My Video Walkman doesn't work any more

At least the screen backlight works….

True story: A long time ago I had to go to the dentist to have some wisdom teeth removed (although some folks thought I should have some put in). This raised for me the prospect of pain and suffering. Not keen. To divert from this prospect I promised myself a gadget at the end. I managed to get up town, buy a video Walkman and get home before the anaesthetic in my mouth wore off. I suffered a fair bit of pain, but at least I could distract myself with a recording of Back to the Future. At the time being able to carry around TV programs and films was very cool, which is why I bought the Walkman. These days the idea of ninety minutes of poor quality video on a tiny screen followed by a flat battery is much less impressive. Such is progress.

Anyhoo, I’m doing some clearing up in the loft and came across the player, along with the box. Hoping to relive some cool from the old days I plugged it in. It doesn’t work. Apparently the screen on these devices self destructs over time. You can put a cassette in and the hardware goes through the motions, with the tape feeding as it should. You can even fast forward and rewind. But you don’t get any sound or picture.

I’ve boxed it up and I’ll probably put it up on eBay for someone who has a device with a working screen but broken transport. I’m not going to use the weaselly “untested” label used by some people. I take this to mean “I’ve tested it and it doesn’t work but I don’t want to admit this”. It’s definitely broken and that is what I’ll say. It will be a rather sad end to what was an amazing device.