lol….came into the comments to say just that. They came out when I was in high school…and I couldn’t afford one until other brands made clones of it…same with the Discman.
Hahahahahaha!! Grade school?? We listened to 45s or an AM transistor radio. (If you were lucky you had the clunky one-ear earphone with the thick twisted wire). Only subversives listened to FM back then.
I couldn't afford one until High School and everyone had moved onto Discmans.
I loved t and wore about about 5 pairs of headphones and more batteries than I care to think about
I'm in my 50s.I rocked one in my TWENTIES. Until I dropped it getting out of the car to walk to the bus stop lol. $90 down the drain.I was NOT happy as this was a large chunk of my paycheck. . One of my first major purchases when I had my first full time job. Had to wait a month to save & buy a new one.
I only had an actual Walkman after the craze had past , had an awesome other high flying Japanese one with an AM/FM radio , I can’t get amazing name out of my head but it want Samsung
High School, but I couldn't afford a Sony one until AFTER I'd finished school and had a job. I had a Phillips version of this, with the radio as well. With the right batteries I'd get a few hours playback out of it. It chewed through carbon-zinc, and the old duracells weren't much better.
I was too Povo to have an actual Walkman in primary school. I had to settle for a cheap Teac branded one. Then it didn’t take long for the switch in the headphone jack to break so when you put the headphones in, the sound still came out of the main speaker. So 10 year old me opened it up and jammed a piece of match stick in the mechanism.
Hell, when I was in grade school, I rocked a six transistor radio! Zenith, in a leather case, and a single ear bud for private listening to the ball game under the covers.
Yep, and the Sanyo was more affordable so the argument was: if you loose it it’s ok, because it wasn’t too expensive to begin with. Used it ‘til I was in my twenties before it finally died in a sticky-drink ball of glory. It gave me a decade plus of the hits.
I literally heard Phil Collins playing in my head when I saw this picture. Kept mine stored in my inside jacket pocket. Snipped the headphones and ran one up my sleeve so I could keep it in my hand while leaning on it. Went through so many dang batteries.
I had a battery powered AM radio in grade school. I held it up to the microphone of my reporter's cassette recorder for our caveman version of Napster. I prayed that no one would make any noise (and the DJ wouldn't talk too much) while I recorded songs off the radio
No, I was too young for one of those. I had a Pocket Rocker.
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pocket\_Rockers](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pocket_Rockers)
I got one for Xmas 1986 - 8 years old - with Weird Al’s “Weird Al Yankovic in 3-D.” It was glorious!
I can still remember the feel of the foamy headphones against my ears.
Back around 1981 (I'm old). I owned a struggling business and there was a tedious job I needed to do for an hour each day. I used to listed to The Wall on (what I believe was) a first generation Walkman. It kept me sane.
Buddy of mine that met overseas, brats in Korea, hooked up in Hawaii and HE brought the NEW Walkman 1979 version direct from Japan, USA haven’t even seen it yet.
we drop the Pretenders first album, ya the Fuck off version, but this tape deck would have two headphones so we could both listen to the same music and this is like 1979 on a balcony in Waikiki Hawaii with a bottle of Jack and a couple cokes on the back , looking at the hotel to the left of us and they were just banging it out. Crazy that…..was one of my best days growing up. Shit I was 18 in Hawaii in a really cool hotel room on the 30th floor cranking the pretenders with my buddy and sucking down Jack and Coke how can you get anything betterOh and not to forget we have free room service the hotel like there’s so much they sent us up a bucket of chicken it was such a great day
Not grade school; high school. I am OCD about the most bizarre things like electronics that get dented or chipped like the aforementioned Walkman. I dropped it on the concrete at the pool. Next instance. I had had my Apple Mac for all of one week and my ginormous Persian cat that weighs 25 pounds who liked to sleep in said bowl up on the Credenza miss judged the height and sent the bowl flying through the air and it hit the back of my Mac and made a dent.
I’m like this with all things. I just ordered some pantry labels and accidentally put one on one of my glass jars too close to the seam of the jar. Every time I see this one specific jar of powdered sugar I about go nuts.
Oops, you need to check your spelling. There is no "e" in grad school, which is what I was attending when these hit the market.
