The late 90s and early 2000s were a time of transition. You can see it happens with how people clothe themselves, from bell bottoms to low-rise jeans. You can even see the change happen in the gadgets people use. Back in the late 90s, the Sony Walkman reigned supreme, but with the introduction of the iPod, they eventually became obsolete.
However, there is a quirky stopover from the Sony Walkman to the iPod, so quirky that you wouldn't believe how it started.
I'm talking, of course, about HitClips, those tiny boom boxes and walkmen small enough to be hanged like keychains.
HitClips: The Beginning, Capabilities Of A Kid's Status Symbol
HitClips began as a giveaway toy for McDonald's happy meals in the late 90s, per Mashable, wherein certain happy meals come with a HitClip for a young kid to enjoy.
Although it was meant as a one-time stint, the toy became a hit with the kids. It became so popular that it transitioned from a happy meal toy into a mainstay must-have product for kids.
The HitClip functions much like a Sony Walkman in that you have to place a cartridge inside it for it to play audio. These cartridges are mostly made up of the hit of the late 90s and early 2000s music like those from NSync, Backstreet Boys, Britney Spears, and the Spice Girls.
Getting one of these nifty gadgets was quite the struggle - a HitClip player had a price tag of $20, while the cartridges were sold for $3.99 back in the day, which is around $35.57 and $7.10 in today's money, per in2013dollars.com.
iHeart mentioned that the HitClip cartridges don't contain the entire song, but it has enough of a specific song for you to enjoy while it lasts.
However, for kids at the time, the price is worth every perfectly done chore or aced test as having one means you're in with the times.
HitClips could be seen in kids' backpacks, keychains, and belt loops and were being used in playgrounds. The more cartridges you had, the cooler you were.
The $20 charge does come with some justification: HitClip players come in many shapes. Many of them look like a mini boom box or a small Sony Walkman, making them appropriate to be attached to backpacks and keychains.
These little audio players even had attachments that provide additional features for the main HitClip player. There was an FM radio scanner attachment to listen to FM radio stations, a three-inch long boom box to share your tunes with others with louder audio, and even a karaoke device.
Thanks to the HitClip's popularity with the kids, Tiger Electronics, the developer of the HitClip, earned a revenue of around $80 million in 1999.
The Changing Of The Times
As previously mentioned, HitClips cartridges cannot hold an entire song, which is unfortunate as they were as handy as a walkman for a kid for a fraction of a Walkman's price.
Ultimately, this inability to play a whole song, even with attachments is what led to the HitClip's downfall as kids grew up and went from listening to clips from an HitClip to listening to entire playlists from an iPod.
As previously mentioned, the late 90s and early 2000s were a time of transition. But without the HitClip, many people's childhoods would be not as memorable or as colorful.
