While music itself has certainly evolved throughout the years, so has the way we listen to it, especially pre-recorded music. Once restricted to listening to the radio in your home or vehicle, it’s only in the past 40 or so years that music has become completely portable.
Here’s a look at the evolution of portable music!
The Early Years – Cassette is King
The first truly portable personal cassette player was the Sony Walkman. Introduced in July of 1979, the Walkman revolutionized the way people listen to music. They retailed for $150 dollars, which translates to nearly $500 in today’s economy. Originally created because Sony’s co-founder wanted a way to listen to music while traveling, the Walkman grew hugely popular in the 1980s, especially as cassettes took over in popularity. The word “Walkman” was even added to the Oxford English Dictionary in 1986. By 1989, over 100 million Walkmans had been sold. Sony retired the cassette Sony Walkman in 2010.
The CD Years
Sony’s portable CD player, the Discman, was introduced in 1984. It was later rebranded as the CD Walkman. In the early to mid 80s, however, people were still mostly listening to music on cassettes. CD players, both portable and non, were extremely expensive. The CD Walkman retailed for around $300, which is the equivalent of nearly $800 today. A CD player for the home was even more expensive, at around $1,000 dollars (nearly $3,000 today). However, by 1988, CDs sales overtook those of cassette players. By the late 1998, over 50 million CD Discmans had been sold.
The Rise of MP3s
Despite popular belief, mp3 players didn’t originate with the iPod. In fact, they were created four years earlier, in 1997. The first mp3 player was the MpmanF10, however the first to really gain commercial popularity was the Rio PMP300. The Rio PMP300 held about 60 minutes of music on its 32 MB of internal memory. Sony, ever evolving, came out with the Memory Stick Walkman in 1999. These were similar to other MP3 players, though they didn’t use the MP3 file format.
Apple Enters the Picture….and Changes Everything
The iPod was first introduced in October of 2001. Though the technology was similar to other MP3 players, one thing set it apart. The first iPod had 5 GB of storage, which meant it could hold somewhere around 1,000 songs. In that same year, Apple also launched iTunes, which made acquiring music (legally) much easier. No longer did you have to purchase a CD, convert the songs into MP3s, and load them back onto your mp3 player. Now you had the ability to purchase mp3s directly from your computer.
The iPod went through many iterations throughout the years. We’ve seen the Classic, Nano, Shuffle, Mini, and iPod touch.
Though Apple was the heavy hitter, other brands entered the market too. Top names like SanDisk and Samsung offered versions of MP3 players. Top brands began to take advantage of the trend toward digital music and gave away promotional mp3 players and other tech giveaways with their logo imprinted on them.
Smartphones and Music Subscription/Streaming Services
The first generation of iPhones was launched in 2007 and ran on the iOS operating system. The first Android phone, the Samsung Galaxy was released two years later, in 2009. According to the Pew Research Center, in May of 2011, about 35% of people owned smartphones. Ten years later, in 2021, that number has risen to 85%.
As smartphones started to become more and more popular, the need for a standalone MP3 player began to slowly decline. This especially became true with the introduction of music subscription streaming services like Pandora and Spotify. Instead of paying for a song, or an album, like you did on iTunes, these services allowed you to pay a monthly subscription fee to hear as much music as you’d like. Some, like Pandora, allowed you to pick a seed genre or band and would choose related music. Others, like Spotify, allowed you to pick the exact songs you wanted to listen to. The Classic iPod, once an industry leader in terms of new technology, began to age and was discontinued in 2014.
That brings us to the present day, where most portable music is streamed through a smartphone. While a promotional mp3 player may not be the utlimate swag item anymore, Pinnacle Promotions offers all sorts of tech giveaway products that are on trend. From custom earbuds to bluetooth speakers with your logo, we can help you find an accessory that allows you your clients listen to music wherever they are, whenever they want.
What comes next in the evolution? We’ll just have to wait and find out.
Sources:
Pendlebury, T. (2021, October 24). Apple’s iPod still on sale after 20 years, but who’s buying. Retrieved from https://www.cnet.com/tech/mobile/apples-ipod-still-on-sale-after-20-years-but-whos-buying/
Franzen, C. (2014, July 1). The History of the Walkman: 35 Years of Iconic Music Players. Retrieved from https://www.theverge.com/2014/7/1/5861062/sony-walkman-at-35
History.com Editors. (2021, June 29).The First Song Walkman goes on sale. Retrieved from https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/the-first-sony-walkman-goes-on-sale
Gebel, M. (2019, July 1) The Walkman just turned 40 – here’s how listening to music has changed over the years. Retrieved from https://www.businessinsider.com/history-listening-to-music-recorded-walkman-2019-6
Discman. (2021, December). In Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Discman
Walkman. (2022, January) In Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walkman
Costello, S. (2020, January 12) History of the iPod: from the First iPod to the iPod Classic. Retrieved from https://www.lifewire.com/history-ipod-classic-original-2000732