Smart People I Know

iPods and Walkmans, or how we perceive technology

June 29, 2009 · 1 Comment

The Sony Walkman is 30 years old. I still recall seeing my first Walkman. I was amazed at how good the sound quality was and yet how small it was. It was revolutionary to me.

There was another revolution, too. A social one. There was alot of talk at the time about how people were tuning out the world even as they were moving through it. It was not seen as a positive development.

All that has changed now, and how this technology is perceived now is very different than it was back then. To see how different, I recommend reading this article on the BBC web site. They asked a 13 year old to give up his iPod for a Walkman and to report back his experiences. It’s a good read: BBC NEWS | UK | Magazine | Giving up my iPod for a Walkman

Categories: new!

1 response so far ↓

  • smartpeopleiknow // June 29, 2009 at 12:47 pm | Reply

    P.S. Thanks to sascha_p on twitter for pointing it out. sascha_p is well worth following, especially if you are interested in technology like netbooks.

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