Surprise, surprise; Sony has had a Walkman product in their product line since the 1980s. Cassettes are out and SD cards are in but still has all the control buttons you desire.
I have a digital Walkman for music in my car. I have >10K songs on it culled from my LP, CD, and purchased download collection. I put it on shuffle, and get my own radio station, because the ones around here either play too much of one genre, or music I'd rather not listen to a lot of.
It's like an old touch-screen iPod, but sounds better.
I bought one of these very soon after they came out. Used it while I walked my mail route. That had to be like the middle of 1980 maybe? I used it so much I wore out the drive belt. I went to where I bought it and in 3 days I had a new belt mailed to me. Opened it up and restrung it and it was as good as new.
Now, wow. 40 years is a long time or technology. I just stick a thumb drive into my car radio and listen to whatever I have copied to it. The irony is this. I do0n't really like listening to music anymore. I can watch TV on my phone with the sound running through Bluetooth, so as I drive I usually have a TV show playing in the background with the phone hanging from the magnetic vent mount. I'm not "watching" watching, but it's playing in the background. Add to that things like Amazon Music and the many streaming services... Wow what a time we are privilege to live in.
I had an uncle who was an old school polka accordion player and he had one of the first vinyl record players in his big old boat of a car. I think it was a 60s Chrysler Imperial but all I remember is that it had those big fins on the back. (I would have been like 9 or 10. A lot of notes have crossed my ears since.) Surprisingly that record player didn't skip nearly as much as you'd think. It was funny to watch him driving as he was constantly changing records. The one he had only played 45s, and one at a time. I don't even know if there were other models.
LOL---I remember those 92-minute TDKs. I still have my original Walkman (it was only an FM radio---but "Two Listener") in its little blue vinyl cover. Still works just fine. Re Sony tapes: They may be the only ones that ever sold Type III ("Ferrichrome") tapes.
Did anybody then buy a Discman? I had one of them but they didn't track well. Normal walking made it skip. In 2023 these are really outdated technology. Cell phones and Bluetooth and the streaming we have available have come too far for this kind of device to be relevant. Is there a car out there that doesn't have a Bluetooth radio? My car has Bluetooth and an Aux connector. Why? My only guess would be for people who continue to fight technology instead of adapt to it. When I want to listen to music, walking the dog usually, I connect to Amazon music, start a playlist I have created, connect my phone to the Bose QC35 nose canceling headphones, and off we go.
My last holdout Luddite friend finally bought a smart phone about 2 years ago and astonishingly was actually amazed by how much more it did than his flip phone. All I could do was shake my head, laugh and think "I have only been telling you that for like 5 years now!". His grandkids would want to video call him but his flip phone couldn't do it. That was the tipping point for him.
Much like the guy who continued to tell me the old chestnut of vinyl sounding better than digital recording. This from a guy who has tinnitus, uses hearing aids and can't hear above 3k. My own opinion is that I prefer a CD that sounds the same on the 1000th play as it did on the first. That same guy buys vinyl and immediately rips the tracks to WAV files so he doesn't scratch his vinyl. So then why spend money to buy vinyl of things you already have on CD? SMDH. When the 70+ generation is all dead I believe the dropoff is vinyl sales will be astonishing. This generation that never puts their cell phone down won't buy into that hype of "vinyl sounds better". Again my opinion but I really think that adage is just the war cry of the old people who know record players as "the right way".
Sony had good ideas but the execution of those portables is not relatable 40 years later due to the evolution of electronics.
The new Walkmans don't make financial sense these days as most (if not all) cell phones give the same features and functions.
We all need a cell phone these days so...
Kevin
Depends on how many songs you want. I have over 10,000 songs on my digital Walkman and it takes almost 40G of data. And I have a lot more songs in my CD/LP collection that I want to rip and put on it.
I use it for a car 'radio' and I can play the songs while using GPS, and if the phone rings I'm not going to answer while driving, but my wife is usually with me, she can answer without interrupting the music.
So for me it made sense for financial and convenience reasons. Of course, that's just me, YMMV.
