I believe there were several factors that caused the demise of the boombox era. First manufacturers went away from the 1 piece design and went to a heavier, more awkward to carry 3 piece design. The advent of the walkman took a big chunk of the potential boombox customers. Society was getting tired of boomboxes so they created laws to prevent you from playing your boomers in malls, on buses, and even in most parks back then. So if you can't blast them anywhere why carry them? The older kids who were carrying boomboxes now were driving cars with loud stereos so they were lost as customers. The advent of the cd was a further blow to the boombox. Have you ever tried to carry a cd boombox with no oversampling? It skipped so bad you couldn't finish playing a song. So with all these things going on there were no customers left to buy any boomboxes so they went the way of the dinosaur. The fact that 90's boomers were just plain ugly didn't help either.

I agree with a lot of what mellmelsr argues; I've been studying boxes and miniatures (Walkman) since 1985, and I have concluded that a major killer for the blaster was that it was publicly identified as an racial/ethnic device.The box was never advertised - in the US, anyway - as a racially neutral device. Ads show up in places like Ebony around 1980, and they feature stars like the Harlem Globetrotters and Earth, Wind & Fire. While white teenagers have followed the trend, they weren't the leaders - and advertisers knew it.

I think the creation of new laws limiting their use in public spaces were efforts to control the users just as much as the volume; I have interviews with whites who were angry just seeing people carrying them on their shoulder, with the machine turned off.

Since the big boxes appeared at almost exactly the same time (1979) as the Walkman, it doesn't make sense to argue that the Walkman killed the box, because they existed side-by-side for at least 5 or 6 years. But magazines like Time and Money opined that box users were shutting out the world, while Walkman users (who were obviously shutting out the world) were "just normal people" using the latest technology.

Size mattered more in the US than in Canada or Britain. In 1985 I spotted a hand-built box at Venice Beach, CA, nearly four feet tall, strapped to a hand truck, powered by a car battery. "The bigger your blaster, the cooler you are."

ah hell, i'll play.

as a teen i carried a jvc pc series. all mini compos that you bolted steel plates to and clipped particle board speakers on. you took that pile and clipped a handle to it and loaded it with D batts. the blasted thing weighed in at like 30lbs. i had a hell of an arm. it ate batteries for lunch.

at a local fleamarket i was marveled by one of those sony walkmans that fold up like a cassette case. i bought that for $45 and that was the end of me carrying boomboxes. i went from 30lbs to a few ounces. i also went from 8 D batts for a few hours to 1 AA for a whole day. when you're a kid on allowance, batteries can make or break you.

i remember all my friends doing the same thing when walkmans became cheap. now we can have our loud music wherever we want and not be broke from buying batteries.

the only time i see boomboxes anymore is at the beach. i own a few boomboxes now. i have plans of taking one and modding it to use a class d amp with better speakers for beach use and small family get togethers.

The cassette tape was designed with portability in mind. CDs were not. They're too easy to damage, oddly shaped, and the size and design of what's required to play them just doesn't go along well with portability. It's like trying to take along a small turntable.

Also I think the music of the time itself had a bit to do with it. A major division was taking place in the '80s and as the decade went on it became more and more tightly formatted with less and less mass appeal. Some if not a lot of it was outright annoying.

As time went on Walkmans became more affordable and the headphones got a lot better. By the time the mid to late '80s came around decent sound would easily fit in your pocket and ran on small AA cells. Good sound no longer had to be big and bulky.

A $50 Walkaman and some $30 Koss PortaPros were thought of as a better investment than a cheap $150 dime store/ flea market box or $200+ better one, and you didn't have to lug anything around and feed it 6,8, or 10 D cells.

Boomboxes were no longer the portables of choice.

As a result they became more for the small home stereo market. Something for the dorm, or bedroom. Their portability took a back seat to stereo separation and duel tape decks, making them even less portable than before. Not to mention the wires dangling  off of the back just begging to get snagged on something and two speakers hanging from the sides waiting to be snapped off. Now add to it a CD player on top so now it's at least 6 inches from front to back and then they really were a "box" instead of something much thinner.

Size. A Boombox does not fit into your pocket. This  Binary Options company knows what to make. 

Quality. A Boombox is unable to produce the same quality as our modernized headphones. This  Binary Options Brokers company loves headphones. 

Desire. Why would you want a boombox when you can hookup your tiny music source to powerful pocket speakers. This  Binary Options Trading desire is right. 

Seems like an advert to me... Do you happen to work for them by any chance ?

Trading site adverts. such joy...

In any case, size, quality and desire have nothing to do with the demise of the boombox.

