Due to the fierce competition among the music players, Sony will retire its once-popular Walkman tape player in Japan, the Associated Press (AP) reported on Monday. "Those of us who grew up in the Reagan Decade know: By six years after its 1979 debut, the Walkman had become the iPod of its day," Rob Pegoraro of The Washington Post wrote in a blog post on Monday. "Much like Apple's music player, Sony's gadget was near-ubiquitous, got a little smaller over subsequent revisions, and had cheaper competitors that Weren't Quite The Same Thing."