Witness History: #2 - Before there were bluetooth speakers

jimmybruch (45)in #blog • 7 years ago

Walkman 0.1

Mobile entertainment tech has come a long way. In this peculiar image we see a boy who proudly shows off his top hat radio, which he probably built himself. The picture is said to originate from somewhere around the early 1920's, although it is hard to tell since, as with most of the candid shots from that time, it is not known who the photographer was.

You may agree that his headphones look identical to some that roam the streets today. It is very interesting to look back from time to time, especially in times when different groups of people spam each other with their bluetooth speakers in public, and imagine what road this technology has taken. Note that I am not judging anything here. I find it fascinating to see how some ideas and invention just seem to stick to humanity and don't let go anymore. Take a look for example at the idea of flying. Being able to listen to music while on the road might be nothing compared to the invention of the plane, but this technology too has been developed over a long time. For instance, this boy is listening to free radio frequencies, for which he does not necessarily need a power source. While you could take a radio to wherever you want, it was never as compact as this. Not to mention record players. The first 'practical' music player for your personal enjoyment was the tape player. Latter was followed up by the CD player, the classic 'walkman'. Then came MP3 players, followed by different types of digital format players. Nowadays, we just stream songs from the phone to a bluetooth headphone or speaker, and done.

I am starting a new series about historic photographs, titled "Witness History", in which i will show and comment some of the photographs from my collection. The goal is to deliver an insight into the events that led to today. Every photograph will be accompanied by additional informations and explications. If you are interested in this series, feel free to follow me and stay up to date on my newest posts.