{"id":3373,"date":"2016-01-08T17:43:33","date_gmt":"2016-01-08T22:43:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.library.duke.edu\/bitstreams\/?p=3373"},"modified":"2016-01-08T17:47:18","modified_gmt":"2016-01-08T22:47:18","slug":"future-retro-new-frontiers-in-portability","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.library.duke.edu\/bitstreams\/2016\/01\/08\/future-retro-new-frontiers-in-portability\/","title":{"rendered":"Future Retro: New Frontiers in Portability"},"content":{"rendered":"

Duke Libraries’ Digital Collections<\/a> offer a wealth of primary source material, opening unique windows\u00a0to cultural\u00a0moments both long past and quickly closing. \u00a0In my work as an audio digitization specialist, I take a particular interest in current and historical audio technology and also how it is depicted in other media. \u00a0The digitized Duke Chronicle<\/a> newspaper issues from the 1980’s provide a look at how students of the time were consuming and using\u00a0ever-smaller audio devices in the early days of portable technology.<\/p>\n

\"walkman_ii\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Sony introduced the Walkman in the U.S. in 1980. \u00a0Roughly pocket-sized (actually somewhere around\u00a0the size of a sandwich\u00a0or\u00a0small brick), it allowed the user to take their music on the go, listening to cassette tapes on lightweight headphones while walking, jogging, or travelling. \u00a0The product was wildly successful and ubiquitous in its time, so much so that “walkman” became a generic term for any portable audio device.<\/p>\n

\"walkman_blowout\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The success of the Walkman was probably bolstered by the jogging\/fitness craze that began in the late 1970s. \u00a0Health-conscious consumers could get in shape while listening to their favorite tunes. \u00a0This points to two of the main concepts that Sony highlighted in their marketing of the Walkman: \u00a0personalization and privatization.<\/p>\n

\"portables1\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Previously, the only widely available portable audio devices were transistor radios, meaning that the listener was at the mercy of the DJ or station manager’s musical tastes. \u00a0However, the Walkman user could choose from their\u00a0own collection of commercially available albums, or take it a step further, and make custom mixtapes of their favorite songs.<\/p>\n

\"lost<\/a><\/p>\n

The Walkman also allowed the user to “tune out” surrounding distractions and be immersed in their own private sonic environment. \u00a0In an increasingly noisy and urbanized world, the listener was able to carve out a small space in the cacophony and confusion. \u00a0Some models had two headphone jacks so you could even share this space with a friend.<\/p>\n

\"walkman_smaller\"<\/a><\/p>\n

One can\u00a0see that these guiding concepts behind the Walkman and its successful marketing have only continued to proliferate and accelerate in the world today. \u00a0We now expect unlimited on-demand media on our handheld devices 24 hours a day. \u00a0Students of the 1980’s had to make do with a boombox and backpack full of cassette tapes.<\/p>\n

