Yesterday marked 30 years since the first portable music player debuted.  The Sony Walkman.

CDs and solid state memory were not yet invented - or not available for the general public.  Back then, the choice of recorded media was the cassette.  It was compact, easy to take around and could play in your car's stereo.  Much smaller than 8-track tapes and available with pre-recorded albums recorded on them.

But listening to them meant hanging out in your car in the school parking lot during lunch time or hanging out by your car at Ala Moana beach park.  And it also meant draining your car's battery.

But that all changed on July 1, 1979, when Sony introduced the Sony Walkman TPS-L2.  A 14 ounce, silver and blue portable cassette player that came with headphones and a slick leather case.

Now music was portable.  And the Sony TPS-L2 even came with a second headphone jack so ONE of your friends could share your music with you.

But it's a far cry from today's iPods and other MP3 players.  Today's kids ask their MLC dads "Did you used to have one of those huge Walkmans?"  And the dad would reply "Yup, wore it on my belt."  And the kids say back "Please don't ever repeat that." 

I remember when my friend bought one.  He was working as a valet and his co-worker turned him on the the Walkman.  The very next day, a few of us went with him to Shirokiya to buy his new toy.  He immediately opened it up, stuck in the 2 AA batteries, popped in a cassette and was rockin' and rollin' as we were walking around the mall.  But he had the volume turned up - so much so - that when he asked a question, he yelled out "WHERE'S HE GOING?".  My other friends and me just looked at each other and started busting out laughing.  My friend with the Walkman quickly took off his headphones and said "What, did I say that too loud?".

Do you remember the old Walkmans?  Maybe you even had one.  Or perhaps you had the deluxe model with the built-in AM/FM tuner.  Come on, own up.  Do you have any portable music players today?  I have a few iPods - 4 to be exact.  What can I say - I love my music.