Walkman is a brand of portable media players manufactured by Sony. The original Walkman, released in 1979, was a portable cassette player that changed listening habits by allowing people to listen to music of their choice on the move. It was devised by Sony founders Masaru Ibuka and Akio Morita, who felt Sony's existing portable player was too unwieldy and expensive.
A prototype was built from a modified Sony Pressman, a compact tape recorder designed for journalists and released in 1977.
The Walkman was followed by a series of international releases; as overseas sales companies objected to the Japanese-English name, it was sold under several names, including Soundabout in the United States, Freestyle in Australia and Sweden, and Stowaway in the UK. Eventually, in the early 1980s, Walkman caught on globally and Sony used the name worldwide. In everyday language, "walkman" became a generic term, referring to personal stereos of any producer or brand. Sony continues to use the Walkman brand for most of its portable audio devices, including feature phones.