Fast forward to 2023, and the Sony Walkman is now a premium portable music player, as seen in the new NW-ZX707 (USD 899.99) and NW-A306 (USD 349.99) models.

History doesn't always view it that way. More often than not, when I see the cassette Walkman in popular culture, it's the butt of a 1980s joke - like leg warmers or the Flock of Seagulls hairdo.

The new players start at $1,600, and can cost as much as $3,200 for a gold-plated model. Rather than appealing to mainstream consumers, Sony's Walkman has become a niche device in recent years.

Roll tape. Back during the late 1980s heyday of the Sony Walkman, the parent company of the Apple iPhone of the era partnered up with Tiffany & Co. to create a silver-plated version of the ...

Sony's iconic personal stereo music player, the Walkman, turns 35 on July 1, 2014.

It was clunky, with big buttons and bright colors, and in the 1980s, every kid desperately wanted one. Before there was an iPod, there was the Sony Walkman, and Tuesday marks the 35th anniversary ...

The Sony Walkman is back. Sony announced at IFA 2019, one of the leading consumer electronics trade shows that takes place annually in Berlin, that it would be releasing a new version of their ...

In 1984 the Walkman had a portable CD player successor, Sony's Discman, the first model being D-50. It continued to transform with the ages over the years into the Mini-Disc and MP3.

Sony shares dropped to 990 yen (£8.25) on the Tokyo market before recovering slightly on Monday. But this was a far cry from the peak in the share price, at 16,950 yen (£140.17) in March 2000.

That's a pretty big change from the Walkman's heyday in the 1980s and '90s when it sold for $100 to $200, but there's a good reason for that: Sony's iconic music player has evolved quite a bit ...