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- May 18, 1981LIVINGA Great Way to Snub the World
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- Miniature stereo tape players tune up a silent revolution
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- Inside my brain a dull tom-tom begins Absurdly hammering a
- prelude of its own.
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- --T.S. Eliot
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- The symptoms: eyes focused in the middle distance, a smile as
- wide as a convert's and a telltale glint of metal covering the
- ears. The body may undulate with faint intimations of a boogie.
- Sometimes the hands fly upward in imaginary conducting motions.
- No doubt about it, it is an epidemic, brought on by America's
- mania not only for music, but for the gadgetry on which to play
- it. On streets, in parks, on bikes and buses, the latest
- transistor toy is the portable stereo cassette player. Weighing
- less than a pound and smaller than a paperback book. It has
- feather-light earphones that transmit sound of concert-hall
- clarity directly to the brain of the wearer, without bothering
- anyone near by. As Detroit Audio Salesman Thomas Badoud puts
- it, "These babies are unreal!"
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- Unreal or not, people are now bowling to the Beatles,
- Frisbeeing while learning French, skiing to Shostakovich and
- jogging to Jagger. The thin wires of the headsets uncoil from
- Brooks Brothers blazers and Gucci bags, as well as from bib
- overalls and warmup suits. Commuters, pitchers in bull pens,
- shoppers hovering over the meat counter and sunbathers soaking
- up rays are tuning in by the millions. In Houston, prospective
- buyers of the Sony Walkman, the original device that touched off
- the craze last year, must sign up for at least a 60-day wait at
- major audio outlets. In the Boston area, the waiting period can
- be up to 30 days, and some dealers require the full locally
- discounted price of $170 to reserve the mini-Mozart machine.
- Says Harvard Square's Tech Hi-Fi Sound Consultant Douglas
- Corley: "Our sales depend only on how fast they can build
- them." Some 30 other manufacturers have rushed more than 50
- competing models onto the market, ranging from $60 to $300.
- Some units, like the KLH Solo and Toshiba KT-S2, have FM stereo
- radios, and most accept such accessories as additional
- headphones, microphones for direct recording and AC adapters.
- Sony, which devotes an entire Tokyo factory to the units'
- production, this year expects to double its 1980 U.S. sales of
- a million of them.
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- Invented by Sony Chairman and Co-Founder Akio Morita because he
- wanted to be able to listen to high fidelity music while
- playing tennis, the sets allow the novelty of taking one's
- favorite music where it could never go before. Said Los Angeles
- Carpenter Howard Bogaz, 25, while roller-skating on the colorful
- Venice, Calif., strand: "I use it while I'm working. I take
- it when I ski or on long drives. I'm into my music! The sun
- is out, the wind is blowing, and you're on your wheels!"
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- But rolling along with the sounds is also a form of aural self-
- defense for some, such as New York TV Producer Anthony Payne,
- 34. "There are buses, airplanes, sirens," says Payne. "You have
- to replace them with something louder, by forcefeeding your own
- sounds into your ears." Manhattan Computer Executive Michael
- Starr, 43, suggest that the private concert "is a great way of
- snubbing the world. Can you imagine if Philip Roth had one
- growing up? He'd never have written Portnoy's Complaint. He
- never would have heard the nagging."
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- It may be too much to hope that the invention will offset "the
- box"--the 20-lb. chromed stereo radio that thickens the air of
- so many American cities with noise pollution. But the
- mini-stereo makes possible a silent revolution indoors. Denis
- Ilkovics, a Belgian tourist, bought one in New York for his
- 13-year-old daughter. "I hope she'll use it instead of those
- loud speakers," he sighed.
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- Hospital patients previously condemned to loud daytime
- television are blissfully recovering to Pavrotti, and some
- dentists offer headphones to distract from their drilling. Adds
- Boston's Corley: "People use them to fall asleep. I hear these
- things are going to replace Quaaludes." Detroit Law Student
- Richard Green has found one potential hazard: "I put on my
- earphones when I fool around with my girlfriend. But sometimes
- the cord gets in the way."
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- Getting in the way of traffic is a more pressing worry. Police
- are braced for what could be an audio-accident season this
- summer, with stereo-deaf sportsmen crossing the paths of
- oncoming cars. As for those behind the wheel, many states
- prohibit driving with both ears blocked, but few enforce such
- laws. "Motorists already listen to car radios that are so loud
- they can't hear our sirens," says Michigan State Policemen
- Wayne McKalpain. "If they put on headphones, they'll hamper our
- ability to respond to emergencies."
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- The Walkman, with its imitators, is a product defining its time,
- the way television focused the style of the late '50s. Says
- Detroit Psychologist Gail Parker: "The growth of these things
- is another result of the 'me society.' These machines are very
- selfish. When someone is involved in loud music, they're
- sending out a signal to the rest of the world to be left alone."
- Pinstriped Businessman Wade Schilders, 24, listening to Dvorak
- in midtown Manhattan, hits his "hot line" (allowing intrusion
- by real-world noise) to disagree: "Some people say the gadgets
- are isolating. But another person with phones comes up and
- plugs into your music or you into his. There's a camaraderie
- among users. And now I smile when I walk, because I like what
- I'm listening to." As he strides off, a truck driver leans from
- his window in appreciation of a shapely woman crossing the
- street, small earphones pressed to her blond tresses. The
- driver shouts to her: "I know you can't hear me, but I think
- you're gorgeous!" She may never get the message.
-
- --By J.D. Reed. Reported by Nick Balberman/Detroit and Georgia
- Harbison/New York with other U.S. bureaus
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