Future Forecast: How Tech Will Change Music

Music has come a long way since the Walkman was released 35 years ago…

Thomas Edison was the first radical. In 1877 he revolutionised the way people listened to music by creating the phonograph. The game-changing bit of tech at the time was a strategically-placed bit of tin foil.

Then, almost 200 years later, Sony ‘did an Edison’ by creating the Walkman. The radical bit of tech in this case was a magnetic strip of tape. Last week, this iconic music player celebrated its 35th birthday. To celebrate, VPS looks back over what made the Walkman wonderful and looks forward to what could possibly be the next ‘Edison’ moment.

Looking Back, by Kelly Kirkham.

I’ll be honest, thinking back to the age of cassette tapes makes me feel old. Who doesn’t remember the days of waiting for your favorite song to come on the radio and then hustling to press record in the perfect moment? Those were the days right? Sony developed much of the technology that made our favorite cassette mixtapes possible, not to mention the strides they took towards the digital media player, aka the iPod.

In 1979, the Sony Walkman sold for around $150. Seems steep right? Considering that 400 million were sold, I’m guessing that the price was right. If compared to the price of the first portable compact disc players, the Walkman was a bargain. The later release of Sony’s Discman was sold at $274 a piece in 1984. The cost most likely explains why cassettes continued to be the leading album configuration for six more years (9 years total).

If you’re looking for a nostalgic way to replay Hootie & the Blowfish’s Cracked Rear View or The Lion King soundtrack, you are in luck. The modern day Sony Walkman cassette player sells for less than $30 new, but I’m sure you can find a used one at any thrift store for under $5. Don’t worry, if you lost all your favorite cassettes, you can still find most of them on eBay priced under $2.

And some music will be even easier to find than others. That’s because in celebration of their 50th anniversary in 2013, cassette tapes made a brief comeback. Rolling Stone magazine featured a ‘10 Best Cassettes of 2013’ article, writing

“What a year for cassettes, the scrappy little format that refuses to die. Cassette tapes had a resurgence in 2013, from dedicated cassette labels to bands selling them at shows. Why are cassettes back? It’s easy. They’re cheap and they make noise.”

In conclusion, whether your favorite cassette was Brittney, Billy Ray, or Shania — we will all celebrate the Walkman in our own special way. Personally I’ll be remembering hours spent rollerblading, headphones on, listening to a golden oldies compilation that I really wish I still had!

Looking Forward, by Sarah Holt

Last month, my iPod bit the dust. After eight years of faithful service, it gave up the ghost. Its expiration left me wondering what’s next? So I did a bit of research.

I got a little excited about a product called earpods, which were being heralded as the next generation iPod. According to reports, these in-ear music players would be able to sense your heart rate through your ears and play music to suit your biometric data. Unfortunately, I then discovered that reports on these were based on nothing but rumour. Boo hiss.

Then the juicy stuff hit. I discovered a report by Intel that suggested that we’d be using brainwaves to operate computers by 2020. Researchers in Intel’s Pittsburgh lab postulated that they were looking into developing brain implants that could interpret brain waves in order to control gadgets.

Of course, there are naysayers, who suggest that our knowledge of neuroscience isn’t advanced enough to be able to create such an implant in time for 2020, but the date is irrelevant. Research is clearly already being done into the possibility of creating a bio-music player that could play your music based on your mood.

Today, I’ll go back to the iPod shop. Tomorrow, though, I could be going under the knife for my music-fix.