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13-Year-Old Trades iPod For a Walkman For a Week

BBC Magazine convinced 13-year-old Scott Campbell to trade in his iPod for a Walkman for a week and see what he thought. Scott thinks the iPod wins when it comes to sound quality, color, weight, and the shuffle feature. The Walkman, however, offers two headphone sockets, making it much easier to listen to music with a friend. My favorite part of the review is, "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 equalizer, but later I discovered that it was in fact used to switch between two different types of cassette."

27 of 354 comments (clear)

  1. Hehe he ain't seen nothing yet... by ls671 · · Score: 4, Insightful

    About giving him an 8 track cartridge tape ?

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stereo_8

    At least, there is only one side to those. I still remember listening to Pink Floyd "The dark side of the moon" and "Echoes" while cruising in my car. Even today, when I listen to it on more modern media, I still remember where the sound track would cut for a few seconds in the middle of a song in order to allow the player to change tracks. They did a fade-out in the middle of a song in order to make it sound more appropriated... ;-)

    8-tracks came before 4 track mini-cassette :

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mini_Cassette

    For those who don't know 8 tracks, the tape is arranged in a endless loop so it was impossible to rewind the tape ;-))) I still have an 8 track recorder in the basement somewhere, I used to record my own tapes ;-)

    --
    Everything I write is lies, read between the lines.
    1. Re:Hehe he ain't seen nothing yet... by Shadow+of+Eternity · · Score: 4, Funny

      Always fun convincing people they needed to rewind an 8 track.

      --
      A bullet may have your name on it but splash damage is addressed "To whom it may concern."
    2. Re:Hehe he ain't seen nothing yet... by eln · · Score: 5, Funny

      I had a friend with an 8 track player in his Gremlin in High School. In 1994. It was not a chick magnet.

    3. Re:Hehe he ain't seen nothing yet... by swb · · Score: 4, Funny

      I hated the cut in the middle of songs, although I don't remember any "good" songs being cut, usually it was mid-album lamers that got cut.

      The upside to 8 track was the infinite play capability; critical for those 1970s pot smoking sessions when everyone got too mellow to get up and change the music. Of course this was also the downside, waking up at 4 AM to switch off the Nth playthrough of "Led Zeppelin IV".

    4. Re:Hehe he ain't seen nothing yet... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

      you could probably also faintly here "Speak to Me" on track 1 at the same time

      That was just 'the lunatic in your head' that you were hearing.

    5. Re:Hehe he ain't seen nothing yet... by iluvcapra · · Score: 4, Interesting

      It is however possible, on both formats, for a loud sound like an kick drum hit to appear immediately before or after it actually is supposed to be heard, because the tape layers on the spool print through onto layers above them. When I used to do gun recordings with a Nagra 4-S you would always store the tapes "tails out" or FFwded to the end, so that any print through would sound after the actual sound, and would sound like an echo, rather than preceding the sound and ruining the attack.

      --
      Don't blame me, I voted for Baltar.
    6. Re:Hehe he ain't seen nothing yet... by ScoLgo · · Score: 4, Funny

      I don't have an 8-track player - but I do leave several 8-track tapes strewn around my car interior.

      Best. Anti-Theft System. Ever. (YMMV)

      --
      "Michael, I did nothing. I did absolutely nothing - and it was everything that I thought it could be."
    7. Re:Hehe he ain't seen nothing yet... by definate · · Score: 5, Funny

      When I was a teenager, 8 years ago (2001-2002), instead of putting a CD deck in my car, I wanted to put my dad's old 8 track deck into my car. That way it would have been ironic, hip, and would have limited me to playing only his old 60s-80s 8 track tapes. Also, I had no money for a CD deck. Almost got it done, but lazy kicked in, and the 8 track deck needed to be repaired a bit, so I abandoned it.

      I went around trying to find somewhere which might have one for real cheap, like a pawn shop or similar. This was a pretty interesting thing to go around asking.

      I went into this kind of music pawn shop, which had heaps of old things, including old record players, however it was more focused on that sort of indie niche. I walked in and asked the person running the store if they have an 8 track player, especially for a car. There was this old druggie raver looking guy standing behind him looking at records. When I asked about the 8 track player, he turned around and said "Hey man, that was funny, I thought I heard you asking for an 8 track player", at which point I looked at him and said "I am", he looked back with a freaked out yet blank face and said "Whoah". He then proceeded to stare at me after that last thought. All I can think was that I caused him to have some sort of an acid flash back, which he experienced for the next 30 seconds.

      Either way, I still got a pile of 8 track tapes and no 8 track player. Probably for the best, I now have a good car, with a good deck, and I like things which aren't shit, now. Though the old bomb (1981 Ford Falcon XD) was awesome for jumping over train tracks, going 200kph, drifting around dirt corners, shredding my tyres and similar.

      --
      This is my footer. There are many like it, but this one is mine.
    8. Re:Hehe he ain't seen nothing yet... by tchristney · · Score: 4, Funny

      Obviously you are clueless as to the nature of the 8-track. Everyone knows that in any random assemblage of 8-track tapes, there is a 90% chance of finding Meat Loaf's Bat out of Hell.

  2. On the plus side... by fuzzyfuzzyfungus · · Score: 4, Funny

    Sony's audio cassette devices didn't manage to contain any rootkits...

