If you know Hebrew you can read it here: Interview of Walkman Archive at YNet Now what? I guess many of you (like me) know absolutely nothing about hebrew... so here's the translated version: Translated version TechnoSTALGIA: The Walkman archive that makes us yearn. The popular music players of the 80's have become collectibles, but some still use them. One of them is Hugo Rodriguez, a photography professor from Barcelona who has an impressive archive: "The Walkman and the music I played there were for me a safe cave of happiness". Everyone loves nostalgia: the sensation that objects, images and smells can be restored for a few moments to a more beautiful time (and they are always more beautiful, simply because their memory is far and vague enough) is an irreplaceable feeling. For example, waves of practical nostalgia in the form of the return of ancient game consoles, cameras, records and recently tapes - are flooding the markets and will be surprised, even if they have buyers. Under the umbrella of the vintage, one can grab a history - even technologically, but there are people for whom this story is a bit more complex. "When I was 11, my mother was killed in a car accident" says Hugo Rodriguez, owner of the Web site and the YouTube channel, the Walkman Archive, which mainly reviews portable music players from the 1980s. "My life changed from that moment on, we moved to another city and lost all the friends I had, and for me and my sister it was a very dark time in life - and it only got worse. Slowly, I began to become more interested in technology and music, My favorite Walkman and digital watch, my Walkman and the music I heard through it have become a kind of safe cave of happiness for me, and they have had a very important role in my life, and without them I do not really know if I could contain everything that happened to me in those years." Rodriguez's story is a sad one, but one that can easily be identified with. Today, he is 45 years old, is a professor of photography and lives in Barcelona, but his almost romantic relationship with old gadgets led him to create an online archive that documents, reviews and is a platform for buying and selling Walkman, Discman and recorders that can not be found anywhere else. The Walkman archive was set up five years ago and contains reviews of mobile devices, especially Walkman, but not only, along with detailed articles on the differences between different types of tapes, long posts, an area for buying and selling instruments and lots of nostalgic images. Rodriguez says that over 60 percent of the instruments in his collection are completely active, and in the first years he did make sure to use them. "Now that I understand a lot more about audio technologies, I try to use them as little as possible - because it's a delicate device that is hard to replace today." Rodriguez also collects accessories such as antique models of headphones, stereo systems and recorders. When asked about his favorite item in the collection, he wriggles. "There's so much I like, because of their design, the quality of the sound or the story behind them, if I have to choose, I assume that the top of the list will be SONY Boodo Khan, Red WM-DD30, WM-D6C, AIWA HS-PX303, white". Do you think the Walkmans will make a comeback? "I do not think they'll come back, there's been a recent experience with a product called Elbow that is supposed to play tapes, but it's a product with all kinds of problems and I doubt it will bring the Walkman back to life. Too small a slice of the population for the Walkmans to come back." How was the idea of establishing the archive born? "The archive was born out of inspiration from one of the biggest collectors I have known - John Edwards from a forum called Stereo2go. I remember that in 2012 I read his long posts, in which he described his collection in detail and went down to the smallest details of the history of any device. He told me that he wanted to buy a domain and set up a site devoted to his collection, and that inspired me so I looked for my own domain, and then I thought about the archive." He said. NOTE: I added the italic and a few links.
Great interview! I'm sorry to hear about your mother's car accident. I agree with you about the music being a safe cave of happiness, hopefully this interview will inspire more people to get into/back into analogue music.
Congratulations on the opportunity to be interviewed, Hugo. I didn't know about the tragedy of losing your mom when you were young. Sad to hear this. Articles like this will help foster more knowledge and participation by others in this hobby. Nando.
Thanks for the interview Hugo and for sharing it with us. So sad to hear for your mom's loss .It is always amazing how simple good things in life can be so helpful in very difficult times.
Brilliant article Hugo, and like others have mentioned, sorry for your loss. I have to also applaud you for giving a shout out to John Edwards a former member here whose collection was simply legendary. Unfortunately for those that don't know he passed away, but his willingness to share his knowledge was a cornerstone of S2Go.
Wow fellows, I'm glad that all you replied. Thanks for your kind comments, really. I guess all of you have a nice story of strong relationship with walkmans/cassettes/boomboxes... that has left a undeletable print in our memories. In my case, my walkman and cassettes saved me from going down to the very bottom that one person can be. In fact I think I reached that level one day, but hopefully I could then go up and get a happy life after long time and though times... Walkmans, cassettes and music are some of the most enjoyable things in life indeed.