What is the real demise of the boombox? 

I don’t think the desire for owning a boom box ever went away! People still buy them; many student digs, kitchens, patios are still filled with the sound from them. They are not so common place in parks and public places anymore; but I think that is down to the reasons mentioned in the previous posts on this thread. However I think there will always be a market and a place for a portable; battery operated music playing device! Technology, style and fashions have changed immeasurably since the early 80’s when most of us here were teenagers but in essence the boom box still survives to this day. They might not look as we would like them to look; they may not be to our taste as far as sound quality or feature sets are concerned either, but never the less the boom box has survived; all be it in a modern and too our eyes perhaps a rather alien looking form! As to weather the boom box has a place in the youth of today’s hearts as it did for us, well that’s a different matter, I would think not. The fact that they have been around for so long and that modern versions are so cheaply made and cheap to buy makes them too ubiquitous for that! Many branches of modern technology follow the same trajectory, going from something that is a new, expensive and desirable must have to being a cheap thing that everyone takes for granted, home computers, video recorders are good examples of this, even cameras (although there is still a strong enthusiasts market for high end SLR’s and the like!)

          The trick is in all of this is to keep the magic alive; appreciate the technology, cherish it even! It doesn’t matter what branch of tech you are into, if you can remain enthusiastic about it then you will get so much more out of it. The reason that vintage boom boxes are so sort after is because they represent something that is a great deal more than just their base functionality…..they represent the excitement style and essence of our youths. It is not so much that the boom box has died….. it is that the excitement has gone. I live in hope that some day things will change…… but I am not holding my breath!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e84hf5aUmNA&feature=player_detailpage

Try read the thread and you might find out what the opinions are of the forum.

Do you work for that trading site ?

if so you can kindly remove the adverts or FRO perhaps ?

Many sermon"s .

Yeah I suppose my post does read like a sermon; I didn't mean it to actualy! I apolagise for that!

We accept your apology Seb. only if you donate you collection as punishment to a charity located in Canada....say Toronto.....say my house.

Only then will forgiveness bestowed.

I feel flatered that you think my collection is worth that much Brutus! 

I just need a tracking number now Seb and we're all good

What you really need is someone like stereo mad, Michiel, docs or Reno to donate thier collections to you. That is what would really be good!!

I found this old but very interesting thread while researching my Argos post, and thought I'd add to it before it disappears.

Having read through all the theories, I came up with a one more which reinforces some of the others.

A colleague always used to say "Theres never a shortage of things to spend your money on".

However,  rewind to 1980 and imagine you have just won £250 in Dixons (a big UK electronics retailer) vouchers in a a raffle.

So what will you spend them on ?

• VCR ? - No that's way too expensive
• Portable Colour TV ? - Perhaps
• Music Centre ? - just like the one your parents have in their lounge. O.K if you have plenty of room and anyway I can use theirs.
• Video Game Console ? - Not sure about that as the one available is the Atari 2600 with Lego style graphics.
• Top of the range boombox - Hey thats really cool and trendy. I can use it in my bedroom, take it to my friends, the beach or the park - I think thats what I'll get.  
    

Now fast forward to 1990. How lucky can you get - You've just won the same raffle again and due to inflation have £400 of Dixons vouchers to spend.
So what will you spend them on ?

• Portable Colour TV ? - Hey I could get something else as well
• VCR - I can get that along with the TV and hire all the films I want to see
• Mini Hi Fi - The latest ones seem to be really good quality yet take up hardly any space.
• Video Games Console - There are loads to choose from, with the main contenders being Sega and Nintendo. Sonic or Mario.
• Home Computer - The only problem is choosing which one, although if I spent most of the £400 I could get Atari ST or even an Amiga which has amazing games.
• Keyboard or Synthesizer - Ten years ago only professional musicians could afford these. Now there are loads of Casios and Yamhas in my price range.
• High End Car Stereo - For £400 I could get a something really good with Digital Tuner, Auto Reverse Deck, a separate Amp and those massive speakers to go on my Parcel Shelf. 
• Walkman - Or maybe even a Discman. CDs seem in while cassettes aren't as popular.
• Boombox - Maybe but there are so many other things I want.  I'll get a cheap one if I've got £50 left after buying the things I really want.

If you haven't realised my point is that by 1990 there were far more gadgets to buy. People in the UK might have seen the reality TV show "Electric Dreams" a couple of years ago in which a family lived each decade for a week. By the 1990s they had so many gadgets arriving they hardly had time to unpack them. With so many other things for people to spend their money on its not surprising that the big expensive boombox got sidelined. 