I have a 500GB hard drive and for a while I had that plugged into the USB port in my car. The delivery rate of that spinning drive was not fast enough though so I bought a 256gb thumb drive with fast data throughput. When I stopped to think about it and looked at it from a practicality perspective, I never had more than about 8000 songs and there was no need to have that 500GB drive in there. Even on the thumb drive I am barely using it. The hard drive, now connected to my computer, still has 400GB free as well. It has now become just a song storage drive. (The only thing about using it in the car is that it has to be formatted as FAT32. It won't work as NTFS. It took a lot of hair pulling to figure that one out.)
And the kicker is how seldom I listen to music in the car. When I do I "binge" listen, like I get in the mood for The Cure I'll put 80-100 of their songs on an 8GB thumb drive and listen to that until I want to change to TOP, or ELO, of EWF, or AWB, or any of those 3 letter bands. (There's a drinking game. How many band names can you think of that you can boil down to 3 characters. TRS, TBB, TFS, TFF...)
Sad to say, music just isn't my main interest anymore.
I hear you... but I have a 256Gb fast SD card in my old Samsung S9+ smartphone which holds the entire collection of music I listen to regularly as well as backing tracks for live use.
I must admit I was dismayed when I upgraded to my Samsung S22 recently and found it had no SD card. It does have 256Gb storage so I guess that will have to do. (A lot of upgrades these days are downgrades.) No headphone socket means I have to use bluetooth headphones or a bluetooth reciever/transmitter to play through a PA system. The PA does have a SD card slot but the mechanism of choosing tracks is antiquated.
I'm the kind of guy who buys a new car, and drives it until it becomes a service problem. Because I drive gently and keep up with the mainenance, most of my cars go over 200k miles before they get traded in.
My current 2010 minivan (needed to haul my gig gear) has a mini phone jack, so a short cable from my Walkman makes it easy. A bit of Velcro puts the Walkman on the dash where I can see it.
Last Sunday we had a gig that was a bot more than an hour away. I charge more money for out of the county gigs, but these people are good with that. They usually hire us for their big celebration once a year, but missed the last two due to COVID. It was good to see them all again.
It was also good to have my Walkman, which Mrs. Noted dubbed, "Radio Bob" in the car. Radio Bob makes the drive more pleasant.
I put it in the shuffle mode, and I enjoy the variety. I have the pop/rock, shorter classical pieces, jazz, country, Soca, Reggae, Musica Latina, Zydeco, Blues, roots R&B, Klezmer, and others. The percentage of those styles are pretty much the percentage I like and how often I want to listen to them.
For the car, I rip at either 128 or 192, as the road noise masks the finer points of the sound.
If I drive to the Everlgades National Park, it takes about 4 hours, and the radio stations change on the trip. I just stick Radio Bob on the dashboard and enjoy the ride.
I like it being independent of the phone. Perhaps I'm just weird that way, but I've never been uncomfortable with being different before, and don't plan on that now.
There is more than one right way to do almost anything.
We’ve expanded the Band-in-a-Box® RealTracks library with 202 incredible new RealTracks (in sets 449-467) across Jazz, Blues, Funk, World, Pop, Rock, Country, Americana, and Praise & Worship—featuring your most requested styles!
Jazz, Blues & World (Sets 449–455):
These RealTracks includes “Soul Jazz” with Neil Swainson (bass), Mike Clark (drums), Charles Treadway (organ), Miles Black (piano), and Brent Mason (guitar). Enjoy “Requested ’60s” jazz, classic acoustic blues with Colin Linden, and more of our popular 2-handed piano soloing. Plus, a RealTracks first—Tango with bandoneon, recorded in Argentina!
Rock & Pop (Sets 456–461):
This collection includes Disco, slap bass ‘70s/‘80s pop, modern and ‘80s metal with Andy Wood, and a unique “Songwriter Potpourri” featuring Chinese folk instruments, piano, banjo, and more. You’ll also find a muted electric guitar style (a RealTracks first!) and “Producer Layered Guitar” styles for slick "produced" sound.
Country, Americana & Praise (Sets 462–467):
We’ve added new RealTracks across bro country, Americana, praise & worship, vintage country, and songwriter piano. Highlights include Brent Mason (electric guitar), Eddie Bayers (drums), Doug Jernigan (pedal steel), John Jarvis (piano), Glen Duncan (banjo, mandolin & fiddle), Mike Harrison (electric bass) and more—offering everything from modern sounds to heartfelt Americana styles
And, if you are looking for more, the 2025 49-PAK (for $49) includes an additional 20 RealTracks with exciting new sounds and genre-spanning styles. Enjoy RealTracks firsts like Chinese instruments (guzheng & dizi), the bandoneon in an authentic Argentine tango trio, and the classic “tic-tac” baritone guitar for vintage country.
