Advanced Audio Coding and Walkman Essay

Technology has played an important in part in market and in the society. It has brought positive as well as negative changes. The progression from sheet music to the invention of a phonograph to the walkman, CD player and the iPod has created a modernized society. People tend to move along with these changes creating a market. The idea of transferring digital music to your iPod without purchase of a CD or an audiotape may seem like an extraordinary idea but the idea of digital music has led to the downloading of illegal music. The Walkman may have been the turning point in the music recording industry. It was a chain reaction for later products such as the iPod and the CD player. Long before the iPod made its way into the market making millions; the Walkman was the trendy technology. Sony introduced the Walkman in the 1970s, a new invention that led to be a massive hit. Sony ended up selling around fifty thousand pieces by the end of two months after its release. Eventually, other famous brands such as Toshiba and Panasonic entered the walkman market creating a market in the early 1980s. Surprisingly, the production of the Walkman led to an increase in physical activities. This portable device could be carried anywhere and had a hook to attach to any item of clothing. People started exercising more as one can listen to his or her choice of music while working out especially in gymnasiums. This brought a change in the society as people began to implement physical training more often. This also had a disadvantage since people who had their headphones plugged in tend to be more indifferent to their surroundings. This created an environment, where everyone is tuned in into their little environment being oblivious to what is happening around them. With the creation of walkman, the sale of digital audio tapes also increased. As iPods are the 21st century popular forms of music player technology, the walkman was the latest thing. This generation became more ‘wired’ as teenagers started to grow apart from the notion of young people together singing the songs of the day or the old songs in front of their houses. Sheet music became obsolete, as fewer and fewer people moved to a more modernized technology and era. Comparing to the advances in the 21st century, the walkman is seen as an old portable audio cassette player, where rewinding and forwarding a song would take twenty or thirty seconds. The latest music technology, mp3s or iPod, have put people at an ease with sophisticated technology and its touch screen display has bought a change in this profit-making business. The slick structure and the advanced A Walkman today would cost you merely twenty dollar where as an iPod can cost anywhere from a hundred to a couple hundred dollars. How digital music is illegally downloaded and used today on music players, Walkman on the other hand required the purchase of audiotapes. As Paul Du Gay notes in his book ‘Doing cultural studies: the story of the Sony Walkman’, the walkman accustomed individuals to tune out from the surroundings and caused them to be reclusive. This also led to a cause of a gneration gap between teenagers and their parents or older siblings. The walkman was used by people when in crowded places, such as trains or buses as a means to drown away noises. This seemed as an effective way to creating your own space but this eventually leads to people tuning themselves out even when at home. Teenagers liked to keep their headphones on throughout the day; I believe this led to a distance between them and their peers. Eventually, a type of distance grew among people, sheet music was nearly extinct and the customary ritual of singing together was far disappeared. In conclusion, the Walkman has definitely been a jump from the traditional tape recorder players to portable audio players. Its creation has had its advantages and disadvantages. The increase in the level of physical activity has increased among the owners of Walkman due to the fact that it is portable. Although, on a downside the Walkman has also led to the creation of a secluded attitude.