I'd like to ask all of you ardent walkman collectors a few questions.

1.What by definition would be the Golden Era for walkmans?
2.Since they are no longer produced on a wide scale,are all walkmans considered collectible?
3.What determine whether a walkman is by design or construction the equivalent of an "egg" to boombox collectors?
4.Do you ever experience elitism in the walkman community or are you personally a walkman elitist?

1) I say the golder era was from al the beginning
up to the mid 90s! , because I think there are
nice and ineresting walkmans to get from most
years, but the most nice ones were produced in the 80s!

2) No, not all walkmans are collectibels I think
but the ones that were too expensive to buy in
the 80s when most uf us were young and had no
money to buy one of those.

3) I do choose a walkman to be my grail when I
like the looks of it like if it is an interesting
walkman to look at, there are egg walkmans!, and
I have a few but I do not need more then I have
all ready from those

4)Yes, here is alot of elitism! , I do not think
I am elitist, but I am very fortunate to have
a nice collection for a reasonable price!
plus I do like to share all of my walkmans by
posting pictures, because 1/2 of the fun is when
peoples can look at nice pictures!

Interesting observations walkgirl If the golden era for walkmans went through the mid '90s,what exactly happened to their design and construction at that time to make them less desirable?I have a few walkmans I have collected.However,I'm not sure what year they were produced.I never really noticed the changes to them over the years.This is because I have only just recently developed an interest in them.

Interesting topic. We have to remember that Walkamns in the early eighties sold by the tens of million while in the 90's this was more like tens of thousand.

In short, the manufacturers took their eye off the ball after the eighties as the opportunity was considerably smaller. Walkmans were'nt the lifestyle choice they once were & the audio cassette had been vastly superseded by the CD.

As far as collectabillity goes it's not such a Walkman thing as an Eighties thing, the nineties just aren't cool 'yet'. What is more 'Eighties' than a Sony TPS-L2, Princess Diana, Mars Bar Phones??

To answer you questions...

Golden Era - Oh 79 to 85 without doubt, this is the period that everybody wanted one, Walkmans were super, super cool.

Collectible? - Depends on the taste of the collector surely As a rule, rare units in rare colours are collectible by default.

We use the term 'egg' to describe that horrible period for boomboxes (90-present) where manufacturers simply 'attended' the marketplace & built black units to hide the lack of quality & features. Walkmans of this era had lazy logic transports with tiny rubber switches sitting straight on the circuit board, loads of LCD & poor headphones. So for that reason I'd say the Sony's & Aiwa's of 90-present were the Walkman 'eggs'. There were some nice Walkman eggs though.

Elitism, nah, there's only three of us.

Great topic, it would be good to get some more opinions here.

Very informative agentorange.Funny you should mention Aiwa branded walkman eggs.Just a few days ago I found this rather rounded Aiwa JS175.I bought it because of its microphone input and "egg" shaped speaker.The tiny tape counter looks out of place on an egg era cassette player.When I defeat its tape sensor and press record it will act as a mini ipod speaker.The speaker sounds quite good for its size.I'm sure this one was designed pretty much toward the end of the walkman era due to its rounded shape.Was this model considered a "good egg"?

I like that aiwa Jovie!, I have a similar black
panasonic, in black, it is not really a walkman,
but more like a voicerecorder, I do use it to
listen to tapes without the headphones

That little white radio on the right, is that a
sony or aiwa??

You have an egg, yes.

Nasty, nasty, yeurkkkkaaawawawawawawawawaaaaaaaaa..!!!!!!!!!

quote:

Originally posted by agentorange:
You have an egg, yes.

Nasty, nasty, yeurkkkkaaawawawawawawawawaaaaaaaaa..!!!!!!!!!

You have 2

"Egg, not egg...", "Good egg, not good egg..." I believe only you, Jovie, can answer ...

Every time I'm looking for the concept of my bbx collection, here in walkmans - the same.
Yes, you are right, it's stupid to colect everything, only beginers do that.

All of us, I guess, has his own evolution row, and knows inside himself where he will stop.
As for me it does not depend ond production date, it depends on how I like it, lol

below is the sony's short evolution row (not timeline!)
Unfortunately I don't have 100% egg walkman, but two right walkmans are not in my collection concept...

Don't hate me but I'd say the three right units are 'egg-worthy'.

I love your TCM-600, I especially love it's herritage in that it was this unit Sony built the first walkman around.

quote:

Originally posted by agentorange:
I'd say the three right units are 'egg-worthy'.

Right-right-right, don't hate me people, agentorange was the first who said three right units are eggs, agree...
That is why I showed "the evolution row".
I also think that three right units are "egg-worthy".
Evryone knows: that is the egg, and that is not the egg,

I know for sure tcm-100 is not the egg, it was about the first "not the egg" walkman

I do like some walkman eggs

I have a few, and I will not sellt hem because
they are eggs!

walkgirl-Thanks My Aiwa is a walkman by definition because it plays cassettes and has earphones.It just has other features added to it.The player on the right is actually an mp3 player I was listening to through the speaker on the Aiwa.

gedcom-thanks for the timeline photo and comments.I now know a walkman egg is a walkman with rounded edges that are noticable from a distance.That's a very interesting study of the Sony's de-evolution (perhaps?).I'm assuming the quality went away with the sharp edges of the designs.

Thank you both for your input

agentorange-comments like "Nasty, nasty, yeurkkkkaaawawawawawawawawaaaaaaaaa..!!!!!!!!!" are actually very useful to get a feel for peoples personal thresholds of tolerance for walkman designs .Of course others,like walkgirl,gedcom can see merit in more egg-ish designs.We all are different with our tastes.You would seem to be more of a purist.I'm sure walkgirl,gedcom appreciate the really old designs for the same reason as yourself.However,they just have broader taste.I'm the same way as them with boomboxes.Though I recognize the difference in quality,I even have some from the last 10 years I really do like for odd reasons.

The thing that impresses me is your mention of not having an elitist attitude.I appreciate that.From this,I know you respect others tastes here despite being more of a purist.However,there are probably those here at stereo2go that are elitists secretly which is unfortunate.Just like yourself,I respect everyone's personal tastes here-even the ones that lovingly clutch their eggs and haven't a clue about why people would like older type designs. This forum is about ALL boomboxes and ALL walkmans (even the ones we don't like personally) and,mostly,the people who appreciate them.Thanks again for your input and helping to educate me

Well said, Jovie! I agree with all your points. We all know that ultimately it's about ones own person taste. No doubt the older models are highly desired for obvious reasons, there are some of us who happen to also like many of the 90's models. Especially those slim, all metal design models made by the big 3 (Sony, Aiwa & Panasonic).

If I like the look of the walkman, I buy it. That said, there are many among us whose collection dwarfs mine in numbers. So I am particular about things I buy, there has to be something about them that make them, to borrow the phrase, "un-egg-like".

No elitist among us. Would be difficult with such a fairly rare hobby, right?

Keep on collecting everyone. And keep sharing your finds, rare or not, I for one enjoy all posting of your finds.

Surely it's a case of `horses for courses.' I have built up a large collection of Sony `sports' and Panasonic shockwave and love `em.

I just saw this curiosity on german ebay.
I think it´s ugly, but maybe one of you likes it.

I found a mid 90's FX211-with a digitally tuned radio and clock.

According to Walkman Central this entry level model was priced higher than other entry level models in 1995.