You’ll also get slick ’80s metal guitar from Andy Wood, modern metal with guitarist Nico Santora, bass player Nick Schendzielos, and drummer Aaron Stechauner, more praise & worship, indie-folk, modern/bro country with Brent Mason, and “Songwriter Americana” with Johnny Hiland.
Plus, enjoy user-requested styles like Soul Jazz RealDrums, fast Celtic Strathspey guitar, and Chill Hop piano & drums!
With your version 2025 for Mac Pro, MegaPAK, UltraPAK, UltraPAK+, Audiophile Edition or PlusPAK purchase, we'll include a Bonus PAK full of great new Add-ons FREE! Or upgrade to the 2025 49-PAK for only $49 to receive even more NEW Add-ons including 20 additional RealTracks!
These PAKs are loaded with additional add-ons to supercharge your Band-in-a-Box®!
This Free Bonus PAK includes:
The 2025 RealCombos Booster PAK:
-For Pro customers, this includes 33 new RealTracks and 65+ new RealStyles.
-For MegaPAK customers, this includes 29 new RealTracks and 45+ new RealStyles.
-For UltraPAK customers, this includes 20 new RealStyles.
Look Ma! More MIDI 13: Country & Americana
Instrumental Studies Set 22: 2-Hand Piano Soloing - Rhythm Changes
MIDI SuperTracks Set 44: Jazz Piano
Artist Performance Set 17: Songs with Vocals 7
Playable RealTracks Set 4
RealDrums Stems Set 7: Jazz with Mike Clark
SynthMaster Sounds and Styles (with audio demos)
128 GM MIDI Patch Audio Demos.
Looking for more great add-ons, then upgrade to the 2025 49-PAK for just $49 and you'll get:
20 Bonus Unreleased RealTracks and RealDrums with 20 RealStyles,
FLAC Files (lossless audio files) for the 20 Bonus Unreleased RealTracks and RealDrums
Look Ma! More MIDI 14: SynthMaster,
Instrumental Studies Set 23: More '80s Hard Rock Soloing,
MIDI SuperTracks Set 45: More SynthMaster
Artist Performance Set 18: Songs with Vocals 8
RealDrums Stems Set 8: Pop, Funk & More with Jerry Roe
New! Xtra Styles PAK 20 for Band-in-a-Box 2025 and Higher for Mac!
Xtra Styles PAK 20 for Mac & Windows Band-in-a-Box version 2025 (and higher) is here with 200 brand new RealStyles!
We're excited to bring you our latest and greatest in the all new Xtra Styles PAK 20 for Band-in-a-Box! This fresh installment is packed with 200 all-new styles spanning the rock & pop, jazz, and country genres you've come to expect, as well as the exciting inclusion of electronic styles!
In this PAK you’ll discover: Minimalist Modern Funk, New Wave Synth Pop, Hard Bop Latin Groove, Gospel Country Shuffle, Cinematic Synthwave, '60s Motown, Funky Lo-Fi Bossa, Heavy 1980s Metal, Soft Muted 12-8 Folk, J-Pop Jazz Fusion, and many more!
All the Xtra Styles PAKs 1 - 20 are on special for only $29 each (reg $49), or get all 209 PAKs for $199 (reg $399)! Order now!
Note: The Xtra Styles require the UltraPAK, UltraPAK+, or Audiophile Edition of Band-in-a-Box®. (Xtra Styles PAK 20 requires the 2025 or higher UltraPAK, UltraPAK+, or Audiophile Edition. They will not work with the Pro or MegaPAK version because they need the RealTracks from the UltraPAK, UltraPAK+, or Audiophile Edition.
New! XPro Styles PAK 9 for Band-in-a-Box 2025 and higher for Mac!
We've just released XPro Styles PAK 9 for Mac & Windows Band-in-a-Box version 2025 (and higher) with 100 brand new RealStyles, plus 29 RealTracks/RealDrums!
We've been hard at it to bring you the latest and greatest in this 9th installment of our popular XPro Styles PAK series! Included are 75 styles spanning the rock & pop, jazz, and country genres (25 styles each) that fans have come to expect, as well as 25 styles in this volume's wildcard genre: funk & R&B!
