1983 WM-10
O WM-10 é um Walkman apenas para reprodução.
1984
WM-30
The WM-30 was an ultra-compact playback Walkman from 1984 that refined the expandable design of the earlier WM-10 with a brushed-metal body and upright layout that kept its footprint unusually close to that of a cassette itself. Powered by a single AA battery, it combined Dolby B noise reduction with a manual tape selector and a sliding body that expanded only when needed for cassette loading. The whole machine was built around making playback from a full stereo cassette seem improbably small.
Where the WM-10 introduced the expandable format almost as an engineering statement, the WM-30 feels like Sony turning that idea into something broadly usable. It was aimed at people who wanted a Walkman that could disappear into a pocket or bag without feeling flimsy or stripped down. More than a radical departure, it marks the moment when the super-compact branch began to feel like a real part of the range rather than a clever side experiment.
A miniaturização progrediu até o ponto em que os designs compactos do Walkman não eram mais incomuns, e o WM-30 chegou como um dos primeiros a tratar esse tamanho como normal em vez de experimental.
Ele seguiu o WM-20 telescópico, mas mudou para uma construção mais acessível usando um núcleo de plástico envolto em um exterior de metal escovado. O sistema de energia único AA permaneceu, e a estrutura mais leve reduziu o peso e o custo, preservando as proporções associadas aos modelos dobráveis anteriores.
O design agora enfatizava tanto a aparência quanto a engenharia.
