My first was yellow. And big. And bulky. And sometimes when you pressed its buttons in a weird way, it made a squeaking noise that made me smile. Here I'm actually not talking about my Big Bird fetish but instead--my very first Walkman.

Before the dancing sillouette commercials of the iPod and the anger associated with your CD player skipping whenever you had to walk with it, there was the Walkman. And this week we are celebrating its 30th birthday. It gets a little shy when you talk about age, especially now that the younger, sexier mp3 player has come and stolen all of its thunder, but it still deserves a hearty tribute.

Whether it was waterproof, had an FM radar, recorded music, or could jump through flaming hoops on one foot, the Walkman knew what we liked. We made mix tapes with The Spin Doctors and Hootie and the Blowfish and thought we were so cool.

Forget slim new technology. Let's all take a moment to appreciate the cumbersome, awkward past. And now I'm talking about both the Walkman and middle school. Any favorite walkman memories? Surely someone has a mix-tape set list out there worthy of a Grammy. I mean, if Alison Krauss can win all those...

--Gaar Adams

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