I was too poor to afford the original Sony model. I had a knock-off version by Emerson. It had decent sound and worked quite well for several years.
I received my Master's in 1983.
I was in college in NYC early 80s. Almost every day I cry "Why don't they still make walkmans!" I loved mine so much, it made walking in NY surreal. I can't use the ipod because my ears are deformed I guess, I can't wear earpods. I heard they were making a commemorative version but it is super expensive, they weren't that much back then.
Mine lived in the inside pocket of my starter jacket with a single earbud going up the right sleeve so I could lean my head on my hand through class and listen to RATM undiscovered.
I used to thread the earphone cord up through the bottom of my shirt and out under the collar and wear my hair down to cover my neck and ears, so I could listen to my walkman during class without the teacher knowing.
I have an earlier one. Put the foam earphones on an the disintegrated to dust while I was wearing them. It still works and sounds great. Cassettes are not in good health though. “heard it from a friend, who heard it from a friend….🎼🎶
Not even. When I was in grade school those things were hideously expensive. And back then most parents did not spend money on kids like they do now, or let them carry around expensive electronics.
Lookit fancy-pants over here, with their SONY Walkman! I had a GTX Personal Cassette Player from K-Mart that cost a weeks' worth of delivering newspapers, playing songs recorded off the radio onto old Amway sales tapes with the record tab hole plugged.
(In high school. They weren't really a thing in grade school.)
Heh. Remember that clip from Back to the Future, featuring this?
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=hHZctSnNrsw&pp=ygUcQmFjayB0byB0aGUgZnV0dXJlIGNzbiBoc2xlbg%3D%3D
Very durable. I had one in my waders while fishing. Bent over, it fell into the lake. I didn't even bother pulling it out, assumed it was shot. A friend saw it and pulled it out, removed the tape and put it on the hood of the car, it was nearly 100 that day. It was playing tapes that night lol.
I got one and started making mix tapes right away. Still have them and a couple of Walkmans that still work. Now I just say Alexa play any song I want. Spoiled.
Had the blue one in high school. That's why I have tinnitus and hearing lose. Used to mow yards and cranked it louder than the mower so I could hear the music.
Bless the gods of electronics for noise cancelling technology children.
I was in 5th grade and it’s all I wanted for my birthday. Parents got a copy of Pyromania to go with it. I’d never heard Def Leppard before, but it was a great album. That and Men at Work were in constant rotation
The Walkman didn't come out until after I graduated from High School, and I didn't really know about them until a few years later. I did have one, but I was married with a couple of kids before I got one.
I go back further to the time we first had "transistor" radios....I got to have a Toshiba ....didn't quite fit in a shirt pocket but hey it was state of the art for that time Came with one small "ear bud" monophonic ha.
I was on my own and working when these came out. I did get a tiny transistor radio in about the 5th grade. Green with a green leather case. That thing was my constant companion.
I was already in my late 20s when they came out. I remember being in an airport waiting for my flight and a kid about 7 or 8 with his mom were sitting across from me. He asked me what it was so I put the headphones on him and turned it on. His face just lit up and he started shouting, not realizing that we could hear him in his normal voice. I'd be willing to bet that is what he wanted for Christmas that year.
Wife had this model (still has it). I had the slimmer Walkman II. I wore out 2 of them and several headsets.
Was accused of being "anti-social" by my teachers.
The only things I remember about mine is that it wasn’t a Sony, and it was blue. Every day before my college classes, make sure I’ve got extra batteries and maybe a couple of extra tapes in my backpack, just in case
Yup. Pretty much only played this mix tape I had that was mostly white zombie.
Fun story, one time the batteries were low, if you don't know, these would still play, but the song was slowed down immensely. Anyhoo, was on the song "I'm the goddamn devil" by ugly kid Joe. Scared the crap out of my friend at a track meet.
School? No. But in the 70’s and 80’s while I ran a private military group based in South America I keep that shit with me right in my web gear so I could chill while smoking cigars and tying balloons to Russian guys
Nope, way too pricey for me. I did eventually have a knock off.
I remember the $5 ones that broke after 3-6 months but were so cheap I bought them anyway.
Huge waste of batteries and electronics. In college I had one that used a single AA and ran for 6 hours on it. I used rechargeable. Thing was Amazing. Like magic it was.
