As the famous cliché goes, all good things come to an end. Or something to that effect. In today's era ruled by smartphones, tablets, and other more convenient portable options, Sony announced over the weekend it is finally giving its Walkman and other handheld cassette players lineup the rest it deserves. Sony said that the current batch of TCM-400, TCM-410 and TCM-450 devices will be the last that it will produce, effectively easing out the product item from the IT and gadget market early next year.

Walkman is a Sony brand name used for its portable audio cassette players. The original Walkman pioneered a change in audio listening habits by enabling people to carry music with them and listen to music through lightweight headphones or earphones.

As with other business entities, Sony will discontinue the production and sale of the Walkman line of portable cassette as well as DVD players due to low market patronage. Suffice to say, the demise of the portable tape recorder is inevitable, just like the black & white TV sets of olden times.

Sony first introduced the popular Walkman in Japan in 1979. It became a favourite tool by students, journalists and even office secretaries who not only bought it for the ability to play music while on the go, but for the capability that it can record voice memo during interviews and discussions which one can later playback and review for hours on end.

With today's ever-constant changing world, Sony Walkman's entry into the vintage arena was already a fact just waiting in the offing.