This story has been making the rounds today on the various tech blogs, but I feel that I must post it if only to say that I had this exact Walkman growing up. I used it regularly in high school (which is probably a good part of why I never had a girlfriend). Anyway, best quote from the above story:
It took me three days to figure out that there was another side to the tape. That was not the only naive mistake that I made; I mistook the metal/normal switch on the Walkman for a genre-specific equaliser