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Walkman Creator Leaves Sony

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the walking-shoes dept.

Gammu writes "Nobutoshi Kihara, the engineer behind the Walkman, has left Sony. In the late seventies, one of the co-chairman of Sony, Morita, requested the audio division create a portable tape player capable of playing his operas while he was on transpacific flights to the US. After less than a year, the Walkman was released to the public and revolutionized the music industry. Read about the development of the first Walkman at Low End Mac."

9 of 89 comments (clear)

  1. THe Walkman by MyLongNickName · · Score: 4, Funny

    I remember my first Walkman, and blasting "Ghost Busters". I thought I was so cool... now I post on Slashdot. The Walkman helped define a generation, and was one of the products that helped introduce more than one generation to the future of mobile music technology.

    --
    See my journal for slashdot ID's by year. Mine created in 2005. http://slashdot.org/journal/289875/slashdot-ids-by-year
    1. Re:THe Walkman by joe+155 · · Score: 4, Interesting

      The Walkman helped define a generation

      Indeed it did, in the same way the iPod has done now. There is a lesson to Apple here about not taking customers and market share for granted.

      --
      *''I can't believe it's not a hyperlink.''
    2. Re:THe Walkman by Chaffar · · Score: 5, Funny
      I remember my first Walkman, and blasting "Ghost Busters". I thought I was so cool... now I post on Slashdot.
      It's hard to believe one could fall so low just by listening to crappy music on a portable tape player...
    3. Re:THe Walkman by LiquidCoooled · · Score: 4, Insightful

      There is no lesson here.
      Sony were in the right place at the right time and managed to define a generation.
      Running a business is like a river, it ebbs and flows along. Sometimes its slow, other times its a raging torrent but as long as you stay in the boat you will reach the ocean.

      There are many products which define a generation, the walkman was one of those Nobutoshi Kihara and Sony should be proud of their achievements.

      Apple have caught the wave this time, and in another 5-10 years someone else will.

      --
      liqbase :: faster than paper
  2. Walkman patent case by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

    The article doesn't mention the German inventor that Sony settled with a couple of years ago. See http://www.theregister.co.uk/2004/06/01/walkman_pa tent_case/

  3. Original Walkman by in2mind · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Do any of you still have the original 1979 Walkman in working condition now?

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    Wincopy
  4. Or, to say it less flamebaitshly by $RANDOMLUSER · · Score: 4, Informative

    Not so much "left Sony" as "retired". Seriously, both the summary and TFA are like "Sony in major world of poo - engineers leaving", rather than "trailbreaking engineer retires".

    --
    No folly is more costly than the folly of intolerant idealism. - Winston Churchill
  5. He retired by MightyYar · · Score: 5, Informative

    The man is 80 years old. I think it would be better to say he "retired" rather than he "left". It's not like he quit in disgust or took a better offer somewhere else.

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    W..w..W - Willy Waterloo washes Warren Wiggins who is washing Waldo Woo.
  6. Behind the lightweight headphones by rkodama · · Score: 5, Interesting

    It's worth noting that the Walkman's lightweight headphones were made possible by the discovery and development of samarium cobalt (SmCo) permanent magnets in the early 1970's. Materials (e.g. AlNiCo) that existed before that were not only much weaker, but could only be made in elongated shapes, resulting in much bulkier voice coil assemblies.