TPS-L2 Walkman Portable Cassette Player And Headphones

There are 3 other images of this object. See our image rights statement.

See more objects with the tag music, listening, handheld, personal electronic, headphones.

Object Timeline

1979	Work on this object began.
2017	We acquired this object. We photographed this object. We photographed this object. We photographed this object. We photographed this object.
2018	We exhibited this object.
2019	You found it!

TPS-L2 Walkman Portable Cassette Player And Headphones

This is a Walkman Portable Cassette Player and Headphones. It was designed by Akio Morita and manufactured by Sony Corporation. We acquired it in 2017. Its medium is molded plastic, aluminum, steel, polyurethane, electronic components. It is a part of the Product Design and Decorative Arts department.

Introduced in 1979, the Sony Walkman TPS-L2 was the world’s first portable music player. The design changed music listening habits forever, increasing music’s mobility. The device’s lightweight body and battery life made it popular with those active in the exercise craze of the 1980s and 1990s. The Walkman offered privacy due to the lack of an external speaker, but also encouraged sociability with a second earphone jack that made it possible for two people to share the music experience.

White plastic square body with rounded corners; face pierced for speaker; large central circular indentation with reader having center spindle to recieve and play CD; white power cord hanging from center bottom acts as on/off pull switch.

Muji Wall-mounted CD Player, designed 1999; manufactured 2013
abs plastic, metal.
Gift of MUJI.
2013-35-1

Flat rectangular grey-green plastic housing. Transparent window on front, six buttons below, metal telescopic antenna on right. Metal handle with black plastic cover, following the contours of the front. Holes for plugs on left side and bottom container for six batteries.

T 52 Clairtone Portable Radio, 1961
molded plastic, metal.
Gift of Barry Friedman and Patricia Pastor.
1986-99-23

Red plastic radio that, when open, is reminiscent of an old-fashioned telephone handset; it twists closed to form a ring. Speaker is area of horizontal striations at one end; at other end, controls, and black dial.

R-72 Portable Radio, ca. 1972
abs plastic, metal.
Gift of Jacqueline Loewe Fowler.
2007-37-5

Our curators have highlighted 1 object that are related to this one.

Recto: Partial view (shoulders to below the waist) of a photograph of a man in a black jacket, white shirtfront and black bowtie, with his hands across his midsection holding a fedora; Defunkt is imprinted, in reverse, in multicolored capital letters across the upper section of the figure. Verso: On a chartreuse background, in the upper half, Defunkt is imprinted in capital letters in black. In the lower half is a small group photograph of some of the band members, composed of six men, five of whom are in white jackets and one in a black jacket, white shirt and black bowtie, a fedora in his left hand (the same figure as in the recto image) and one woman in a black dress. The album numbers and personnel are listed below the photograph.

Album Cover, Defunkt, 1980–82
offset lithography.
Gift of Tibor Kalman/ M & Co..
1993-151-56

Cite this object as

TPS-L2 Walkman Portable Cassette Player And Headphones; Designed by Akio Morita (Japanese, 1921 - 1999); molded plastic, aluminum, steel, polyurethane, electronic components; 2017-51-4-a/c

This object was previously on display as a part of the exhibition Bob Greenberg Selects.

Short URL http://cprhw.tt/o/2JURaR/
Accession Number 2017-51-4-a/c
Object ID 1141960831