Portable audio devices before the iPod

[Tony V.]

I wonder peoples thoughts on what was the best portable music device that was available prior to the creation of the iPod or other similar device?

My first portable device was this Sony walkman



My second was this Panasonic CD player (no photo at the moment) but it had a small remote control and LCD display and lite buttons.

My 3rd player and probably most favorit was this Rio Volt SP90 portable CDplayer that also played mp3 files.

I recorded so many mix CDr discs and took them everywhere. it had a 120 second buffer so it was almost impossible to make it skip and the display showed the track name and artiest as well. It also had several EQ settings as options.

I also had a Nomad jukebox that I bought after that and upgraded the 6gb hard drive to a 40gb one

This one was great but sometimes locked up and required a full reset to get working again.

I might add that all the above items I still have and they still fully function.

What have others had in the past?

 

[Wayne A. Pflughaupt]

I had a dandy JVC Walkman-type cassette player that saw a lot of use. Still have it somewhere (although it hasn’t been used in probably decades).

I never got a portable CD player back in the day, since I only listened to CDs in the car or at home. However, in the early 2000’s I did get a Sony Walkman portable CD player for the vintage 1979 Trans Am I had at the time. I didn’t want to cut up the dash to install a car CD player since it had the old-style dual shaft stereo. So I put in a high-end aftermarket dual-shafter from Yamaha that had an AUX input for the CD player.

Regards,
Wayne

 

[tripplej]

I had a sony walkman that had cassette tapes and then went to the sony walkman that had cd.. Those were the days. lol.

Speaking of portable devices, a friend of mine had one of those portable antenna tv's, I think it was like 2 to 3 inch in size.. Really was great watching football on the weekends when we were outside.

 

[Matthew J Poes]

I had Sony Walkman's. First I had a cassette player and later had numerous versions of cd players. I also had a Headroom portable headphone amplifier which included a huge rechargeable battery that gave it like 2 hours play time. I had a nice portable rig for a while at a time (mid to late 90's) when headphones weren't that popular and high end portable gear wasn't common. I even rigged up a Sony CD players with optical digital output to connect to a Audio Alchemy DAC that I had modified to operate on batteries. I remember how much better it sounded using an external dac of this caliber. This was all long before portable dac's were a thing. I only wish I had pictures of this ridiculous contraption. I would take it with me on the airplane and it looked like a science experiment, with wires and batteries coming out. I eventually gave up on it when carrying such devices through security became impossible.

Today an iPhone and relatively inexpensive USB dac provides far better sound in a far smaller package!

 

[Todd Anderson]

The last tech I had pre-iPod was a Sony minidisc player. Worked pretty well.

 

[Matthew J Poes]

The last tech I had pre-iPod was a Sony minidisc player. Worked pretty well.

I had Minidisc's as well! That's among the various failed technologies I've owned. I think the only one I didn't buy into was laser disc, simply because I was too young.

I still have a huge collection, nearly 200 HD DVD's and a functioning Toshiba players! SACDS's! DVD-A!

I once had Beta cassette.

The one nice thing about modern technology is that most new technology is software based and so if the software goes south, the hardware remains useful and a software update may even render it up to date.

 

[Todd Anderson]

I had no idea that many HD DVDs were made!

 

[Matthew J Poes]

I had no idea that many HD DVDs were made!

I very well may have bought all of them!

When they stopped making them I actually was given two more players and a few more discs from.the handful I had at the time. I then found a deal on eBay where someone was dumping news and unopened HD DVD's that I believe came from stores like Best Buy. I bought a lot of 180 some odd discs.

At the time I figured that since the sound and video were equal between formats that it was a good way to get into HD movies. Bluerays were going for like $30+ at the time.

 

[Matthew J Poes]

I just tried to look up the stats. Apparently a bit over 350 us titles were released.

 

[Todd Anderson]

Brutal... I'd be interested in finding out how much consumer $$ was spent on the format before it went belly up.

 

[Matthew J Poes]

Ok back on topic. These were my first good headphones. Who remembers these. The color was officially beige but resembled something out of the Exorcist in my opinion.

 

[Todd Anderson]

I'm trying to remember what kind of "walkman" I had... I know it wasn't Sony. Trying to take my brain back 1981 isn't going so well at the moment. I believe it was made by Sanyo.

 

[Matthew J Poes]

I had no idea that many HD DVDs were made!

I'm sure far too much. There really are no winners in format wars like this. They were technologically similar and both could have served as the last of the silver discs well into an 8K future.

 

[Todd Anderson]

It's funny: this talk of cassette gear has instantly reminded of that great smell new cassette albums had...

 

[Matthew J Poes]

I'm trying to remember what kind of "walkman" I had... I know it wasn't Sony. Trying to take my brain back 1981 isn't going so well at the moment. I believe it was made by Sanyo.

I was born in 1981 so....

I think by the late 80's through mid 90's saw such an expansion of options that I doubt I could put my finger on the exact model I had.

 

[Todd Anderson]

Back in the 1970s I used to sit by my parent's stereo system (I believe it was a Carver) with this...radio on...

Hoping to hit record at the right the right time to capture a song or two. Rhinestone Cowboy was popular in my little world. ;-)

 

[Todd Anderson]

We should open this up to boom boxes... I had a couple of killer boom boxes in the early 1980s! High speed dubbing!

 

[Matthew J Poes]

We should open this up to boom boxes... I had a couple of killer boom boxes in the early 1980s! High speed dubbing!

Hah

Did you guys ever make mix tapes for a girl you had a crush on? To show her how you really felt inside!

 

[Todd Anderson]

Of course! Mixed tapes and the accompanying home-made coverart were a definite must!

 

[Matthew J Poes]

Of course! Mixed tapes and the accompanying home-made coverart were a definite must!

Ah the artwork. I forgot about that.

Mixed tapes is a lost art. Sending your crush a playlist is somehow not the same.

 

[Tony V.]

Boom boxes for sure, I still have my Panasonic rxc53 in the garage. Honeycomb speakers auto reverse with EQ and spectrum Annaliser. I plug my iPod into the line in jack when in the garage but it does not sound as good as my JBL Bluetooth speaker so it may be time to retire the boom box.
I have a few HDDVD titles and a player.

 

[Tony V.]

Did anybody ever have one of these? Sony had this model of a portable record player

 

[tripplej]

Wow, that does look nice. I never knew it even existed.

 

[Matthew J Poes]

View attachment 6819
Did anybody ever have one of these? Sony had this model of a portable record player

I never owned one but I remember seeing them. I think it may have been a thing a little before my prime. I mostly recall seeing them show up used.

Oddly enough the concept of an upright portable record player has come back in Vogue recently. My brother bought one that contains a pair of vifa full range speakers and uses a spring to provide the tracking force.

https://www.gramovox.com/products/floating-record

 

[Tony V.]

What's old is new again, what goes around comes around (pun intended) LOL