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Walkman Versus iPod
The BBC conducted a curious experiment: they asked a 13-year-old boy to exchange his iPod for a Walkman for one week. These are his conclusions. |
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 Scott Campbell, age 13, participated in the BBC’s experiment |
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Although to many of us it may seem incredible and make us feel a bit old, 13-year olds today have never had a Walkman in their hands. That’s why it’s interesting to see young people’s reactions when you show them the first technological devices that were invented.
As an unprecedented experiment, and to commemorate the music player’s 30th anniversary, the BBC asked a 13-year old named Scott Campbell to hand in his brand-new iPod and listen to music on an old Walkman for a week. They didn’t give him instructions, just a huge gadget and some cassette tapes.
Scott recalled his experience, highlighting the inconveniences, virtues and interesting facts he discovered while using a silver-colored Walkman that, judging from its size and all the scratches on it, had been around since the 80’s.
Scott’s conclusions after using the Walkman
Mi father had told me the Walkman was big, but I hadn't realized he meant THAT big. It was the size of a small book and, even if you could manage to fit it in a huge trouser pocket, the gadget is so heavy it would fall on the ground.
Its bland grey color also struck me. Nowadays gadgets come in a rainbow of colors.
It took me three days to figure out that there was another side to the tape.
When I wore it walking down the street or going into shops, I got strange looks, a mixture of surprise and curiosity, that made me a little embarrassed.
As I boarded the school bus, my friends laughed at this monstrous box, but there was interest in what the thing was and how it worked.
I mistook the metal/normal switch on the Walkman for a genre-specific equalizer, but later I discovered that it was in fact used to switch between two different types of cassette.
Another notable feature that the iPod has and the Walkman doesn't is shuffle, where the player selects random tracks to play. But I managed to create an impromptu shuffle feature simply by holding down rewind and releasing it randomly. I told my dad about my clever idea. In his words, "Walkmans eat tapes". So, I had to stop doing this.
Music sounds significantly worse on a Walkman than on an iPod. However, when you push the large play button, it engages with a satisfying clunk, unlike the fingertip tap for the iPod.
When you listen to music on the Walkman, there are weird noises in the background. The warbling is probably because of the horrifically short battery life; it is nearly completely dead within three hours of firing it up
The Walkman has protruding buttons all around that make the gadget even bulkier.
The need for changing tapes is bothersome in itself. And also, each tape can only hold around 12 tracks each, a fraction of the capacity of the smallest iPod.
One thing I liked about the Walkman that iPods don’t have is that it actually has two headphone sockets, labeled A and B, so I can share with friends.
Another useful feature is the power socket on the side, but given the dreadful battery life, I guess this was an outright necessity rather than an extra function.
I came to realize that I have very little knowledge of technology from the past. You can almost imagine the excitement about the Walkman being invented out 30 years ago, as it was the newest piece of technology at the time. Personally, I'm relieved I live in the digital age.
Link: bbc.co.uk
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Curioblog
Language English [
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