WALKIN’ BLASTERS
The History of Portable Social Music Players
What is A Boombox?
A boombox is a cassette tape player and a radio receiver with big speakers. In the 1950s and 1960s, the radios were developed toward minimizing the size. However, the boombox was invented and developed in Japan in the early 1970s to provide good-quality sound in a small package. Since Japanese music listeners could not install larger component systems in a typically small Japanese home, the boomboxes were popular at the time.
In the mid-1970s, the boombox was introduced in the United States and became a cultural symbol. Despite the political incorrectness of the term, it was nicknamed “ghetto-blaster” because it was especially popular among young African-Americans and Hispanics. They hoisted boomboxes on their shoulders and blasted their cities with Hip-hop, Jazz, and other popular music.
Today, we can see a lot of boomboxes in films and music videos. However, it is currently not as easy to see boomboxes in real life as it would have been in the 1970s and 1980s. It is alleged that Sony’s Walkman personalized the music experience by popularizing the use of headphones. Furthermore, from the mid-1980s, some cities in the US banned using a boombox in public to keep neighborhoods quiet, and the law still exists. Those events could be some reasons that boomboxes disappeared on the street. Through learning the history of the boombox, however, I started to believe that it is more than a noisy portable music player.
The features of boomboxes
The boomboxes in the 1970s and 1980s were basically radios and tape players/recorders. As the boombox companies recognized that the youngsters wanted bigger, louder, and more dynamic boomboxes, radio began to have the ability to record, edit, and mix music. The boxes required huge speakers, double-cassette decks, ten D-sized batteries, graphic frequency equalizers, detachable speakers and a built-in burglar alarm in a huge case. Even though there were a lot of Japanese companies that created boomboxes, I chose Coney-Onkyo’s Conion C-100F as a historical example because it had some noteworthy innovations and the shiny chrome and stainless steel case made the boombox iconic (Fig.1).
Conion C-100F had two cassette decks for dubbing and home recording and contained a security system for the first time in boombox history. It had full range speakers: two 8-inch woofers, two 4-inch midranges, and two 2-inch tweeters. It had 29 buttons and dials for the radio and tape. The second row consisted of 14 LEDs (2). It works as a graphic frequency equalizer. The LEDs lit from the center to the outer sides according to the volume of the sound.
I. Radio Features
As a radio receiver, the first row of the interface shows a tuner interface (1). The tuning dial is in the third row. When a user rotates the tuning dial to the left, the white indicator on the tuner interface moves to the left, and vice versa (3).
II. Cassette Tape Features
The boombox offers two cassette tape decks. The deck A (8) is at the bottom and provides many convenient features for playing music: Tape counter, Tape Running Indicator, MSSI function. The deck B (7) at the top is used for dubbing. It is a horizontal slot for the tape to slide in through a spring-loaded door. Even though users can play the tape through the secondary tape deck, they are not encouraged to use the deck B for listening music because it provides limited features for playing music.
A. Tape Counter (9)
The tape counter changes as the tape runs. The reading helps users memorize the specific section for playback or recording and search for the section later.
B. Tape Running Indicator (10)
The user can quickly notice the tape direction and speed with the indicator. In the playback or record mode, LEDs in the indicator light slowly from left to right. In the fast forward mode, LEDs light quickly from left to right. In the rewind mode, LEDs light quickly from right to left.
C. MSSI Function (11)
MSSI stands for the Music Start Search Installation. It is used to search for the beginning of music and to automatically play the tape from that point.
D. Dubbing
Dubbing is used to copy tapes from deck B to deck A. Therefore, the user needs to load the blank tape in the deck A, and load the original tape in the deck B. The boombox is also capable of recording radio broadcasts.
III. Burglar Alarm Feature
This boombox has an infrared burglar alarm for the first time. Users can turn on the alarm before he or she goes to sleep or before leaving the house. It detects objects up to 3.5 meters away over an area 30 degrees wide. Users can turn the alarm on and off by simply pressing the sensor button (13). Therefore, if the robbery knows the button, the function is helpless.
The Criticism on the Conion C-100F
The graphic frequency equalizers (shown in the red dotted box in Fig.5) seem quite important for the boombox because visual effects made the boombox look cooler, and the effects made people more excited. The Vela Discolite DK-990R, released in 1986, focused on the visual aspect and it later appeared in Madonna’s “Hung Up” and Lady Gaga’s “Just Dance” music videos (Fig. 6). The Discolite Boombox’s LEDs covered the whole front surface and gave more visual variety. Like the Discolite boombox, I think the Conion C-100F could have enhanced the equalizer visually by adding more LEDs.
The tuning dial is not close to the tuner interface. It is not easy for the novice user to find the dial. Furthermore, the third row (shown in the blue dotted box in Fig. 5) needs clarity because the interface shares different features from the radio and tape player. For instance, the left two buttons are for tape player/recorder, the right three buttons are for radio player, and the loudness button is for both tape player and radio player.
In addition to the third row, volume and function dial on the fourth row (shown in the green dotted box in Fig. 5) are not visually prominent than other buttons. Since those two buttons are more important than other buttons, it is better to make the three buttons more noticeable. It could cause a confusion to the users because the boombox has almost 30 buttons.
There are also positive aspects in the boombox interface. It provides some convenient features for using tape player/recorder. Cassette tape has two sides and contains between 60 and 180 minutes of songs. However, the tape does not have a clear visual cue. Users can see only the thickness of the tape roll. As I illustrated earlier, the tape counter, the tape running indicator, and MSSI function help the user to navigate the listening music experience better.
