After more than 30 years of producing its Walkman portable cassette players, Sony said it's ending sales of the Walkman. The final batch was produced in Japan in April, and no more will be produced as soon as the current run is sold out. Just over 200 million cassette Walkman players have been sold over the years since being first introduced in 1979.
Sony will continue to make and sell CD- and MiniDisc-based Walkmans, as well as its latest flash-based devices. Cloned but Sony-branded Walkmans will continue to be made by Chinese makers in Asia and the Middle East.
The Walkman is widely credited with pioneering the concept of personal, portable audio beyond the radio. It helped spur on the cassette as a popular format and also maintained interest in albums.
Interest only began to fade in the 1990s when the Discman took over, and saw a more definite end when the iPod was in sight.
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