Biggest problem with CD ghetto-blasters is the CD player relatively only lasts about ten minutes then you're left with say a radio/cassette machine that you could've paid less for.  I've had three Hitachi CX-W's, when the CD player goes it's the laser that goes and is not replaceable so I'm sticking to radio/double cassettes now with AUX inputs to run a CD walkman through.

As mentioned way up there, cassettes were more designed around portability than CDs yet you can only buy cassettes on ebay or in charity shops and they're getting thin on the ground, most charity shops only have CDs, music shops only sell CDs now and then there's only one music chain store in the UK - HMV.  Used to have Andys Records, Virgin, The Record Shop, Woolies, Boots, WH Smith and market stalls selling cassettes in the 70s/80s, now they're like gold dust - even blank ones to record yourself.

Vinyl is back albeit more expensive and the old artists are now on new cheap labels instead of the old Decca, Philips, Phonogram, EMI, Polydor, A&M, etc.  Stone Roses were on Silvertone, God knows what they're on now!, The Jesus And Mary Chain were on Warner Bros. and later Creation, bet they're available on some cheesy label now.

Back to ghetto-blasters, I've got three now, a black Sharp WQ T484E (easily the best), a Philips D8304 in yellow that needs one cassette deck fixing (probably belt, it whirrs but no motion) and an Amstrad 7090 where both decks need new belts, it plays but can't play a whole tape without starting to slow down (I'm using it on the juice, not batteries) and sounding like an air raid siren or grinding to a complete stop.

Big John posted:

Back to ghetto-blasters, I've got three now, a black Sharp WQ T484E (easily the best),

 

Can you post a picture Large, of this Sharp WQ T484E - I would to see it better in detail, thank you.

Here you are, most Sharp models with two cassette decks in one door only have play and stop on the foremost (outer) deck but this has all functions and auto-reverse on both decks (Play, Fast wind, Stop and pause) Record on inner deck (2)

This machine would take 10 HP11's, that's C cells in current sizing (could've so easily been made to take 6 D's), D's are the old HP2, AA's used to be HP7, AAA's used to be HP16, I can get a whole set of C batteries for a fiver in Poundland. The other machines take 8 D size so that's £4 for a whole set in Poundland in each case, if I was to buy batteries for all of them it would cost £13.

Lovely Radio John, i have one, it takes 10 c's i belive

Yes, just needs a replacement twig but I'm on that, just bought one on ebay the exact size, just hope it comes with the tiny washers or it'll be loose like this one

It's the only back to back sharp i have seen with soft operation John, be carful with the speakers mate as mine need a reafoam

What's the machine in your picture, is that a 1987 Philips?, I kind of recognize it, they did it in white as well - or rather cream - like they did the D8958 which I wouldn't mind getting again, the one I had got nicked in Grove Park, Weston Super Mare in 1988

..and yes, this Sharp is a brilliant machine

The ones in my av John are both panasonic mate, i stay away from phillips now as they all suffer from crumbiling gears, i have 2 phillips both farked with vertical cd and tape, i need to dump them really but i just don't have the heart

Well I'm watching a Panasonic TV/Radio/Cassette in ebay @£225 or make offer, I will probably make an offer of £180 as the postage is £20, I'm hoping it's got a standard TV antenna input so I can use my Panasonic DMR EZ45 VCR/DVDR combo though it, I have asked them, just waiting for the answer.  When I got the VCR/DVDR I hoped I could run it through my laptop but it wasn't to be so I need a telly and I don't want a great heavy thing!, I think four machines should be sufficient, four is my fav number, If I end up in a bigger house I'll perhaps buy more.

In September 1978 I bought a National Panasonic 1030 music centre for £166.50 on the H.P., final price £183, I'm guessing that was the forerunning company to Panasonic we have now.  In the 90s I had a Panasonic RX ED50 but the tape decks gave up the ghost so I got rid, 'if it goes wrong it goes' is my motto, no one seems to be in the business of repairing portables any more.

Big John posted:

Well I'm watching a Panasonic TV/Radio/Cassette in ebay @£225 or make offer, I will probably make an offer of £180 as the postage is £20, I'm hoping it's got a standard TV antenna input so I can use my Panasonic DMR EZ45 VCR/DVDR combo though it, I have asked them, just waiting for the answer.  When I got the VCR/DVDR I hoped I could run it through my laptop but it wasn't to be so I need a telly and I don't want a great heavy thing!, I think four machines should be sufficient, four is my fav number, If I end up in a bigger house I'll perhaps buy more.

Do you realise that the TV is probably Black and White ?