\"boombox\"<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Duke Libraries’ Digital Collections offer a wealth of primary source material, opening unique windows\u00a0to cultural\u00a0moments both long past and quickly closing. \u00a0In my work as an audio digitization specialist, I take a particular interest in current and historical audio technology and also how it is depicted in other media. \u00a0The digitized Duke Chronicle newspaper issues … Continue reading Future Retro: New Frontiers in Portability<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":186,"featured_media":3380,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[45,14,12],"tags":[31],"class_list":["post-3373","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-digital-collections","category-equipment","category-tech","tag-dukechronicle"],"yoast_head":"\nFuture Retro: New Frontiers in Portability - Bitstreams: The Digital Collections Blog<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/blogs.library.duke.edu\/bitstreams\/2016\/01\/08\/future-retro-new-frontiers-in-portability\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Future Retro: New Frontiers in Portability - Bitstreams: The Digital Collections Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Duke Libraries’ Digital Collections offer a wealth of primary source material, opening unique windows\u00a0to cultural\u00a0moments both long past and quickly closing. \u00a0In my work as an audio digitization specialist, I take a particular interest in current and historical audio technology and also how it is depicted in other media. \u00a0The digitized Duke Chronicle newspaper issues … Continue reading Future Retro: New Frontiers in Portability →\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/blogs.library.duke.edu\/bitstreams\/2016\/01\/08\/future-retro-new-frontiers-in-portability\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Bitstreams: The Digital Collections Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/dukedigitalcoll\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2016-01-08T22:43:33+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2016-01-08T22:47:18+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/blogs.library.duke.edu\/bitstreams\/files\/2016\/01\/portables_cover.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"567\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"588\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Zeke Graves\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@dukedigitalcoll\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@dukedigitalcoll\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Zeke Graves\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blogs.library.duke.edu\/bitstreams\/2016\/01\/08\/future-retro-new-frontiers-in-portability\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blogs.library.duke.edu\/bitstreams\/2016\/01\/08\/future-retro-new-frontiers-in-portability\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Zeke Graves\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blogs.library.duke.edu\/bitstreams\/#\/schema\/person\/2aec1b78c5d8ce6edffc7b56005c0822\"},\"headline\":\"Future Retro: New Frontiers in Portability\",\"datePublished\":\"2016-01-08T22:43:33+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2016-01-08T22:47:18+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blogs.library.duke.edu\/bitstreams\/2016\/01\/08\/future-retro-new-frontiers-in-portability\/\"},\"wordCount\":379,\"commentCount\":1,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blogs.library.duke.edu\/bitstreams\/2016\/01\/08\/future-retro-new-frontiers-in-portability\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/blogs.library.duke.edu\/bitstreams\/files\/2016\/01\/portables_cover.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"dukechronicle\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Digital Collections\",\"Equipment\",\"Technology\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/blogs.library.duke.edu\/bitstreams\/2016\/01\/08\/future-retro-new-frontiers-in-portability\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blogs.library.duke.edu\/bitstreams\/2016\/01\/08\/future-retro-new-frontiers-in-portability\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/blogs.library.duke.edu\/bitstreams\/2016\/01\/08\/future-retro-new-frontiers-in-portability\/\",\"name\":\"Future Retro: New Frontiers in Portability - Bitstreams: The Digital Collections Blog\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blogs.library.duke.edu\/bitstreams\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blogs.library.duke.edu\/bitstreams\/2016\/01\/08\/future-retro-new-frontiers-in-portability\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blogs.library.duke.edu\/bitstreams\/2016\/01\/08\/future-retro-new-frontiers-in-portability\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/blogs.library.duke.edu\/bitstreams\/files\/2016\/01\/portables_cover.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2016-01-08T22:43:33+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2016-01-08T22:47:18+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blogs.library.duke.edu\/bitstreams\/#\/schema\/person\/2aec1b78c5d8ce6edffc7b56005c0822\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blogs.library.duke.edu\/bitstreams\/2016\/01\/08\/future-retro-new-frontiers-in-portability\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/blogs.library.duke.edu\/bitstreams\/2016\/01\/08\/future-retro-new-frontiers-in-portability\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blogs.library.duke.edu\/bitstreams\/2016\/01\/08\/future-retro-new-frontiers-in-portability\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/blogs.library.duke.edu\/bitstreams\/files\/2016\/01\/portables_cover.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/blogs.library.duke.edu\/bitstreams\/files\/2016\/01\/portables_cover.jpg\",\"width\":567,\"height\":588},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blogs.library.duke.edu\/bitstreams\/2016\/01\/08\/future-retro-new-frontiers-in-portability\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/blogs.library.duke.edu\/bitstreams\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Future Retro: New Frontiers in Portability\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blogs.library.duke.edu\/bitstreams\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/blogs.library.duke.edu\/bitstreams\/\",\"name\":\"Bitstreams: The Digital Collections Blog\",\"description\":\"Notes from the Duke University Libraries Digital Projects Team\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/blogs.library.duke.edu\/bitstreams\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blogs.library.duke.edu\/bitstreams\/#\/schema\/person\/2aec1b78c5d8ce6edffc7b56005c0822\",\"name\":\"Zeke Graves\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blogs.library.duke.edu\/bitstreams\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/6766d3c919f15c3e1e142a9bd39b1eae1490dcbd13b107d4e3fb4916ab7d3efe?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/6766d3c919f15c3e1e142a9bd39b1eae1490dcbd13b107d4e3fb4916ab7d3efe?