Talk:Walkman

Categories and Models
Suggested change - instead of a never ending stream of text would it be ok to have tables in each section detailing the models and features? And a section about the numbering and letter system in place, something along the lines of http://www.anythingbutipod.com/forum/showthread.php?t=33830 Discojim (talk) 01:30, 10 March 2010 (UTC)

Is this a valid reference?


1:03 mark

00:48, 8 November 2010 (UTC) —Preceding unsigned comment added by 66.108.211.43 (talk)

Samarium
According to this, the walkman was made possible because the use of samarium allowed for small, powerful magnets for the first time. Is this worth putting in the article? Totnesmartin (talk) 17:52, 23 November 2010 (UTC)

Sony Watchman
If there is going to be sections for the wide array of products that fall under the walkman line(including the Discman) shouldn't theree at least some mention of the Watchman portable TVs that sony made in the 80s and 90s? If only a link in the see other. While the Watchman is not directly related, the Video Walkman is not directly related either as it plays tapes and TV, not music. (Nokorola (talk) 05:08, 25 December 2010 (UTC))

Top picture
The term "Walkman" is I feel most commonly associated with the cassette players. As such, I think the picture at the top of the page should be of one of a classic cassette Walkman, not the modern mp3 players. Views? M0ffx (talk) 01:33, 19 May 2011 (UTC)


 * Agreed. Binksternet (talk) 06:35, 19 May 2011 (UTC)


 * Hello M0ffx, I am not sure about that.. Changing the main picture to display an older product would not reflect its newness and might confuse people regarding its current existence, don't you think? I would even say it would be better to change the current picture to show a newer Walkman Model... Let me know if you agree. Cheers, Zalunardo8 (talk) 13:33, 22 May 2013 (UTC)


 * It is possible to have a pair of photos up at the top, with an early Walkman shown next to a recent model. Binksternet (talk) 14:14, 22 May 2013 (UTC)

Pavel background
"Pavel's background is nowhere near that of a much inventor". I'd fix this phrase, but I have no clue as to what is attempting to be said here. 98.154.221.203 (talk) 21:43, 27 November 2011 (UTC)


 * I deleted that bit. The editor who added it is trying to put Pavel down and to raise up another guy. Binksternet (talk) 22:56, 27 November 2011 (UTC)

Why were all references to Pavel (and the Stereobelt) removed? (21 July 2014) Sclaes (talk) 13:21, 28 July 2015 (UTC)

Du Gay
"Du Gay" fills up the references. Who or what is that? I can't find anything Googling that. RocketLauncher2 (talk) 22:01, 20 May 2013 (UTC)


 * Hi RocketLauncher2, Paul Du Gay is the author of the book Doing Cultural Studies: The Story of the Sony Walkman, that makes a case study of the Sony Walkman and how it changed the society culturally (e.g. how ideas of personal space changed after the release of the product, for example). Here is the link to the book: http://books.google.co.uk/books/about/Doing_Cultural_Studies.html?id=Gop0dQGKm5sC&redir_esc=y . Hope this helps! Cheers, Zalunardo8 (talk) 10:42, 21 May 2013 (UTC)


 * Taking a second look, the references are completely not clear. I will correct it! Thanks for spotting it, Zalunardo8 (talk) 10:49, 21 May 2013 (UTC)

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 is Not a Prequel
Hey guys, the way the intro paragraph is written, it makes Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 sound like a prequel. It's not, it's a sequel. See, second sentence in the intro paragraph (and several other places throughout the article). Miiiiiiiight want to get that fixed. Also worth noting is that (a) Peter Quill's specific Walkman is of the original model, the TPS-L2, as pictured later on in this page (per ), and that (spoiler alert/tags appropriate here, if supported) it is destroyed in the second film by Ego and, in the end, replaced by a Microsoft Zune (this information should probably also be added to the previously-linked Wikipedia page on the film). 2606:A000:4C0E:D00:B141:B77D:DE3E:A900 (talk) 05:39, 18 June 2017 (UTC)starhawk aka laserhawk64@gmail.com

the official explanation. "Sony America" hated the name Walkman.
Sony President and co-founder Akio Morita had hated the name "Walkman" and asked that it be changed, but relented after being told by junior executives that a promotion campaign had already begun using the brand name and that it would be too expensive to change. Eventually "Walkman" caught on globally and Sony used the name worldwide.

This information is incorrect.

https://www.sony.co.jp/SonyInfo/CorporateInfo/History/capsule/20/ "Sony America" hated the name Walkman. The product name Sony Disco Jogger was proposed by Sony America.