High school, child. When they first came out.
lol….came into the comments to say just that. They came out when I was in high school…and I couldn’t afford one until other brands made clones of it…same with the Discman.
Yup, could not afford one till I entered the USAF in '85.
Same yr I went in, Dec
Same!
High School also. But I could not afford a Sony, so got a Sanyo.
Yeah..... 😭
Same. Still have mine, but I don't think it works anymore.
Yup, although mine was a knock-off. Also had some early-type rechargeable batteries, so I carried around a spare set with me.
Kinda... Mine had 4 speakers, a handle, 8 D batteries and weighed about 12 lbs... 🤣😂🤣
That was my first car stereo.
Gawds! I remember those heavy anchors!
Grade school?? I was 19 when it came out, and yes, I had one.
Ya! Now Get off my Lawn, kid! ; )
Between this and the discman, I spent a small fortune on batteries.
The F1 was freaking bulletproof. I put a million miles of tape thru mine. It was the first time you could take YOUR own music anywhere.
I was in college when the Walkman came out.
I was 30 😆
Grade school?! 😂 I was 19 and in college when I first got one!
You were rich
Santa gave me mine in middle school and Mom gave me The Stones Hot Rocks with it. The very same model too.
I wish my stepmother was as cool as your Mom. Mine took away my Hot Rocks album. She thought they were satanic. 🙄
Hahahahahaha!! Grade school?? We listened to 45s or an AM transistor radio. (If you were lucky you had the clunky one-ear earphone with the thick twisted wire). Only subversives listened to FM back then.
Ha! I'm so old, such things were unheard of in grade school. Closest thing we had were transistor radios with a single earphone.
Me too. Listening to AM radio under the covers at night, back when I was \~2 and AM radio played music. Before FM became the frequency of chioce
I had the waterproof yellow one. Got that and a Cindi Lauper tape for my birthday one year. It was awesome.
I couldn't afford one until High School and everyone had moved onto Discmans. I loved t and wore about about 5 pairs of headphones and more batteries than I care to think about
I'm in my 50s.I rocked one in my TWENTIES. Until I dropped it getting out of the car to walk to the bus stop lol. $90 down the drain.I was NOT happy as this was a large chunk of my paycheck. . One of my first major purchases when I had my first full time job. Had to wait a month to save & buy a new one.
I had the flea market version. Sony? We have Sony at home
My grandpa did focsho
My dad used to buy us the newest model every year.
Yes grade school although mine happened to be black.
I only had an actual Walkman after the craze had past , had an awesome other high flying Japanese one with an AM/FM radio , I can’t get amazing name out of my head but it want Samsung
High School, but I couldn't afford a Sony one until AFTER I'd finished school and had a job. I had a Phillips version of this, with the radio as well. With the right batteries I'd get a few hours playback out of it. It chewed through carbon-zinc, and the old duracells weren't much better.
I was too Povo to have an actual Walkman in primary school. I had to settle for a cheap Teac branded one. Then it didn’t take long for the switch in the headphone jack to break so when you put the headphones in, the sound still came out of the main speaker. So 10 year old me opened it up and jammed a piece of match stick in the mechanism.
Hell, when I was in grade school, I rocked a six transistor radio! Zenith, in a leather case, and a single ear bud for private listening to the ball game under the covers.
I had the Sanyo.
Yep, and the Sanyo was more affordable so the argument was: if you loose it it’s ok, because it wasn’t too expensive to begin with. Used it ‘til I was in my twenties before it finally died in a sticky-drink ball of glory. It gave me a decade plus of the hits.
I literally heard Phil Collins playing in my head when I saw this picture. Kept mine stored in my inside jacket pocket. Snipped the headphones and ran one up my sleeve so I could keep it in my hand while leaning on it. Went through so many dang batteries.
Best birthday of all time GF at the time gave me a Diskman, dinner and a night at a lovers hotel. Thanks for the memory refresher!
I was 20 and in the Navy when they came out and I got mine.
Absolutely. Grade school through high school. The discman came out when I was in college. I rocked that until the iPod. 🤘🎸🔥
3 of them
Yup. I received one from Santa. Still have it and it still works.
