索尼公司近日宣布，诞生于1979年、全球销量超过2.2亿台的索尼Walkman（随身听）将在日本国内停售。不过，该产品在中国的生产仍将继续，以满足美国、欧洲以及部分亚洲国家少数用户的需求。

The Walkman was the world\s first commercial personal stereo system and revolutionized how people listened to music.

The Walkman was the world's first commercial personal stereo system and revolutionized how people listened to music.

Often cited as one of the greatest gadget¹ inventions of all time it has been squeezed out（挤出，榨出） by portable CD players and latterly（最近，近来） the advent² of digital rivals, most notably³ Apple's iPod.

Since its launch in 1979 around 220 million Walkmans have been sold worldwide and the ground-breaking, pocket-sized music player was cherished by a generation of joggers（慢跑者） and teenagers.

While the last batch⁴ has already been produced for the Japanese market, Sony said it will continue making the device in China to accommodate a dwindling（缩小，变小） band of users in the US, Europe and some Asian countries.

George Boyd, a spokesman for Sony in Tokyo, said: "There is still demand in certain regions, including emerging markets, but in Japan there has been a shift to other forms of recording⁵ media."

The Walkman was dreamed up by Nobutoshi Kihara, an engineer in Sony's audio division, in response to a request from Akio Morita, the company's joint⁶ chairman, who wanted to listen to operas during his frequent long-haul business flights.

Initial public reaction to the Walkman was lukewarm（冷淡的） but it took off when it was marketed at younger consumers.

Its popularity began to fade with the arrival of CDs and was further eroded⁷ by downloadable music and devices that can store thousands of songs, while also delivering better sound quality.

The retirement⁸ of the Sony Walkman in Japan was announced the day before the ninth anniversary of the release of the iPod.