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Original name of the Sony Walkman (infosec.pub)

submitted 1 day ago by lime@feddit.nu to c/map_enthusiasts@sopuli.xyz

25 comments fedilink hide all child comments

Growing up, portable cassette players were always called "freestyles" here. I never knew it was a marketing thing, or that some other countries also objected to the naming.

this is "original research", which means i dicked around on the internet archive for half an hour. it may be wrong.

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[–] huppakee@feddit.nl 3 points 23 hours ago (2 children)

I wonder why they decided that Sweden should get a name different than the other European. Maybe IKEA had already copyrighted Wålkmån?

[–] lime@feddit.nu 4 points 23 hours ago* (last edited 23 hours ago) (2 children)

that i can actually answer! there was an entire movement/subculture thing anchored to the word "freestyle" in the late 70's-early 80's. think rollerblading, skateboarding, downhill skiing, extreme sport stuff, and pastel overalls, headbands and sunglasses:

there was even a band named freestyle. my mum was really into them as a teen.

also, sony sweden insisted. they were adamant that "people wouldn't get it" if the thing was called a walkman. and they were right; the word freestyle is still in common use, while "walkman" never really took off.

[–] huppakee@feddit.nl 1 points 11 hours ago (1 children)

I have to admit a freestyler sounds better than a stowaway and a sound-about for sure. Might even beat Walkman if I never heard of either words and could make a decision unbiased. Do you also know anything about Australia's reason?

[–] lime@feddit.nu 2 points 10 hours ago (1 children)

i have no idea :/ a while back i read an interview with the guy at sony sweden who made the decision, but for australia there is literally no info. i sincerely doubt it was a coordinated effort, since it went on sale in like 1979.

[–] huppakee@feddit.nl 1 points 8 hours ago

Maybe they saw a vhs of Swedish freestylers and said we want that too.

[–] retrolasered@feddit.uk 3 points 17 hours ago (1 children)

Swedes love freestyle skateboarding. 2 in particular might be responsible for the sport still existing in Europe at all, Stefan Akesson and Denis Sopovic.

[–] lime@feddit.nu 2 points 11 hours ago

oh wow, stefanie is even from the same area as me and i had no idea

[–] hitmyspot@aussie.zone 1 points 17 hours ago (1 children)

Even odder that Ireland would be different to the uk. Most marketing and branding is unified for both due to the same language and distribution networks. This has a visually changed since brexit, but this was the 80s, when most of Ireland’s trade was with the uk, not Europe and the USA.

[–] lime@feddit.nu 1 points 11 hours ago (1 children)

that's what the disclaimer is for. i have no idea what it was called in ireland, but i know it was available and that the stowaway name was only used very, very briefly.

[–] hitmyspot@aussie.zone 1 points 11 hours ago (1 children)

Haha, yes. Even as I wrote it, I wondered if it was just a case that Ireland was not listed for the UK market. Also inwonder d with Sweden having a different name was Denmark just an afterthought. Their languages are quite similar is often a similar market.

Perhaps multiple names were used for only a short period while the markets were tested.

[–] lime@feddit.nu 1 points 10 hours ago

swedish and danish are close grammatically, at least on paper, but common words can differ a lot.