The Walkman was originally introduced to North America as the Soundabout. It was the first device which enabled the portable listening of music.

One of the drawbacks of the Walkman was that you were forced to listen to songs in consecutive order. This was addressed years later with the invention of "Radio" which enabled songs to be shuffled into a random sequence.

Another drawback was the Walkman’s reliance on AA batteries. The estimated battery life of 47 seconds meant that rather than listening to music, Walkman owners could simply sample it. This sampling concept would later come into play in the hip-hop community.

Eventually Walkmen were equipped with belt-fed battery loaders, capable of loading several thousand batteries per second. The same technology was used in Vietnam to load lead batteries into power-hungry Charlie.

Finally I can listen to my Fleetwood Mac cassettes from the comfort of a stranger’s patio.

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