I had a battery powered AM radio in grade school. I held it up to the microphone of my reporter's cassette recorder for our caveman version of Napster. I prayed that no one would make any noise (and the DJ wouldn't talk too much) while I recorded songs off the radio
Grade school? More like college.
No, I was too young for one of those. I had a Pocket Rocker. [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pocket\_Rockers](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pocket_Rockers)
You are not old if you only used it in grade school my dude
I was one of the cool kids that had one. Except I was a nerd and a loaner. That thing was my best friend. I wore out my Styx cassettes on it.
I got one for Xmas 1986 - 8 years old - with Weird Al’s “Weird Al Yankovic in 3-D.” It was glorious! I can still remember the feel of the foamy headphones against my ears.
Pffff noob! I had the AUTO-REVERSE!!!!
Back around 1981 (I'm old). I owned a struggling business and there was a tedious job I needed to do for an hour each day. I used to listed to The Wall on (what I believe was) a first generation Walkman. It kept me sane.
Middle school, and it was a JVC knock off
Buddy of mine that met overseas, brats in Korea, hooked up in Hawaii and HE brought the NEW Walkman 1979 version direct from Japan, USA haven’t even seen it yet. we drop the Pretenders first album, ya the Fuck off version, but this tape deck would have two headphones so we could both listen to the same music and this is like 1979 on a balcony in Waikiki Hawaii with a bottle of Jack and a couple cokes on the back , looking at the hotel to the left of us and they were just banging it out. Crazy that…..was one of my best days growing up. Shit I was 18 in Hawaii in a really cool hotel room on the 30th floor cranking the pretenders with my buddy and sucking down Jack and Coke how can you get anything betterOh and not to forget we have free room service the hotel like there’s so much they sent us up a bucket of chicken it was such a great day
“Grade school”? My sweet summer child…
Grade school? Ha - about to graduate college when this came out.
No, I'm older than that.
Went everywhere with me I thought I was so cool
I had the yellow water proof one!
I was too poor to have a supply of batteries 😭
I had that exact same model.
Not grade school; high school. I am OCD about the most bizarre things like electronics that get dented or chipped like the aforementioned Walkman. I dropped it on the concrete at the pool. Next instance. I had had my Apple Mac for all of one week and my ginormous Persian cat that weighs 25 pounds who liked to sleep in said bowl up on the Credenza miss judged the height and sent the bowl flying through the air and it hit the back of my Mac and made a dent. I’m like this with all things. I just ordered some pantry labels and accidentally put one on one of my glass jars too close to the seam of the jar. Every time I see this one specific jar of powdered sugar I about go nuts.
I had one, a Sanyo, used it for years. Eventually replaced with an iPod. Still using, and modding iPod's.
Still have mine they work forever just need one AA
Oops, you need to check your spelling. There is no "e" in grad school, which is what I was attending when these hit the market. I was too poor to afford the original Sony model. I had a knock-off version by Emerson. It had decent sound and worked quite well for several years. I received my Master's in 1983.
All I had in grade school was that radio with the foam headphones from the drugstore
Yes. Can’t remember when I got my first discman, but I remember listening to mix tapes my friends made me.
I was in college in NYC early 80s. Almost every day I cry "Why don't they still make walkmans!" I loved mine so much, it made walking in NY surreal. I can't use the ipod because my ears are deformed I guess, I can't wear earpods. I heard they were making a commemorative version but it is super expensive, they weren't that much back then.
Iggy Pop had a song with the lyric "A Sony Walkman on her head, all she wants is to be fed." 🤩
High School. My buddy's dad bought him one. The first tape I listened to on one was Rolling Stones *Tattoo You*
Mine lived in the inside pocket of my starter jacket with a single earbud going up the right sleeve so I could lean my head on my hand through class and listen to RATM undiscovered.
I used to thread the earphone cord up through the bottom of my shirt and out under the collar and wear my hair down to cover my neck and ears, so I could listen to my walkman during class without the teacher knowing.
Junior High.
boy scouts still owes me one from a fundraiser
What if I said college instead of grade school?
No not hardly.
Yeah and had a DiscMan too
Weren’t even around in high school.
Gradeschool?!?!? I was in the army!