221.189.72.185 (talk) 23:48, 21 July 2017 (UTC)

English page. https://www.sony.net/SonyInfo/CorporateInfo/History/capsule/20/

Of course, "Walkman" is Janglish. Overseas sales companies objected to this Japanese-English name, and proposed others. Sony America initially suggested "Sony Disco Jogger" because both disco and jogging were then all the rage in America.221.189.72.185 (talk) 00:03, 22 July 2017 (UTC)

I can confirm that Akio Morita didn't hate the name. At the time I was a Sony contractor and they asked me to suggest names for the product. I made about 100 suggestions, because they didn't accept the first batch and I kept submitting more. Then they said "Mr. Morita wants to use the name 'Walkman'." I replied that this was terrible and not even English, so they had me continue making suggestions. But finally the Walkman name was made final. Since I live in Japan I never realized until I read this Wikipedia article that other names were used overseas.BruceThomson (talk) 03:59, 17 September 2021 (UTC)

a better history
John Nathan's excellent book "sony: the private life" has a pretty good account of the birth of the walkman, which goes into sufficient detail as to suggest he got closer to may of the sources (ohga, morita, morita's wife & so on). details like the japanese attitude to over-ear headphones, a social discomfort surrounding headphones at all (to do with impaired hearing & a feeling of shame)... morita's wife's suggestion that the machine was antisocial, leading to the second headphone socket & the hotline feature... the name 'walkman' being japan-only but "escaping" into the other territories ahead of the machine & its marketing under different names, courtesy of wealthy tourists, flight-crews & business travellers exporting the japanese version of the tps-l2...

but his account starts with sony at a low point after the failure of betamax, & he characterises morita "conjuring the walkman out of thin air" as the beginning of sony's revival.

I've a lot of problems with this article. it's sloppily written & lacks detail. the 'pro' section ignores the TC-D3 entirely, a grave omission. there are typos here & there too. but it definitely needs a rewrite to include some of nathan's account, to place the development of the pressman into the walkman in some sort of context.

duncanrmi (talk) 20:29, 4 September 2017 (UTC)

Why is Android (Linux) Related?
I just cannot imagine the link from this page to the one on Android. There is no mention of Walkman on that page. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Buchskj (talk • contribs) 02:37, 19 March 2019 (UTC)


 * I have no idea either. - BilCat (talk) 02:53, 19 March 2019 (UTC)

Types
Sony's twin cassette walkman. Setenzatsu.2 (talk) 20:07, 24 April 2020 (UTC)
 * What about it? The article makes no mention of any specific models other than the first. If there's something particularly notable about this model then tell us what and source it. Meters (talk) 05:41, 28 April 2020 (UTC)
 * Hahaha. The guy/girl said, "twin cassette" walkman. It doesn't require a genius to figure out what "particularly notable about this model" is. Have you heard of google. So your logic is if smb decided to mention only one model, other models should not be mentioned? What kind of logic is that? Where is that rule in the rulebook? 89.201.184.245 (talk) 06:23, 28 April 2020 (UTC)
 * Not interested in an IP's guesses. If the poster wants to suggest an addition to the article he or she should actually do so, with sources. Meters (talk) 07:19, 28 April 2020 (UTC)

Sony's line of DAPs
I re-added the line about Sony's line of DAPs known as Network Walkman since it was removed as unverified. NW moniker is used on many of their DAP products and product literature. It is also a Sony trademark. Most likely it is also why thier DAP product model IDs start with "NW", but couldn't find a citation for that. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 135.180.81.126 (talk) 10:45, 17 May 2020 (UTC)

Who really invented the "Walkman"?
Many say it was a man with the name Andreas Pavel, he also had patented his so called Stereobelt years before Sony developed their Walkman and after years in court finally in 2003 Pavel and Sony settled for a payment in the low eight figures, so something between ten and twenty million dollars.--212.95.5.1 (talk) 21:15, 10 June 2021 (UTC)
 * What of it? The article does not make any claims about who first came up with the concept of a portable player. This is an article about the Sony Walkman. If you want to suggest an addition to the article then propose it, and provide reliable sources, not hand waving such as "Many suggest" and guesses such as "low eight figures, so something between ten and twenty million dollars." Meters (talk) 22:05, 10 June 2021 (UTC)

This is the https://www.nytimes.com/2005/12/17/world/americas/an-unlikely-trendsetter-made-earphones-a-way-of-life.html article 2603:8080:4900:CBB1:0:0:0:1ECF (talk) 02:51, 28 December 2023 (UTC)

Radio Walkman info seems wrong or misleading
Prior to April 13, 2022 the infobox gives for Lifespan July 1, 1979 – October 25, 2010 (Compact Cassette Tape Edition); Approximately 1979 (AM/FM radio); July 1, 1984 – present (all other editions) The first transistor radio that Sony labeled "FM Walkman" was the SRF-40, released in Japan in 1980 according to Japanese blogs, and 1981 (as the SRF-40W) according to US sites. I don't know what the "lifespan" of Walkman radios was. The precise date "July 1, 1984" for "all other editions" seems to refer to the release of the Discman. But since the FM Walkman preceded it, this is too much information in the infobox that's not in the article. So I shortened it to July 1, 1979 – October 25, 2010 (Compact Cassette player); 1981 – present (other media players) in the same revision wherein I mention the first FM Walkman (transistor radio) and Walkman-cassette-player-with-a-radio. Skierpage (talk) 21:00, 13 April 2022 (UTC)

Andreas Pavel
If you look at the wiki entry on him, it says:

He was german born, not brazilian.

He won the case against Sony and received an 8-figure settlement and royalties. 2001:9E8:439A:4200:B0B2:B1B1:964B:EC72 (talk) 12:56, 23 February 2023 (UTC)

Wiki Education assignment: Writing Workshop
— Assignment last updated by MeeseeksEverywhere (talk) 01:27, 18 April 2024 (UTC)