After selling more than 200 million cassette Walkmans worldwide, Sony has decided that April's shipment of the portable music player will be its last. It's not really a shocker. Popular tech always falls privy to fad culture. In fact, we have a few ideas for what's next on its way into the gadget grave.
Apparently, folks in Asia and the Middle East are still loving those cassette-tape jams. We had no idea that Sony was actually still manufacturing their cassette-playing Walkman anymore.
It's a fall from grace from what used to be at the top of the gadget game. So what might be next down the grave? We have a few ideas. Read our list, then chime in with your own ideas in the comments!
Portable Music Players
The Walkman died because of the Discman, then the iPod. But we think they're all out, thanks to smartphones and other devices (like the iPod touch) that add app and web functionality to portable music players.
AIM
With email, texting and threads of Facebook comments that read like conversations, it's clear that instant conversations are happening almost everywhere on the web—except for inside instant messaging clients. We think that AOL Instant Messenger is next in going the way of the dinosaur.
Point-and-Shoot Cameras and Consumer Video Cameras
Professional still and video cameras will never go out of fashion. But as the specs on cell phones start to compete with the latest point-and-shoot, casual snappers everywhere will drop their cameras for good.
DVDs and BluRay
Both? Yeah, both. While most people argue about whether or not BluRay will really take off ahead of DVDs, we think that they'll both see their demise at the hands of download-able and instant streaming movies, like both iTunes and Netflix already offer.
(Images: Flickr user Ham Hock under license from Creative Commons, Flickr user Rosa Pomar under license from Creative Commons)
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Comments (5)
I think there will be a market for small music players for quite some time, though their form will certainly change. I certainly don't want to take a smartphone or full-sized iPod to the beach, on a jog or when mowing the grass, for example.
I think we take for granted how many households still don't have computers or web-connectivity in their homes. Web-enabled cell phones have helped narrow that gap but not enough to make video-streaming attainable for every household in the country. DVDs will stay around as will portable music players, point and shoots and video cameras... al least for a while longer.
I have to agree. I'm not giving up my mp3 player anytime soon. I wouldn't take an expensive smart phone to the gym. I always used to drop my player on the treadmill about once a month. Then I bought a cheap, small mp3 player. It's light enough that when I drop it, it just kind of hangs off the end of my headphones. It cost me about $30, so if I do end up breaking it, I won't cry too hard.
I don't buy many DVDs these days, what with netflix to the mail and netflix instant play on my tv, but there are some things that I will continue to buy, just because I want to make sure they will always be there when I want to see them and we're not there with the technology yet. Things come and go from what's available on instant play. My DVR isn't large enough to store everything I want to indefinitely.
I must not be alone in this. I work at a book/music/video store, while our music sales have plummeted over the years, our DVD sales are still pretty brisk.
Can I just say that seeing that photo of the Sports Walkman just filled me with so many longest-bus-ride-school-event-warmup-to-your-girl-cool-down-after-break-up-i-still-love-you moments that I am about to explode. I can smell the plastic and mildly alkaline memorex perfume and feel the rubberized button magic that is, was and always will be my sony sports walkman adolescents. Discmen never quite captured me the same way and mp3 players never quite feel like my own. There's something about having to peel open the caselogic treasure box, selecting that dubbed copy of G'N'F'N'R and having to actually ff through the songs you don't like that can never be duplicated. I miss you even though I can't remember what I did with you.
There is simply not enough capacity available for streaming to replace DVD and Blu-ray with similar quality and there will not be for quite a number of years.
Hogwash. Netflix is already offering 1080p streaming.
http://www.engadget.com/2010/10/14/netflix-on-ps3-goes-disc-free-gets-1080i-streaming-and-5-1-surr/
I give Blu-ray about 5 years before it hits the scrapheap. And that's being generous.