The Descendant of A boombox
I selected Bang & Olufson’s Bluetooth speaker BeoPlay A2 Active (Fig.7) as a descendant of the boombox because I think the boombox should provide the experience of listening to music together.
The Bluetooth speaker released in 2016 is not only lighter and smaller than the 1980’s boomboxes. BeoPlay A2 Active can be controlled by eight users’ mobile application. This small speaker also provides true 360 sound. Therefore, listeners are able to surround the speaker and enjoy the music in the same place.
I. Bluetooth Speaker
BeoPlay A2 Active provides four buttons: power, volume up/down, Bluetooth pairing. Through Bluetooth, users connect their smartphones with the speaker. They can play music with their mobile application called BeoPlay. This speaker uses USB-C charger for charging and takes 2 hours and 45minutes for full-charging. Its playtime is up to 24 hours. Therefore, users do not need to spend a fortune in batteries. It weighs 2.5 pounds and weighs less than a tenth of the weight of the Conion C-100F. Beoplay A2 Active has a decent portability because it is light enough to carry it anywhere as well as it is designed with dust and splash resistant materials.
Beoplay A2 Active puts efforts into sharing music experience. The true 360 sound encourage people to gather and listen to music together. It helps every listener enjoy equally good sound no matter where they are placed. It can also connect up to eight people at a time so everyone can hear and share the music together. Users can connect two Beoplay A2 Active speakers to make a stereo speaker.
II. Mobile Application: BeoPlay
Reportedly, Beoplay App’s digital sound algorithms are developed by Bang & Olufsen’s acoustic team to deliver better sound for the users. Users can enhance listening pleasure by personalizing the mood and tone of the music with the intuitive interface in BeoPlay App (Fig.8). In Tonetouch, users can drag the white dot away from the center to the four different spaces. Users can also pinch with two fingers to increase the spaciousness of the sound. It is a unique and ingenious idea. The old boomboxes are needed to control various dials to obtain a better sound. In order to do that, the boombox users are also required to understand the technical terms, such as bass, treble, and etc.
As Jakob Nielsen, a usability consultant, informs in “User Interface Usability Inferences,” it is important to use a language that is relevant to everyday life for the user’s better understanding. It is a bit difficult to understand the concept of four sections: warm, excited, relaxed, bright, but the user can feel free to try the single integrated interaction.
Reflection: Do we no longer need a boombox?
By studying design history and linking historical examples with current artifacts, I am able to think about something important that people have forgotten as well as my social responsibility as a designer. Artifacts reflect the spirit of the present, which means that people in the future can appreciate the past through what I have created. In addition, the artifacts I make can form the spirit of today.
In the book Boombox Project, the Hip-hop historian Adisa Banjoko states, “Back then, the black man wasn’t being heard in American society. His ideas, his thoughts, his passions, his fears, his hate, his love were just swept under the rug. And so when he’s got his boombox in his hand, he forced you to hear him.” The boombox obtained various symbolic meanings in the 1970s and 1980s: sharing music in public, telling a story, fighting the power, making public noise, and staking territorial claims.
The motion picture Do the Right Thing (1989), directed by African-American director Spike Lee, illustrated the complicated meanings of a boombox with an African-American fictional character Radio Raheem. He played the Public Enemy’s “Fight the Power” with his boombox that he carries wherever he goes. He conflicted with the Italian owner of a local pizzeria because of the noise from the boombox. The noise caused racial tensions to explode at the Brooklyn neighborhood’s local black community.
The film represented the spirit of the 1980s in the US and prophesied the Los Angeles riots of 1992. I do not think we have made many changes since then. I think the descendant of boombox could function as a tool for expressing self and sharing thoughts in the community these days. It will be hard to embrace the differences in those thought and bear the noise of those selves. However, we need to resolve the conflicts between race, gender, ethnicity, religion, nationality, and class in our society because we are responsible for not only the spirit of today, but also a better society for our descendants.
Works Consulted
- “Beoplay App.” High End Audio Speakers and Headphones — Get Premium Sound Here., www.beoplay.com/products/beoplayapp#lifestyle.
- Browne, Ray Broadus., and Pat Browne. The Guide to United States Popular Culture. Bowling Green State University Popular Press, 2001.
- McDonald, Terrence T., and Jersey Journal. “‘No Boom Boxes’ and Other Old Jersey City Laws Still on the Books.” NJ.com, NJ.com, 4 Mar. 2016, www.nj.com/hudson/index.ssf/2016/03/no_boom_boxes_and_other_old_jersey_city_laws_on_th.html.
- nprmusic. “The History of the Boombox, NPR Music.” YouTube, YouTube, 22 Apr. 2009, www.youtube.com/watch?v=e84hf5aUmNA.
- “Onkyo Conion C-126 Series Instruction Manual.” Manuals Library, www.manualslib.com/manual/1081337/Onkyo-Conion-C-126-Series.html.
- Owerko, Lyle. The Boombox Project The Machines, the Music, and the Urban Underground. Abrams, 2014.
- Pering, Trevor, et al. “Musicology: Bringing Personal Music into Shared Spaces.” 2007 Fourth Annual International Conference on Mobile and Ubiquitous Systems: Networking & Services (MobiQuitous), 2007, doi:10.1109/mobiq.2007.4450978.
- “The Boombox and the Street Corner Revolution.” Van Winkle’s, vanwinkles.com/the-history-of-the-boom-box-and-its-noise.
