Walkman: The music player revolution - 6 Minute English

Hello. This is 6 Minute English from

BBC Learning English. I'm Neil.

And I'm Georgina.

Hello, Georgina. How are you today?

Georgina? Georgina!

Oh sorry, Neil, I didn't hear you - I was

listening to music on my headphones!

Ah, I see! Listening to music stored on

your mobile phone or iPod

when out on-the-move

doesn't seem like a big deal now, but the

concept of personal portable music didn't

exist until 1979, when the Japanese

electronics company, Sony,

launched the Walkman.

Years before iPods and MP3 downloads,

the Sony Walkman was the first

widely available

portable music player. It revolutionised

the way fans listened to

their favourite bands.

In this programme, we'll be taking

a nostalgic look back at the

1980s and the birth of the

Sony Walkman.

And, of course, we'll be learning some

new vocabulary as well.

Now, it may not seem so revolutionary

to young people nowadays, but

back in the late 1970s

portable music players were unheard of.

The idea behind the Walkman was simple

- a high-quality stereo

cassette player, small

enough to hold in your hand, allowing you

to walk down the street listening to your

own soundtrack.

They became so popular that by

the time production of the Walkman

ended in 2010, Sony had sold

over 220 million machines worldwide.

So, my quiz question is this:

when the original Walkman

model first went on sale in 1979,

how much did it cost?

Was it: a) 50 dollars?, b) 100 dollars?,

or c) 150 dollars?

Things were a lot cheaper in 1979, Neil,

so I'll say b) 100 dollars.

OK, Georgina - we'll find out later if that's

right. Now, the inspiration

behind the Walkman

came from Sony chairman, Akio Morita.

He saw Japanese teenagers listening

to heavy transistor

radios carried on their shoulders and had

a vision of a smaller stereo

which could be

held in the hand.

However, few of Mr Morita's colleagues

had faith in his idea for a portable

music player.

Here's Andrea Koppen, of Sony UK,

speaking to the BBC in 1989, taken

from the BBC World

Service programme, Witness History.

People were very sceptical - they couldn't

believe that people would

want to walk around

with headphones on and sort of carry this

cassette with them - and he actually

laid his job on

the line and said, 'If it doesn't take off,

I will resign'... and they didn't have much

money at the time, so their advertising

was very tight- and they decided

to give it to

students to try... and so people saw them

on the trains, in campuses,

in towns and the

newspapers picked up on it immediately.

The Walkman was designed to be used

with headphones - a pair of padded

speakers worn over the

ears so you can listen to music

without other people hearing.

Akio Morita was confident his stereo plus

headphones idea would

take off - suddenly

start to be successful and popular.

In fact, he was so confident of success

that he laid his job on the line -

an idiom meaning

to risk losing something important,

such as your job or reputation.

Luckily, he didn't lose his job because

many people started buying the

new Walkmans, something

the newspapers picked up on - noticed

or gave particular attention to.

Morita's idea was a massive success.

Released at the start of the

summer holidays for Japanese

students, within 3 months the entire

first run of 30 thousand Walkmans

had sold out.

Meanwhile, music lovers outside of

Japan were desperately trying

to get hold of the new

machines. Among the first to buy one

was music journalist, Tim Jarman.

Here he is speaking to Farhana Haider, for

BBC World Service's Witness History:

It was made available in the US in June

1980. The Walkman was

especially popular with the

16 to 24 age group.

They thought it could be a niche product,

that might not sell, but it really caught

the public's imagination in every market

that it was offered in.

When the Walkman was sold to the rest

of the world and became

popular with youngsters,

people thought it was a niche product -

something marketed for sale

to a small, specific group.

But instead, people of all ages began

wearing Walkmans to listen to

their favourite music

on the move, and the new invention

caught the public imagination -

an idiom meaning,

made the public interested in

or excited about something.

Many put the Walkman's success down

to its perfect combination

of sound quality, small

size and affordable price.

But exactly how affordable, Georgina?

Remember my quiz question?

Yes, Neil. You asked how much the

original Walkman cost when it

came out in 1979.

What did you say?

I thought it cost b) 100 dollars

Well, Georgina, things were cheaper in

1979, but not that cheap - the

actual price was

c) 150 dollars.

That's around 530 dollars today!

In this programme, we've been looking

back at the iconic Sony Walkman,

the first portable

stereo made up of a cassette player plus

headphones - pairs of padded

speakers worn over the ears.

Sony chairman Akio Morita was so

confident his invention would

take off - become popular

and successful - that he laid his job

on the line. That means

risked something important,

like his job.

His colleagues at Sony worried the

Walkman was a niche product -

a product targeted for

sale to a niche, or small and

specific, market.

But luckily for him, the Japanese

newspapers picked up on his idea -

noticed it and gave

it particular attention. As a result,

the Sony Walkman caught

the public imagination

- made the public excited

and interesting in it.

That's all for this programme.

Until we meet again at 6 Minute

English - happy listening!

Happy listening!