Why Sony can't bring back its classic Walkman models

Post by timonoko » Fri, Jul 24, 2026, 9:09 AM UTC

snapetom wrote: post #81

trencedamp wrote: post #13

This is a really interesting read. But it doesn't answer one question I have, which is why can't Sony or Apple or anyone else bring back decent MP3 players? None of this technology is lost, and there are plenty of small-time two bit no name players out there still making them, often in a much smaller, much slicker form factor than than the original digital Walkman or iPod. If I want to buy a new MP3 player, I have to…

Apple got it right with the original iPod, and your ask, and others, is just to extend it to modern times. A lot of these comments simply aren't helpful, and people chiming in know it. For me, I was looking for 1) Music player that holds a ton of songs. 2) Lossless. 3) No touch screen control. 4) Battery that is long lasting and semi-replaceable. 5) Smaller than modern phones. 6) Great software experience, which for…

Post by Melatonic » Fri, Jul 24, 2026, 9:17 AM UTC

TACD wrote: post #121

rbanffy wrote: post #95

I always found the MD format super cool. It’s a real shame that, even with BD-like densities, it just can’t compete with a cheap USB stick.

MiniDisc would have been an ideal successor to the floppy disk if only Sony had unclenched their fist just a little bit. USB sticks are higher capacity but there's utility in having media you don't have to keep track of; especially in the early 2000s it would have been very handy to give somebody a MiniDisc of data and just say "don't worry too much about getting that back to me, I have a whole box at home". We had r…

Post by Melatonic » Fri, Jul 24, 2026, 9:20 AM UTC

jazzyjackson wrote: post #111

tgv wrote: post #96

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I had an ipod, but the battery is dead, and it still had a rotating hd, so I thought: I liked Sony Discman, back in the day, this new player must be good. I was wrong. It sucks in many different ways. I've described some of the problems before and copied them here: My iPod Classic was in a terminal phase, and since I like to carry my music around instead of streaming arbitrary stuff, I bought a Sony Walkman mp3 (+ ot…

Refurbished iPod is the way try go, I have a 2006 model with new battery and 128GB flash memory, it’s great for leaving plugged in in the car

Post by trq01758 » Fri, Jul 24, 2026, 9:22 AM UTC

TacticalCoder wrote: post #31

jerlam wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

MP3s have been on the way out for a long time, being replaced by music subscriptions. And "MP3 player" is a feature of other devices, not its own device. Both my Apple Watch and Garmin watch can store and play MP3s without a phone; both also support music subscriptions. The only market is in the "enthusiast audiophile flac player thing that costs way too much", just like it is currently for vinyls and DVD players.

> MP3s have been on the way out for a long time, being replaced by music subscriptions I both have music subscriptions (Spotify for the wife, Qobuz for me: Qobuz streams lossless but sucks for music discovery) and good old files (mostly FLAC files indeed except some very old, impossible-to-find, live recordings I only have in mp3). One does not prevent the other. Also some people self-host or partially self-host thin…

Post by aembleton » Fri, Jul 24, 2026, 9:26 AM UTC

trencedamp wrote: post #38

turtlebits wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why can't somebody take simple smartphone hardware and make a modern media player that is not a phone? Because you can do that with any phone and just not use the phone part?

Because I want something half the size of a phone. I don't need a giant screen, I just want a player that can do music or audiobooks and be light enough to run with. I find myself researching, trying to find the smallest lightest old phone that either has decent internal memory or a micro SD slot, but it's not easy. Most phones are massive compared to an iPod shuffle