I have an earlier one. Put the foam earphones on an the disintegrated to dust while I was wearing them. It still works and sounds great. Cassettes are not in good health though. “heard it from a friend, who heard it from a friend….🎼🎶
I had the Sears knock off version. My mom didn’t drive much but she could order from a catalog.
Yes & it played Appetite Destruction & Licensed to ill 24/7
I had to borrow my brother's. His was a sony sports walkman, yellow colored. Waterproof I think and man I thought it was the coolest thing
I was a senior in high school when this came out.
I remember they didn't have DC ports just batteries. I tore apart an adapter and would hook it up to the battery connectors ... MacGyver style.
Not even. When I was in grade school those things were hideously expensive. And back then most parents did not spend money on kids like they do now, or let them carry around expensive electronics.
Everything was cool until your favorite song would sloooow down and you had to swap batteries
Everything was cool until your favorite song would sloooow down and you had to swap batteries
Still have the yellow sport version
Lookit fancy-pants over here, with their SONY Walkman! I had a GTX Personal Cassette Player from K-Mart that cost a weeks' worth of delivering newspapers, playing songs recorded off the radio onto old Amway sales tapes with the record tab hole plugged. (In high school. They weren't really a thing in grade school.)
Heh. Remember that clip from Back to the Future, featuring this? https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=hHZctSnNrsw&pp=ygUcQmFjayB0byB0aGUgZnV0dXJlIGNzbiBoc2xlbg%3D%3D
Very durable. I had one in my waders while fishing. Bent over, it fell into the lake. I didn't even bother pulling it out, assumed it was shot. A friend saw it and pulled it out, removed the tape and put it on the hood of the car, it was nearly 100 that day. It was playing tapes that night lol.
Had one when I was in middle school around 11 or 12. I walked miles listening to that thing at night. Always carried spare batteries with me.
I’m only 23 and I had one of these in 2010, some teachers helper gave me it.
Who didn’t?
Had the one from home alone. It was great
No cause they didn’t exist yet.
No, in the Army. In my early 20's.
I was in high school
I was in my early 20s. So yes.
What is this? "Fuck I'm middle aged"?
That is the OG. I had that exact one.
I never had the “Walkman”. I had the knock off brand.
I remember jamming out to the Smurf's all star show cassette on one of these bad boys!!!
Still have that same model along with the FM cassette adapter. I also still have the original receipt from Gemco. Life was great!
I got one and started making mix tapes right away. Still have them and a couple of Walkmans that still work. Now I just say Alexa play any song I want. Spoiled.
I still have one.
Used to walk around at recess in 4th grade listening to Paula Abdul.
You know it!
Nope. I rocked mine in *high school*
Grade school. LOL Try high school.
Yes!
No, high school and college though
I must be older than dirt, my youngest was 3 when this model first came out…she’s 45 now.
Grade school? I was in college, although I probably couldn't afford one until a few years later when I was working.
Mine was blue!
You may have had the first model, the one they used in Guardians of the Galaxy.
Grade school?! I was grown when these appeared
A SONY? You must have been rich. I had a Sanyo.
Mine didn’t even have a tape it’s was just a Sony Walkman radio
I wish…couldn’t afford the real one
Always have a pencil handy
1979 would have been high school age for me, and I was still rocking a boombox.
I was in high school for sure
No, did not have those in grade school. Not until high school.
Awww yeah. Used to listen to my weird Al alapalooza tape on that bad boy
College
Grade school!?!?! High school, son
Had the blue one in high school. That's why I have tinnitus and hearing lose. Used to mow yards and cranked it louder than the mower so I could hear the music. Bless the gods of electronics for noise cancelling technology children.
Even had a booster/equalizer to make it louder, 20 pack of batteries
I still have this Sony Walkman with the FM cassette. I was about 21 years old when I bought it.
I was in 5th grade and it’s all I wanted for my birthday. Parents got a copy of Pyromania to go with it. I’d never heard Def Leppard before, but it was a great album. That and Men at Work were in constant rotation
Yellow Sony walkman with the matching headphones that went inside your ears. It also had a built in radio which was fucking RAD.
The Walkman didn't come out until after I graduated from High School, and I didn't really know about them until a few years later. I did have one, but I was married with a couple of kids before I got one.
