The Sony Walkman TPS-L2 was released 40 years ago this summer, and the way in which we experience music was never the same. It became arguably the most iconic brand in Sony’s history, with hundreds of devices bearing the name and continuing to be released today.
The handheld audio player debuted on July 1, 1979, offering portable music to ears across the world. In the years that followed, from cassettes to CD’s and beyond, Sony’s Walkman would sell over 400 million units worldwide. To celebrate the Walkman’s legacy, Sony held an exhibit in Tokyo called “#009 Walkman in the Park.” The event at Ginza Sony Park, a new public space that sits on the site of the iconic old Sony building that was recently demolished; another Sony building will be constructed there next year.
“Walkman is the strongest representative of the company, and the products have shaped the unique, creative and innovative Sony brand,” Daisuke Nagano, president of Sony Enterprise Co., said during a media preview. “Customers’ memories generated through our Walkman product are what we should always keep in mind regardless of how the company proceeds to survive in this highly competitive business field with the presence of free music apps out there.”
First, they erected a giant statue of a yellow Sports Walkman FM in a the park. The exhibit itself is modeled after an early skate park, where you could sit on a ramp and listen to early hip-hop on an original TPS-L2.
The “Walkman Wall” may be the most impressive aspect of the exhibit; Sony appears to have found and mounted almost every player imaginable. And Nagano added that the exhibition also offers a chance to listen to past Walkman models, as opposed to previous events where the products could only be viewed. Browsing among the devices released over the past 40 years, visitors can see the progress and history of Sony as a company.
The main experience, located on Ginza Sony Park’s first through third basement floors, invites visitors to listen to memorable songs tied to 40 popular icons from 1979 to 2019, including musician Sakanaction and ballet dancer Nozomi Iijima, via the corresponding Walkman model released the same year. In a stark then/now contrast, this installation connects a TPS-L2 to a newer digital Walkman and Sony’s excellent WH-1000XM3 noise-canceling headphones.
The focus was on the experience of actually using the products and how they made you feel. You could listen to music on cassettes through cheap plastic headphones while reading quotes from people who used that Walkman at the time, and for a second feel like you were back in the ‘80s.
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