13-YEAR-OLD BOY GIVES UP HIS iPOD FOR A WALKMAN FOR 1 WEEK
Monday, June 29th, 2009 at 2:45pm by Vince Neilstein
BBC News published a funny feature today as a way of looking back at — and paying homage to — the release of the original Walkman 30 years ago this week. BBC invited 13-year-old Scott Campbell to swap his iPod for a Walkman for a week, and had him pen a report (with writing help, we presume) of his experiences. Of note:
It took me three days to figure out that there was another side to the tape. That was not the only naive mistake that I made; I mistook the metal/normal switch on the Walkman for a genre-specific equaliser, but later I discovered that it was in fact used to switch between two different types of cassette.
The article is loaded with hilarious nuggets that make me feel… well, old. No “shuffle” on the Walkman? No problem for Scott: “I managed to create an impromptu shuffle feature simply by holding down “rewind” and releasing it randomly – effective, if a little laboured.” Heavy? Yeah, maybe a bit: “From a practical point of view, the Walkman is rather cumbersome, and it is certainly not pocket-sized, unless you have large pockets. It comes with a handy belt clip screwed on to the back, yet the weight of the unit is enough to haul down a low-slung pair of combats.”
Check out the full article at BBC News.
-VN
[Thanks: Elijah Torn]
That kid is an idiot, by the sound of it.
“TAPES HAVE TWO SIDES. NO WAI.”
Well, I admit his vocabulary is better than most 13 year olds.
He’s 13. chances are he’s never used a tape in his life.
Lol that kid, looks like someone I know, is he from England ?
haha that’s awesome! the legendary walkman!
I have a Walkman that I got when I was in high school, about 10 or so years ago. I still use it a lot because I still love my tapes. I don’t even own an MP3 player or iPOD. I just listen to tapes, CDs, and vinyl all the time. Tapes are my favorite because I grew up with them.
Well you’re just out of your god damn mind now aren’t you.
Not that I don’t like listening to music with a low frequency hiss in the background…
I’m with ya man. I use an mp3 player myself mostly these days, but I have a lot of out of print demos,etc. on cassette that is impossible to get again in digital format. Vinyl as well . Still, not knowing there are two sides to a tape is pretty funny.
dude, im 17 and I use my walkmen to listen to certain tapes like hendrix, fudge tunnel, and random shit that isnt on CDs. This kid is seriously stupid for not knowing tapes have two sides.
I had one of those MK.II Walkmans(the red one), and that thing would go way louder than any Discman or iPod I’ve ever had or tried. Also; I had dropped that thing a million times on the bus, and it never died. If you did that with an iPod it would shatter into bits.
Judging by the photo, if you had disguised a cassette to look like a chocolate bar wrapper he would have eaten it.
This article reminds me of arguing with my Dad about how shitty 8-tracks were.
I had one of those way back…. the first CD player by sony too….. I had to walk like a waiter with a plate to avoid skips LOL
They beat the hell out of your cd’s too.
I’m 16, and I’ve been using tapes and vinyl my whole life, so It’s crazy listening to this fuckin’ kid. I’m lucky to actually have all the original Judas Priest albums on vinyl and shit, so it’s cool.
For everyone calling this kid an idiot..maybe his only exposure to music was through the digital medium. How many of you would be so handy with an 8-track if it was the first time you had ever used one?
Face it, there’s a whole generation of young kids coming up right now to whom cassettes and VHS tapes are ancient, obsolete technologies. I’d like to see this kid with a rotary phone.
thats awesome that a couple teenage kids here still listen to tapes. I still do also. in the car, and was rocking a walkman for a while last year. Im 28 and I feel like an old fart being like…this spoiled little twat kid blah blah blah. the point of listening to one tape is to get to know it really well. not a gazillion songs that you dont care about. you really memorize albums and grow to love them with a walkman.
Shit I can’t fucking afford an ipod so I have been using tapes for a long time.