techno retro



Here's something to make you feel old, a 13 year old kid experiencing using an old-style Walkman for the first time:

"It took me three days to figure out that there was another side to the tape.
"

"There were a number of buttons protruding from the top and sides of this device to provide functions such as "rewinding" and "fast-forwarding"


and, in a style reminiscent of Viz's Top Tips
:

"Another notable feature that the iPod has and the Walkman doesn't is "shuffle", where the player selects random tracks to play. Its a function that, on the face of it, the Walkman lacks. But I managed to create an impromptu shuffle feature simply by holding down "rewind" and releasing it randomly - effective, if a little laboured.
"


Actually, the thing that I find most depressing is that I couldn't even afford a Sony Walkman - they were considered to be extremely posh - I had to make do with some crappy black plastic thing called a 'Tamiyo' or something, from the local market. It had a battery life of approximately an hour, 3 utterly pointless 'graphic equalizer' sliders and a forocious appetite for tapes, which it gleefully chomped on an almost daily basis.

Eeeee, we had nowt in them days, but we were 'appy

3 comments:

Brit said...

Me too. I had a Tekiwanka or something, battery life approximately 28 minutes. I made millions of themed compilation tapes with odd names like 'Triumph Dolomite', 'Infinite Sadness' and 'Random Crap'.

Nige still uses a walkman, you know.

Gareth Williams said...

That's a beauty - could be a Mitchell and Webb sketch.

By the way, BT seem to be suggesting in their new ad that landline calls involve more consideration than mobile calls making them, I suppose, what hand-written letters are to emails.

A bizarre thought but one I can almost believe, if I really try. I'm looking forward to how e-etiquette develops!

worm said...

haha I can just picture Nige with a walkman! excellent!

I have heard that some of the newer really posh ones (that came out around the millenium), in conjunction with an expensive tape actually have superior sound quality to many mp3 players

..and gaw, interesting! and quite 'abstract' as an idea, especially from such a large corporation! -As someone who works in advertising, I would love to have been a fly on the wall at the creative pitch!!