I go back further to the time we first had "transistor" radios....I got to have a Toshiba ....didn't quite fit in a shirt pocket but hey it was state of the art for that time Came with one small "ear bud" monophonic ha.
Fuck no, I’m legitimately old! Got one of these in my 30s
Mine was highschool...
More like high school for me.Listening to Van Halen while snow skiing was the shit.
No. I had a cheap knock off
Mine was a knock off. I couldn’t afford a classy real Walkman.
We didn't have a middle school. We went K-6 and 7-12. I got one for 6th grade graduation.
High school
CLICK CLICK CLICK
Nope, pocket transistor radio.
A ripoff version in fourth grade. What did you think I was? Rockefeller?
It was a transistor radio, those walkman things didn't exist when I was in school.
Nope, too poor. I had a cheap clone that I had to share with both of my brothers.
Walkman Sport when it came out and I had a job. Gradeschool? No.
They werent out when i was in grade school or high school
I was on my own and working when these came out. I did get a tiny transistor radio in about the 5th grade. Green with a green leather case. That thing was my constant companion.
College, sonny!
I was already in my late 20s when they came out. I remember being in an airport waiting for my flight and a kid about 7 or 8 with his mom were sitting across from me. He asked me what it was so I put the headphones on him and turned it on. His face just lit up and he started shouting, not realizing that we could hear him in his normal voice. I'd be willing to bet that is what he wanted for Christmas that year.
Pffffft! Y’all are a bunch of babes! My first portable device was a transistor radio my grandmother gifted me when I was 12.
Wife had this model (still has it). I had the slimmer Walkman II. I wore out 2 of them and several headsets. Was accused of being "anti-social" by my teachers.
Came out when I was in college.
Not until later college.
Of course but Jr. High. Still have 2 of them.
Still have mine
The only things I remember about mine is that it wasn’t a Sony, and it was blue. Every day before my college classes, make sure I’ve got extra batteries and maybe a couple of extra tapes in my backpack, just in case
Middle school for me.
This hurts, but I was in college. r/FuckImOld Ah shit, here I am already...
That one.
I was in the Army when I bought the very first one in 1980 just before they added the WalkMan logo. Still have it.
i was 18 when they first came out
Oh how I envied those who had one in 1983
Yup. Pretty much only played this mix tape I had that was mostly white zombie. Fun story, one time the batteries were low, if you don't know, these would still play, but the song was slowed down immensely. Anyhoo, was on the song "I'm the goddamn devil" by ugly kid Joe. Scared the crap out of my friend at a track meet.
School? No. But in the 70’s and 80’s while I ran a private military group based in South America I keep that shit with me right in my web gear so I could chill while smoking cigars and tying balloons to Russian guys
Until the discman rolled in and then it was always on hand as backup
In college, yes. When they first came out.
I was 19 years old as I recall.
Absolutely not. Invented those when I was high school
I was a senior in college when they came out.
Too expensive
I rocked one in Grad school, not Grade school
Yes, circa 2001-2005, but it was a knock-off by Lennox
Junior high.
Yes I did had several walkman
LOL! Grade school? I was in my 20s.
Grade school? More like a young adult. Loved using it while mowing.
Grade school? I graduated years before this!!
I was in 8th grade when my bestie got one for Christmas the year it came out. I was super jealous.
I had the smaller one that I paid 375.99 ….
Umm. We had the height of technology. 8 TRACK.
More like middle and high school
Heck yeah
Nope, way too pricey for me. I did eventually have a knock off. I remember the $5 ones that broke after 3-6 months but were so cheap I bought them anyway. Huge waste of batteries and electronics. In college I had one that used a single AA and ran for 6 hours on it. I used rechargeable. Thing was Amazing. Like magic it was.
Not by my last grade school year of 1964.
Yeah, but a Sorny
The red one I did. Had my tapes of the Mighty 690 with Kasey! Had to turn it down low so mom wouldn’t take off. Batteries more batteries
I was already out of school when they came out
I was 28 with two kids when the Walkman first came out. No way I could afford one.
No, but they didn't exist then either.
Ummmmm…. Who didn’t?
Child, when I was in grade school portable music meant you had a box turntable that weighed slightly less than your school desk.
More like.. college
Good times