    1. Re:On the plus side... by Yosho · · Score: 4, Informative

      I'm not quite sure what your point is. You don't need iTunes to put music on your iPod, either.

      --
      Karma: Terrifying (mostly affected by atrocities you've committed)
    2. Re:On the plus side... by binkzz · · Score: 4, Funny

      Really?

      Could you suggest a program I could use instead of iTunes?

      --
      'For we walk by faith, not by sight.' II Corinthians 5:7
  3. Gotta love them cassettes.. by powerslave12r · · Score: 5, Funny

    The sound of, say, Metallica's Garage Inc on tape is way better than on mp3. Cassettes are beautiful. They are durable, unlike CD/DVDs, and I have 25 year old cassettes that still work. They are hardware, tangible mechanical form of music. And there's just something about it that no CD/DVD/MP3s can match. And then there's the cover art sitting on an actual cover. Man I miss those days.

    --
    Real men read Slashdot articles at -1, bottom up.
    1. Re:Gotta love them cassettes.. by EvanED · · Score: 5, Funny

      And there's just something about it that no CD/DVD/MP3s can match.

      Like the ability to get wrapped around the heads in a crappy/broken player? ;-)

    2. Re:Gotta love them cassettes.. by FooAtWFU · · Score: 4, Funny

      And there's just something about it that no CD/DVD/MP3s can match.

      Hmm. In a pinch, audio cassettes can do double-duty as impromptu teething devices for your toddler, and still play music afterwards. Is that it?

      --
      The World Wide Web is dying. Soon, we shall have only the Internet.
    3. Re:Gotta love them cassettes.. by ucblockhead · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Best part, you can use them to trade music with your friends, just like the Metallica guys did before they got famous.

      --
      The cake is a pie
  4. And I though that switch.. by WarwickRyan · · Score: 4, Funny

    ..was there to make my C64 games load faster...

  5. Low-slung... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    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.

    Pull your pants up and wear a belt! You damn kids

    1. Re:Low-slung... by eln · · Score: 5, Funny

      Seriously, these things were made for the '80s! Back then, you needed your friends to help you put on your pants because they were so tight! If you ate too much during the day, you would need the paramedics to cut you out of your pants at night! You could clip a brick of lead to your belt loop and your pants would remain firmly in place.

    2. Re:Low-slung... by nine-times · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Perhaps it's because I'm quite bright, but apart from the metal switch, I never had any of those questions when I first picked up a tape deck.

      Maybe because tape decks were in common use when you were a kid, and you saw them being operated?

      I'm not sure it's fair to call kids "spoiled rotten" because they see the superiority of current technology over what was in use years/decades before they were born. Kids may have a hard time imagining life without iPods and the Internet, but many young adults have a hard time imagining life before TVs and telephones were in every house. Many of us have a hard time imagining life without electricity, automobiles, or indoor plumbing. Insofar as this kid is spoiled, we're all spoiled.

  6. That was pretty metal by Tibor+the+Hun · · Score: 4, Funny

    As I listen to Dëthklok, I marvel at a radio that would have a Metal/normal equalizer preset.

    That would be pretty metal.

    --
    If you don't know what AltaVista is (was), get off my lawn.
  7. Boombox by ei4anb · · Score: 4, Funny

    and for next week's assignment have him carry around a ghettoblaster ;-)

  8. Was that really written by a 13 year old? by RawJoe · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Either he writes well or I was an idiot when I was 13.

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    ?
    1. Re:Was that really written by a 13 year old? by moose_hp · · Score: 4, Insightful

      My favorite part is:

      Furthermore, there were a number of buttons protruding from the top and sides of this device to provide functions such as "rewinding" and "fast-forwarding" (remember those?), which added even more bulk.

      Emphasis mine.

      That part sounded more like a nostalgic review rather than from someone who see the functionality for the first time.

      --
      DON'T PANIC.
    2. Re:Was that really written by a 13 year old? by mobby_6kl · · Score: 4, Funny

      Not to mention the missing apostrophe! What an illiterate little fuck.

  9. Re:Surely you are trolling. by hardburn · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Worse, the mere act of not using a cassette degrades it. Not even vinyl can say that. It just degrades in an analog way that will leave the tape technically playable for a long time. But it also starts with signficantly worse quality than either CDs or vinyl and goes downhill from there.

    I can understand the nostalgic property of vinyl to a certain degree, but longing for cassettes is just pathetic.

    --
    Not a typewriter
  10. Doesn't this say more about today's kids? by pandrijeczko · · Score: 5, Interesting

    I find it disturbing that, according to the article at least, this particular kid had problems working out for himself that a cassette tape is two-sided and what half of the controls on the Walkman do.

    As a kid, I can remember taking some bits of machinery apart to clean or service them, and just to see how they worked. (For example, my parents were in the clothes-making/tailoring trade and I frequently messed about with old sewing machines to fix them or clean them.) I also got into electronics at a fairly young age and knew some basics about car mechanics.

    It seems a shame that kids these days don't get the chance to (or are just not interested in) take things apart just to see how they work - from my perspective, I developed an "engineering brain" from a really early age that has served me well throughout my career.

    --
    Gentoo Linux - another day, another USE flag.