s
exploits in Guardians of the Galaxy. Perhaps
life really does begin at 40.
[^ WordsCraigG
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]RANDOM ACCESS MEMORIES 1979Sony tps-l2 walkman
A
Sony & share
The TPS-L2 had two
headphone ports (take that,
every new iPhone!), so you
could have someone else
share in your dubious musical
taste. They had to supply
their own headphones,
though.