News That's Not Really News

I read one of the more bizarre news articles that I've read in quite a while today. Sony of Japan announced they are ceasing production of the Sony Walkman devices as of December this year. This is the same Sony Walkman cassette tape player that was introduced in the year that I was born. I went through a couple models of them growing up, too; my personal favorite was a bright yellow Sony Sports Walkman when I was in high school. I even remember loving how awesome it was that the later tape players that I had could automatically flip to the other side of a cassette instead of me having to remove the tape and flip it over manually (my, how times change).

Two thoughts immediately came to mind when I first read this article. First, I felt extremely old knowing that a device that I was very familiar with as a kid is going the way of Betamax, 8-track tapes, and the Nintendo Entertainment System. You know those articles that are released every fall that discuss what that year's incoming college freshman are too young to remember? The latest lists includes not knowing what life was like before the internet, cell phones, or Johnny Carson being on the Tonight Show. We are now on the verge of adding cassette tapes and cassette tape players to that list (if they haven't been added on the list already).

Second - and this thought is a bit ironic given my first thought - I was surprised to read discontinuing the Walkman wasn't done 10 years ago. Once iPods and MP3 players hit the scene, who even used cassette tape players anymore? They were as obsolete as videotapes were once DVDs became commonplace. Cars stopped having cassette players built into them over six years ago. Why still manufacture and sell cassette players?

Granted, Sony of Japan announced this, and Sony of America last produced a cassette Walkman in 2002, so it's not like I could've walked into a Best Buy or Wal-Mart in the last eight years to buy a Walkman if I had wanted one. I'm certainly not missing the Walkman or cassettes in general. And yet, at the same time, I feel like a part of my childhood is gone forever. I guess that is a sign of getting old(er) - when items I'm familiar with as a child are phased out completely.