13 Year Old Uses Walkman for a Week. Result: Embarrassment

[The Lawspeaker]

13 Year Old Uses Walkman for a Week. Result: Embarrassment (http://www.wired.com/gadgetlab/2009/06/13-year-old-uses-walkman-for-a-week-result-embarrassment/)



http://www.wired.com/images_blogs/gadgetlab/2009/06/370622288_7f737bb862_o.jpg


The BBC convinced 13 year old Scott Campbell to swap his iPod for a Walkman and use it for a week. The first shock came just from seeing the thing:

[My Dad] had told me it was big, but I hadn’t realised he meant THAT big. It was the size of a small book.
It gets worse from there. Wearing the 30 year old device on his belt (“it is certainly not pocket-sized, unless you have large pockets”) Scott felt embarrassed at the attentions of passersby as they stared and shouted insults.
Other problems included lack of a shuffle mode (“I managed to create an impromptu shuffle feature simply by holding down “rewind” and releasing it randomly”), terrible battery life (three hours), sound quality (we’d disagree — even a tape sounds better than the average MP3), and capacity (twelve tracks in your pocket!).
Scott had some operational troubles, too: “It took me three days to figure out that there was another side to the tape.” The ultimate insult comes at the end, though:

Did my dad, Alan, really ever think this was a credible piece of technology?

[Laudanum]

Other problems included lack of a shuffle mode (“I managed to create an impromptu shuffle feature simply by holding down “rewind” and releasing it randomly”), terrible battery life (three hours), sound quality (we’d disagree — even a tape sounds better than the average MP3), and capacity (twelve tracks in your pocket!).
Scott had some operational troubles, too: “It took me three days to figure out that there was another side to the tape.” The ultimate insult comes at the end, though:

Did my dad, Alan, really ever think this was a credible piece of technology?


Hahaha, dumb kid..:D

[Birka]

What would this kid think of my childhood? We had a black and white TV without a remote control. It only received 3 channels and you had to move the rabbit ears around different ways to get each of the 3 channels. Sometimes we had to attach aluminum foil to the rabbit ears to get the reception just right.

For portable music, we had radios.

[Kempenzoon]

At least over here when I visit the nearest city I see these indie rocker types regularly still using "pre-historic" sound equipment (casette players like that, those huge oversized headphones, ...) as if to make a statement. Usually coupled with second hand/vintage clothing.

I guess at least in the cities I usually visit the "bohémien" thing is still in.

[Octothorpe]

I had already read this on Boing Boing this morning. Really, what did they expect from one of today's youngsters? We can call him a dumb kid, but how many of today's adults would fare well driving a Model T? Or plowing with a mule (my grandad did that)? I remember Walkmans with some fondness, but not any overwhelming nostalgia.

Nota bene: I do not use any MP3 devices, as I detest the compression algorithms. They make the music sound like AM radio played through the tin speaker of a broken toy.