13-YEAR-OLD BOY GIVES UP HIS iPOD FOR A WALKMAN FOR 1 WEEK

BBC News published a funny feature today as a way of looking back at — and paying homage to — the release of the original Walkman 30 years ago this week. BBC invited 13-year-old Scott Campbell to swap his iPod for a Walkman for a week, and had him pen a report (with writing help, we presume) of his experiences. Of note:

It took me three days to figure out that there was another side to the tape. That was not the only naive mistake that I made; I mistook the metal/normal switch on the Walkman for a genre-specific equaliser, but later I discovered that it was in fact used to switch between two different types of cassette.

The article is loaded with hilarious nuggets that make me feel… well, old. No “shuffle” on the Walkman? No problem for Scott: “I managed to create an impromptu shuffle feature simply by holding down “rewind” and releasing it randomly – effective, if a little laboured.” Heavy? Yeah, maybe a bit: “From a practical point of view, the Walkman is rather cumbersome, and it is certainly not pocket-sized, unless you have large pockets. It comes with a handy belt clip screwed on to the back, yet the weight of the unit is enough to haul down a low-slung pair of combats.”

Check out the full article at BBC News.

-VN

[Thanks: Elijah Torn]