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Campus Quotes
Dining in a Business Setting
Five Things to Know About the Midterm Election
Intramurals
Why do you think a college education is important?
Career Services will be holding their “Dining Etiquette in a Business Setting,” on Nov. 9
NOV. 4, 2010
UCO Intramurals will host their Championship Week, Nov. 9-Nov. 11.
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THE VISTA Walkman Rewind Walkman Rewind
UNIVERSITY OF CENTRAL OKLAHOMA’S
student voice since 1903.
Sony discontinues the Walkman after more than 31 years of production. Here is a look back at the life of technology that may be on the brink of obsolesces.
By Cody Bromley / Staff Writer If it wasn’t dead yet, Sony has put one of the final nails into the coffin of the cassette tape player. Two weeks ago, Sony made the decision to discontinue production of their last model of Walkman cassette tape players in Japan. Sony’s China production department will continue to produce limited runs of the final models of the cassette player. The device, a relic left over from Generation X music culture, has long been on the chopping block after become obsolete by portable CD players and portable MP3 players. The first model of Sony’s Walkman was released to the Japanese public on July 1, 1979. The device supported stereo playback, and had two headphone jacks to allow device owners to share the music. The Walkman enjoyed years of success in the portable electronics market. Models were updated as technology improved. At its peak, some models were capable of reproducing the full dynamic range of sound the human ear can hear, a gold plated headphone jack, and some boasting such thin sizes as two millimeters. But the demise of the Walkman was not due to a lack of innovation, but by being left behind in the ever-changing world of media. Sony began experimenting with other forms of devices that also held the name Walkman. Some of these models took the form of being a device strictly as an FM radio receiver, or for playback of Sony’s new MiniDisc format. In 1989, Sony even released a Video Walkman capable of playing back Video 8 format videocassettes and receiving over the air television broadcasts. The device weighed in at two and half pounds, with a three-inch screen embedded in a 5 inches by 8 inches enclosure. The device would only last about 45 minutes to an hour depending on usage. At the end of the era of magnetic tape, the Walkman had all but cornered the
WEATHER TODAY
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Then & Now Price of a Walkman 2010 price is estimated price due to inflation
Walkman 1979: $200 2010: $612
Sony first released the Walkman in Japan on July 1, 1979. Although casette technology is rarely used, some music acts are still releasing material on the medium. Some say there could be a resurgence, much like vinyl.
market until the emergence of portable CD players. The first CD-based Walkman launched in 1984 under the title “Discman.” In later years, Sony returned to the Walkman name for the players. As consumers moved to portable CD players, so did musical artists. Heading towards the new millennium, cassette tape availability among new music was shrinking. In 2001, cassettes accounted for only four percent of the music sold; in 2005 the number dropped to less than one percent. Comparatively, in 2009 iTunes amounted for 28 percent of all the music sold in the United States. The ideas fueling the innovation of the Walkman line of portable electronics would eventually find new homes in the digital age. The ninth anniversary of the iPod’s announcement actually came within days of Sony’s decision to begin
the long death of the Walkman. The iPod, and devices like it, were able to successfully beat out the later models of Sony’s portable CD players by allowing users to have on demand access to larger numbers of songs at their disposal without all the hang-ups of a bulky CD player. Another victory for MP3 players was that the technology was rapidly expanding and improving. Early players only had storage for 128 megabytes, which amounts to about 140 minutes of audio at a standard bit-rate of 128 kbps, but when the Apple first appeared on the scene in 2001 their iPod held five gigabytes, which amounts to 3.4 days of audio at a standard bit-rate of 128 kbps.
Walkman Sport 1983: $100 2010: $212
Walkman Pro 1987: $210 2010: $391
Current Model 2010: $391
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Priorities
PROGRAMS TO BE GRADED, POSSIBLY CUT A task force to determine a program’s viability has been implemented to help the university save money. Programs that do not make the grade may be eliminated.
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DID YOU KNOW? The area code of Antarctica is 672.
A task force has been set up to establish guidelines to prioritize programs at UCO to help determine what the school can eliminate in the face of possible budget shortfalls. The task force, which held its first meeting in March, has developed a process that requires each operational unit on campus to provide information about itself and the programs that it manages, according to the Program Prioritization Task Force’s draft report, which was published on Oct. 13. Depending on the information gathered, the program will then be scored to determine if it is expendable. The university has set up forums with faculty to discuss the task force’s job and what it means for the school. The meetings will be held at 2 p.m. on Thursday and Friday in lecture hall of the Forensic Science Building. Dr. Roz Miller, the chair of the
about implementing the task force’s recommendations. The vice presidents of the university will vote and present a finalized document to President Roger Webb. However, if the president does not approve of the final version of the program, the Oklahoma board of regents could step in and determine how to bring the school to solvency.
PHOTO BY GARETT FISBECK
By Kory Oswald / Editor-In-Chief
TO READ THE DRAFT REPORT OF THE PROGRAM PRIORITIZATION TASK FORCE, SCAN THIS TAG:
Faculty/Staff Program prioritization task force forums will be held on Thursday and Friday afternoon in the lecture hall of the Forensic Science building.
Mass Communications department, said that she is concerned the prioritization process will focus on the number of majors in each program and not the credit hour production, which would not be representative of
what the course offers students in the way of core curriculum and service courses. Administration will consider feedback from the chair and faculty meetings before finalizing any decision