Portable Audio Player History
Portable audio players are mobile devices able to play digital music. There are several varieties of portable audio player that include MP3 players, cell phones, boomboxes and mini-disk players. Technically a digital voice recorder might fall into the portable audio category as well, but its a term generally considered for musical accessories.
Portable audio players are taken for granted by todays generation who havent known any of the predecessors that led the way with portable audio players. It was only during the 1970s that music lovers got their first chance to bring music with them in their cars, with the 8-track cassette. Prior to this, people were limited to AM/FM radios. The bulky 8-track resembled a VHS video tape and slotted into a car stereo system fitted for them specifically. They would play music tracks, but between each song as the player moved from one track onto the next there would be several seconds of laborious silence as the reader shifted. The audible clunking of the reading spools on the player were also unwelcome additions to the music.
During the 1980s the 8-track had morphed into the cassette tape. These were smaller and had far more capacity to hold more songs. These became the first real form of portable audio. While boomboxes were manufactured with inbuilt cassette players through the late 1980s and 1990s, by the mid-1980a the first forms of walkman player emerged. These allowed people to play one cassette at a time in a rather bulky, but portable player and listen through headphone-speakers.
In 1988 compact discs arrived in force on the market. People quickly realized that these digital discs didnt need to be rewound or fast-forwarded to find a track you wanted and the digital recordings meant higher quality music enjoyment too. Compact discs also didnt suffer from the tape damage that cassettes were prone to, nor could they wear out or unwind off the cassette spools.
The only real drawback to the compact disc was the fact that sporting enthusiasts couldnt enjoy portable music with the CD walkman as the laser light reading device was easily jolted, causing the music tracks to skip or jitter. For people wanting to jog or cycle or skate, then the cassette player, like the walkman, remained the portable audio device of choice.
During the 1990s, advances in computer technology and the accompanying storage devices saw the advent of the MP3 music file. People began listening to digital files directly through their computers.
As MP3 files grew in popularity and flash memory sticks became more common, the first portable MP3 players were created as a direct result. With some MP3 players as small as a pack of gum, people were now able to listen to portable audio files from gadgets that fit within their pockets. They no longer needed to change the CD or the cassette after every album, but were able to store multiple songs on a tiny flash memory drive that also didnt have the problems of breaking or jolting during activity. In order to add or remove music files from the MP3 player, a person only needed to transfer files from a computer to the portable MP3 player, which has the memory capacity to store an entire music library. Now thats convenience!
Filed under Music by 
Leave a Comment