If you're itching to get a sneak peek at what's included in XPro Styles PAK 9, here is a small helping of what you can look forward to: Funky R&B Horns, Upbeat Celtic Rock, Jazz Fusion Salsa, Gentle Indie Folk, Cool '60s Soul, Funky '70s R&B, Smooth Jazz Hip Hop, Acoustic Rockabilly Swing, Funky Reggae Dub, Dreamy Retro Latin Jazz, Retro Soul-Rock Fusion, and much more!
Special Pricing! Until July 31, 2024, all the XPro Styles PAKs 1 - 9 are on sale for only $29 ea (Reg. $49 ea), or get them all in the XPro Styles PAK Bundle for only $149 (reg. $299)! Order now!
XPro Styles PAKs require Band-in-a-Box® 2025 or higher and are compatible with ANY package, including the Pro, MegaPAK, UltraPAK, UltraPAK+, and Audiophile Edition.
New! Xtra Styles PAK 20 for Band-in-a-Box 2025 and Higher for Windows!
Xtra Styles PAK 20 for Windows & Mac Band-in-a-Box version 2025 (and higher) is here with 200 brand new RealStyles!
We're excited to bring you our latest and greatest in the all new Xtra Styles PAK 20 for Band-in-a-Box! This fresh installment is packed with 200 all-new styles spanning the rock & pop, jazz, and country genres you've come to expect, as well as the exciting inclusion of electronic styles!
In this PAK you’ll discover: Minimalist Modern Funk, New Wave Synth Pop, Hard Bop Latin Groove, Gospel Country Shuffle, Cinematic Synthwave, '60s Motown, Funky Lo-Fi Bossa, Heavy 1980s Metal, Soft Muted 12-8 Folk, J-Pop Jazz Fusion, and many more!
All the Xtra Styles PAKs 1 - 20 are on special for only $29 each (reg $49), or get all 209 PAKs for $199 (reg $399)! Order now!
Note: The Xtra Styles require the UltraPAK, UltraPAK+, or Audiophile Edition of Band-in-a-Box®. (Xtra Styles PAK 20 requires the 2025 or higher UltraPAK, UltraPAK+, or Audiophile Edition. They will not work with the Pro or MegaPAK version because they need the RealTracks from the UltraPAK, UltraPAK+, or Audiophile Edition.
New! XPro Styles PAK 9 for Band-in-a-Box 2025 and higher for Windows!
We've just released XPro Styles PAK 9 for Windows & Mac Band-in-a-Box version 2025 (and higher) with 100 brand new RealStyles, plus 29 RealTracks/RealDrums!
We've been hard at it to bring you the latest and greatest in this 9th installment of our popular XPro Styles PAK series! Included are 75 styles spanning the rock & pop, jazz, and country genres (25 styles each) that fans have come to expect, as well as 25 styles in this volume's wildcard genre: funk & R&B!
If you're itching to get a sneak peek at what's included in XPro Styles PAK 9, here is a small helping of what you can look forward to: Funky R&B Horns, Upbeat Celtic Rock, Jazz Fusion Salsa, Gentle Indie Folk, Cool '60s Soul, Funky '70s R&B, Smooth Jazz Hip Hop, Acoustic Rockabilly Swing, Funky Reggae Dub, Dreamy Retro Latin Jazz, Retro Soul-Rock Fusion, and much more!
Special Pricing! Until July 31, 2024, all the XPro Styles PAKs 1 - 9 are on sale for only $29 ea (Reg. $49 ea), or get them all in the XPro Styles PAK Bundle for only $149 (reg. $299)! Order now!
XPro Styles PAKs require Band-in-a-Box® 2025 or higher and are compatible with ANY package, including the Pro, MegaPAK, UltraPAK, UltraPAK+, and Audiophile Edition.
Video: Band-in-a-Box® 2025 for Mac®: VST3 Plugin Support
Band-in-a-Box® 2025 for Mac® now includes support for VST3 plugins, alongside VST and AU. Use them with MIDI or audio tracks for even more creative possibilities in your music production.
Band-in-a-Box® 2025 for Macs®: VST3 Plugin Support
Video: Band-in-a-Box® 2025 for Mac®: Using VST3 Plugins
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