I'm not aware that anyone ever made a Colour TV Radio Cassette with a screen bigger than around 5".

Back to the discussion I visited my local charity shop today and they had a Panasonic 5 CD Hi Fi (special offer - tape decks not working) for £5 PAT Tested ! and a very tempting, looking like new  JVC UX A5 Micro Hi Fi For £45, both with their original speakers. Thirty years ago I thought I was lucky to get a beat up Akai PJ35 with no speakers for £5.  

Well it's no biggie, I only want it to show the menu from my VCR/DVDR so I can copy my vids to DVD.   Anyway, there are some with colour TVs if you look on ebay;  Sound & Vision>Search>Portable Disc Players and Radios>Portable Stereos and Boomboxes then put in search bar "TV/Radio?Cassette", I saw  5 such items at Buy It Now prices ranging from £40 to £250 and one on auction standing at £20, the first one on the left is the £20 one.

Longman is correct that boombox tv is baw...and there only worth 30 quid, that other seller is dreaming john

Yes I was aware of the small colour ones. I have a Panasonic 2.2" portable CRT TV here. The thing is it is still about 12" deep. All the extra bits needed at the back of the tube for colour makes them much deeper than the same size B@W. 

As for the Panasonic boombox being black and white, I once tried to line up a loft aerial using a Panasonic EX75 and a small black and white TV up in the loft. I had to swap to a colour set as the signal strength bars were something like green on blue and couldn't be seen at all in Black and White.  

Going off the boombox topic you could use a USB video capture device or Analogue tuner to connect your EZ45 to your computer.

Yeah, they might've been £250 then but that's like 30 years ago.  Can't see them accepting such a low offer though even though the one I'm pursuing is a stereo one with B/W TV at £225, if I offer them £30 it'll be auto-declined, it would probably still be declined if I offered £100, as you said, these people are dreamers.  

I've got four items I'd like to sell but I've got buckleys of getting more than £10 for each, people don't want to part with money.  

The things I want to sell are a Kenwood CD player and receiver and a Sony VCR and DVD player, I think I paid a total of about £250 for them.

    This is the one for £250, cassette player doesn't even work - what a dreamer!

Well I've made an offer of £30 for this machine, safe bet it is declined even though I included a note saying these units can only fetch about £30 and that one is 1980 (36 years old), postage is £20, reasonable I suppose as it'll be heavy.  How the hell they expect to get £225 is beyond me, that might've been the price they paid in 1980.

Big John posted:

Yeah, they might've been £250 then but that's like 30 years ago.  Can't see them accepting such a low offer though even though the one I'm pursuing is a stereo one with B/W TV at £225, if I offer them £30 it'll be auto-declined, it would probably still be declined if I offered £100, as you said, these people are dreamers.  

I've got four items I'd like to sell but I've got buckleys of getting more than £10 for each, people don't want to part with money.  

The things I want to sell are a Kenwood CD player and receiver and a Sony VCR and DVD player, I think I paid a total of about £250 for them.

I have about 10 faulty boxes im giving away soon john, collection only, i just lost my pioneer 909 today and thats it for me, i feel sick, but good on you these panasonic tv boxes sell for30 quid most of the time, if it were up to me id ban people like this of ebay

Perhaps you should get a job as an ebay moderator if there's such a position!, last thing I sold was a Sony Xperia Z Ultra for £100 on 10th July, it had a minor problem but was essentially working, the buyer didn't even leave feedback, ah well, hope they're happy with it.  

My motto is 'if it goes wrong it goes' though I've got three cassette decks on two ghetto blasters that need a belt - that's not such a big job though actually getting to the thing once you get the machine apart is a bit difficult, why are things made so difficult to repair so it costs a bomb in labour?

That's if one can find a repair shop that does portables to start with and I wouldn't trust myself not to balls it up completely.

"Perhaps you should get a job as an ebay moderator"

that made me chuckle john, thanks

one man alone can't win the war on crazy prices, hell everyone is at it, icluding members on both of these forums

What a surprise!, it was declined with a message "yes itz got gold knobs 2 go and irritate some 1 else,xx, lol nh.", I didn't notice any gold knobs, only a knobhead selling it and what's with the bloody kisses?, the poof!

While this is a lesser make than Panasonic it's more reasonably priced and is still stereo, might go for this

The last 22 posts have nothing to do with the topic of this thread, "Featured discussion: why did the boombox die".

Since moderators and admins are busy working at the new site and didn't notice the (involuntary) hijack, I reckon self-regulation is on the cards.

I suggest that those interested in radio cassette tv boomboxes open a new thread on that topic.