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ShareThe 40-year-old Moore's Law posits that computing capacity will roughly double every year. The distaff side to that is that things become obsolete really fast as technology becomes more sophisticated and people move on to newer and better things. What was once cutting edge now looks old-fashioned and outdated.
In recent times we have seen the gradual fading out of the Polaroid camera, Kodachrome film, the video recorder and the music cassette. Related to the last named is the Walkman, which is completing its own third decade. The Walkman lost the battle to the iPod long ago and is now used to market portable audio and video players. But its impact, culturally and economically, cannot be underestimated.
The nifty portable music player came about when Sony chairman Akio Morita asked his boffins to invent something he could take along on his long trips to listen to music. The result was a nifty box-like player that was a boon to students, travellers and commuters. Joggers were among its greatest fans as it was a great boon to listen to music while running. Helped by the falling prices of cassettes, the Walkman became a best selling item, boosting Sony and making it into an electronics giant.
It was cool to carry around the Walkman and get lost in the music unmindful of the surroundings and observers began to wonder if humans were becoming anti-social, wanting to cut themselves from the rest of their beings. Other companies followed with similar products but the original retained its cache and the word assumed a generic form. Sony followed it up with the less successful Discman which did not catch on because it was more cumbersome. But it was becoming clear that the CD was eventually going to dominate the market and the cassette's days were coming to an end.
Eventually, even the CD was overtaken by MP3 and other digital formats and the younger generation soon took to downloading music. The cassette, which had killed off the vinyl record, is dead and the CD is barely hanging on. The Walkman is relegated to history though even nostalgia buffs would be hard pressed to sing the praises of the cassette.
Though it sells by the millions today, one day even the iPod will be history. The mobile phone is as handy for listening to music on the move as the iPod. Who knows what technology will bring tomorrow? So while wishing the Walkman a happy birthday, it may not be long before we will be waving it goodbye too.
