1983 WM-10
The WM-10 is a playback-only Walkman.
1984
WM-30
The WM-30 was an ultra-compact cassette Walkman from 1984 that refined the stretchable design introduced by the earlier WM-10, using a brushed metal case and upright layout that kept its footprint unusually close to that of a cassette itself. Powered by a single AA battery, it paired Dolby B noise reduction with a manual tape selector and a sliding chassis that expanded only when needed for cassette loading. The whole machine was built around the idea of making full stereo cassette playback feel improbably small.
Where the WM-10 had introduced the expandable format almost as a technical statement, the WM-30 feels more like Sony settling into that idea and making it usable at scale. It was aimed at people who wanted a Walkman that disappeared into a pocket or belt pouch without feeling flimsy or stripped down. More than a radical departure, it reads like the moment the super-compact branch started becoming a real part of the lineup rather than a clever side experiment.
Miniaturization had progressed to the point where compact Walkman designs were no longer unusual, and the WM-30 arrived as one of the first to treat that size as normal rather than experimental.
It followed the telescoping WM-20 but moved toward a more accessible construction by using a plastic core wrapped in a brushed metal exterior. The single AA power system remained, and the lighter structure reduced both weight and cost while preserving the proportions associated with the earlier collapsible models.
Design now emphasized appearance as much as engineering.
See also WM-DC2
