Walkmans and iPods

From the Walkman to the Apple iPod

In the first instance, the Sony Corporation, the inventors of the Walkman, didn't know what to call the device—finally agreeing on the term Walkman, which they trademarked. The name itself is instructive—it was a “walking” machine—symbolizing a culture “on the move,” the first truly mobile consumer technology (Bull 2000). Other manufacturers were obliged to use the generic term personal stereo to describe their machines—yet this term was also instructive as it illustrates the intimate and private nature of use. The Walkman quickly became the object of choice for millions of teenagers worldwide who wished to take “their” music with them wherever they went. The early machines used cassette tapes, either prerecorded or, more often than not, compilations made by their owners to cater for a wide range of possible uses. In this way, users began to sync music to mood or place. In subsequent years, Walkmans were able to play CDs and minidisks, much for the same purpose. In the intervening years between the origins of the Walkman and the development of the Apple iPod, the mobile phone became the ubiquitous technology of the mobile age, paving the way for the general acceptance of the private use of communication devices in public (Katz 2006). When the Apple corporation introduced the iPod in 2001, its buyers were initially affluent and technologically sophisticated adults, only later, with much advertising, did the iPod filter into and dominate the youth market (Bull 2007).

With the development of the iPod, consumers could now take thousands of songs with them and the contents of the iPod could be arranged through dedicated playlists that could be amended while on the move or played at random in the shuffle mode. The iPod permitted users to fine-tune their relationship to the environment and themselves through the continual adjusting of their musical choice. It also enabled users to stream their own personalized radio channels with content downloaded from the Internet [Page 1516]or to listen to talking books. Users could access a wide range of media; thus, the iPod represents the next stage of consumer culture, one in which users seek out individualized forms of consumption to be accessed when and where they desire.

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