A local seller I frequently brought from posted a sneak peak of his personal collection. They a Yamaha branded walkman caught my eye and I tried to buy it be he refused to sell. He offered to send me more close-up pictures instead, to which I happily agreed. It's a Yamaha "Cocky" YCC-10. I decided to post this here since it seems to be a quite obscure model with few pictures on the web. You rarely see any walkman with Yamaha on it. Do any of you know if Yamaha made any other walkmans? This particular one is in quite a bad shape and is missing some parts, but apparently one in red sold for over USD 200 on ebay recently. As with many famous brands, this Yamaha is a OEM product. It's made by Shinwa, a Japanese company (with a subsidiary in China) that is apparently still around and still lists "walkman mechanisms" as one of their products in their wesbite today. What I found most interresting about the walkman is the name though. Cocky? What is that referrring to?
I think that is something that has got lost in translation. cocky1 ˈkɒki/ adjective adjective: cocky; comparative adjective: cockier; superlative adjective: cockiest conceited or confident in a bold or cheeky way. "we were young, brash, cocky—we knew everything" The first example I thought of, which everyone worldwide will understand, is Michael Jackson predicting that his Bad album would outsell Thriller.
Well, I guess it's trying to say "I'm bad-ass"/"I'm the collest"? But cocky just seems to have a negative vibe.
As you have noticed, the model name is not 'Cocky', but COCCY. Phonetically it is pronounced as cocky, maybe Yamaha did not really think over this name for it's possible meanings. And model names have never always been logical or linguistic correct! Interesting player BTW, never seen a Yamaha 'walkman' before.
That's my fault for not uploading higher resolution images I guess, but the name is indeed "Cocky". There is actually a line forming the "k". Apparently it's also the name for a popular song contest held by Yamaha, the "Cocky Pop". The logo's the same, as can be seen here: https://www.discogs.com/artist/4132360-cocky-pop-YAMAHA You're most definitely right about the weirdness of model names though! Sanyo called their early sports model "The Outsider". Well, in retrospect, "walkman" itself is quite weird word, actually.
Yes I see it now, sorry, my bad, didn't see it first, but now I notice the K instead of C, also on your original pics. Cocky, hm, weird, and you're right, I thought 'walkman' for a bit of a strange name as well...
Yeah... I thought it was Coccy too at first. I'll keep my eyes open for one of these, though they seem kinda low-end.
Companies have to be careful with names especially for a worldwide market as this article shows: http://www.complex.com/sports/2012/07/the-25-most-ridiculous-car-names-of-all-time/ Actually I think Rocsta is a far better name than Mitsubishi Barbarian or Nisssan "Outlaw" which just asks to be pulled over by the Police. Interestingly what Americans know as the Honda Fit is called the Honda Jazz in the UK. Most people here would associate Fit with Epilepsy and the car is most popular with Pensioners who like the reliability.
Thanks for sharing, one of the most obscure personal cassette players out there, it was surprising to see one show up on US Ebay after one sold from Greece, maybe the same unit? https://www.ebay.com/itm/Vintage-YA...D&orig_cvip=true&rt=nc&_trksid=p2047675.l2557 https://www.ebay.com/itm/Vintage-RA...D&orig_cvip=true&rt=nc&_trksid=p2047675.l2557
Yeah... Sony was quite thoughtful about that, it seems. As can be seen from their early practice of not using the "Walkman" name worldwide (SoundAbout, Stowaway, Freestyle). Though that turned out to be false worries on their part! Btw, the Honda's called the "Jazz" in my country too, quite a popular car for young people. Those are quite high prices for what seems to be a lower end machine? I think they're different oes. The wear marks on the back (especially the on the label) are different. It must coincidence that rarer units appear in quick sucession. Although, this has happened several times to me before, much to my surprise. One time, it was a most amazing timing that I can't believe it happaned. A Sanyo M6060 appeared for sale locally, but the seller was asking too high and wouldn't budge on his price. While I was haggling with him another one came up for less than half the price, so I promptly snatched that one up. Minutes later the previous seller lowered his price a little (still quite high), and I apologized that I've bought one from another seller. We could only laugh... Those 2 are the only ones I've seen for sale for years.
They do tend to show up in clusters, I've also noticed that before. This is such a rare unit, it's odd to have two show just a few weeks apart.
Yeah.., Weird things do happen. Just earlier this month a couple of Marantz/Unix PC-30s showed up. I missed out on one of them, sadly.
I've been watching those UNIX Units stuck-in-time, it's nice to see them starting to show up more regularly although they're getting good money for them. Here's my thread, please add information if you have any. http://stereo2go.com/forums/threads/marantz-personal-cassette-players.2162/
What irritates me the most is that I missed out on a very good price for them. The equivalent to about USD 20 for a Unix one with its case and speakers... I'll try to post pics of mine when I have time to take decent ones.
Great find joseneon, those are neat and I still haven't seen one go up for sale in a long time. I did see another more basic Yamaha, it turns out it was an accessory for their keyboards so you could record.