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Zeke Graves\"},\"description\":\"Digitization Specialist Digital Production Center Duke University Libraries\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/blogs.library.duke.edu\/bitstreams\/author\/ceg16duke-edu\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Future Retro: New Frontiers in Portability - Bitstreams: The Digital Collections Blog","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/blogs.library.duke.edu\/bitstreams\/2016\/01\/08\/future-retro-new-frontiers-in-portability\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Future Retro: New Frontiers in Portability - Bitstreams: The Digital Collections Blog","og_description":"Duke Libraries’ Digital Collections offer a wealth of primary source material, opening unique windows\u00a0to cultural\u00a0moments both long past and quickly closing. \u00a0In my work as an audio digitization specialist, I take a particular interest in current and historical audio technology and also how it is depicted in other media. \u00a0The digitized Duke Chronicle newspaper issues … Continue reading Future Retro: New Frontiers in Portability →","og_url":"https:\/\/blogs.library.duke.edu\/bitstreams\/2016\/01\/08\/future-retro-new-frontiers-in-portability\/","og_site_name":"Bitstreams: The Digital Collections Blog","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/dukedigitalcoll","article_published_time":"2016-01-08T22:43:33+00:00","article_modified_time":"2016-01-08T22:47:18+00:00","og_image":[{"width":567,"height":588,"url":"https:\/\/blogs.library.duke.edu\/bitstreams\/files\/2016\/01\/portables_cover.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Zeke Graves","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@dukedigitalcoll","twitter_site":"@dukedigitalcoll","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Zeke Graves","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/blogs.library.duke.edu\/bitstreams\/2016\/01\/08\/future-retro-new-frontiers-in-portability\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/blogs.library.duke.edu\/bitstreams\/2016\/01\/08\/future-retro-new-frontiers-in-portability\/"},"author":{"name":"Zeke Graves","@id":"https:\/\/blogs.library.duke.edu\/bitstreams\/#\/schema\/person\/2aec1b78c5d8ce6edffc7b56005c0822"},"headline":"Future Retro: New Frontiers in Portability","datePublished":"2016-01-08T22:43:33+00:00","dateModified":"2016-01-08T22:47:18+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/blogs.library.duke.edu\/bitstreams\/2016\/01\/08\/future-retro-new-frontiers-in-portability\/"},"wordCount":379,"commentCount":1,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/blogs.library.duke.edu\/bitstreams\/2016\/01\/08\/future-retro-new-frontiers-in-portability\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/blogs.library.duke.edu\/bitstreams\/files\/2016\/01\/portables_cover.jpg","keywords":["dukechronicle"],"articleSection":["Digital Collections","Equipment","Technology"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/blogs.library.duke.edu\/bitstreams\/2016\/01\/08\/future-retro-new-frontiers-in-portability\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/blogs.library.duke.edu\/bitstreams\/2016\/01\/08\/future-retro-new-frontiers-in-portability\/","url":"https:\/\/blogs.library.duke.edu\/bitstreams\/2016\/01\/08\/future-retro-new-frontiers-in-portability\/","name":"Future Retro: New Frontiers in Portability - Bitstreams: The Digital Collections Blog","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/blogs.library.duke.edu\/bitstreams\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/blogs.library.duke.edu\/bitstreams\/2016\/01\/08\/future-retro-new-frontiers-in-portability\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/blogs.library.duke.edu\/bitstreams\/2016\/01\/08\/future-retro-new-frontiers-in-portability\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/blogs.library.duke.edu\/bitstreams\/files\/2016\/01\/portables_cover.jpg","datePublished":"2016-01-08T22:43:33+00:00","dateModified":"2016-01-08T22:47:18+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/blogs.library.duke.edu\/bitstreams\/#\/schema\/person\/2aec1b78c5d8ce6edffc7b56005c0822"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/blogs.library.duke.edu\/bitstreams\/2016\/01\/08\/future-retro-new-frontiers-in-portability\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/blogs.library.duke.edu\/bitstreams\/2016\/01\/08\/future-retro-new-frontiers-in-portability\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/blogs.library.duke.edu\/bitstreams\/2016\/01\/08\/future-retro-new-frontiers-in-portability\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/blogs.library.duke.edu\/bitstreams\/files\/2016\/01\/portables_cover.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/blogs.library.duke.edu\/bitstreams\/files\/2016\/01\/portables_cover.jpg","width":567,"height":588},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/blogs.library.duke.edu\/bitstreams\/2016\/01\/08\/future-retro-new-frontiers-in-portability\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/blogs.library.duke.edu\/bitstreams\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Future Retro: New Frontiers in Portability"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/blogs.library.duke.edu\/bitstreams\/#website","url":"https:\/\/blogs.library.duke.edu\/bitstreams\/","name":"Bitstreams: The Digital Collections Blog","description":"Notes from the Duke University Libraries Digital Projects Team","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/blogs.library.duke.edu\/bitstreams\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/blogs.library.duke.edu\/bitstreams\/#\/schema\/person\/2aec1b78c5d8ce6edffc7b56005c0822","name":"Zeke Graves","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/blogs.library.duke.edu\/bitstreams\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/6766d3c919f15c3e1e142a9bd39b1eae1490dcbd13b107d4e3fb4916ab7d3efe?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/6766d3c919f15c3e1e142a9bd39b1eae1490dcbd13b107d4e3fb4916ab7d3efe?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Zeke Graves"},"description":"Digitization Specialist Digital Production Center Duke University Libraries","url":"https:\/\/blogs.library.duke.edu\/bitstreams\/author\/ceg16duke-edu\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.library.duke.edu\/bitstreams\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3373","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.library.duke.edu\/bitstreams\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.library.duke.edu\/bitstreams\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.library.duke.edu\/bitstreams\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/186"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.library.duke.edu\/bitstreams\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3373"}],"version-history":[{"count":12,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.library.duke.edu\/bitstreams\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3373\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3396,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.library.duke.edu\/bitstreams\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3373\/revisions\/3396"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.library.duke.edu\/bitstreams\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3380"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.library.duke.edu\/bitstreams\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3373"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.library.duke.edu\/bitstreams\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3373"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.library.duke.edu\/bitstreams\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3373"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}