DRAFT: This module has unpublished changes.

Samuel van der Swaagh

House 2, Cohort 2

09/19/12

Critical Issues

Response Journal #2: Giles Slade

 

            During the early 00s and late 90s, people used to carry around walkmans, which were portable radios/tape-recorders. During the peak of its production period, the walkman was mainly targeted toward teens or young mothers who spent a great deal of time listening to music while working. That is, teens and mothers were the main consumers or users of WalkMans. However, with the quick rise of CD players, iPods, and iPhones in the latter ours, tape-recorders and WalkMans rapidly disappeared from the mainstream market. Lugging around a bulky WalkMan not only become inefficient, but also unnecessary. Why should one carry around a massive (relatively speaking) tape-recorder, in addition to numerous tape cassettes, when he/she can reduce clutter and hazard by using a CD player or an iPod? In the early 00s the obstacle preventing people from buying a CD player or an iPod was the price. In other words, having an iPod was enormous luxury. By the end of the decade, the standard music devices were mp3 players and iPods, and WalkMans were already considered "ancient" technology.

 

            Determining whether or not Walkmans have become obsolete depends upon your location and generation. In highly concentrated urban areas of the US, Walkmans are definitely called technology of the past. However, even with urbanized places, tape-recorders or Walkmans remain tools of large organizations (e.g. New York Commission for the Blind and Visually Handicapped), libraries, and old music shops. Nonetheless, the general public often scoffs (in jest) at people who still own use Walkman's or tape-recorders. In fact in the Western World, it is almost universally among all classes, age, or race that tape-recorders are obsolete. Perhaps, people among the traditional, who have a stricter ethic for consumption practices, might think otherwise, but the majority still rules. During the 00s, Apple became such an explosive phenomena that almost everyone looked upon their CD players with distain. Probably, another factor that caused Walkmans to become obsolete was its clunky appearance and its exposed technology. People today tend to be more awed by devices that have slick and seamless interface than devices that constantly disclose their hardware to their users. In our Post PC Revolution, most people just want to have the undisturbed experience of holding, touching, and navigating on their devices.

DRAFT: This module has unpublished changes.