What Was Your First Portable Music Player?

[MR.MAGOO]

Mine was a SONY DiscMan, came with a cassette tape shaped adapter to play a CD thru a car cassette deck. I still have it, was doing a little 'spring cleaning' and found it buried in the closet.
Put some new batteries in and it still works.

 

[Pogre]

I took this everywhere with me when I was a kid.

And it only took 4 C batteries!

 

[John Parks]

I took this everywhere with me when I was a kid.

View attachment 45848

And it only took 4 C batteries!

Yup- I had one in blue!

 

[ryanosaur]

One could say my first portable was an 8-track AM/FM “thing”. It was portable and I could carry it around!
But much after that, my first real was a Walkman of some sort. Cassettes and those horrid earphones with those super thin foam covers on them.
I still remember my first portable CD, to... that was from Rat Shack.

Now, it’s called a “phone!”

Thans, McGee for making me “feel” “old.”

 

[Eppie]

Well, if we're gonna play that game, I still have one of these in a box. My daughter gets a real kick out of this old stuff.

Funny, but my wife got more into portable audio with a cassette Walkman, Panasonic Discman and then iPod. I stuck with the car and home system until I purchase some good earbuds for my cell.

 

[afterlife2]

Cowon x5 Mp3 player from 2005. I still have it and it really needs a new battery replacement. It will only play through AC. I also had a couple of Iriver Mp3 players. Im sure I had a cassette portable, but sure it was a cheap low quality brand in the 80s that was acceptable. Nowadays I use my Hiby R2, Cayin N3 player, etc. Also have a Aiwa XP-R10 cd player from 2000 that still works, but a bit finicky.

 

[j_garcia]

An actual Sony cassette Walkman. Wish I still had it lol, even though I have only a few cassettes left (and nothing to play them on).

 

[lovinthehd]

Something like this

 

[Eppie]

Something like this

LOL. Didn't even occur to me to post an AM portable radio. Still have those too. Anyone else build a crystal radio kit as a kid? I used the bed spring as an antenna and picked up Schenectady NY from Southern Ontario Canada!

 

[Pogre]

Something like this View attachment 45900

Looks like an old thermostat!

It also looks familiar. I think I've seen those before.

 

[lovinthehd]

LOL. Didn't even occur to me to post an AM portable radio. Still have those too. Anyone else build a crystal radio kit as a kid? I used the bed spring as an antenna and picked up Schenectady NY from Southern Ontario Canada!

Seem to remember going to Tandy/Radio Shack to pickup a radio kit but bought a moccasin kit instead.....

 

[panteragstk]

An actual Sony cassette Walkman. Wish I still had it lol, even though I have only a few cassettes left (and nothing to play them on).

Same. Got one a few years before my discman. Ah the memories of having to walk carefully so as not to skip your CD. My CD Player with anti shock was a game changer.

 

[afterlife2]

Same. Got one a few years before my discman. Ah the memories of having to walk carefully so as not to skip your CD. My CD Player with anti shock was a game changer.

I remember borrowing a Sony walkman from my sisters boyfriend at the time and was amazed by the sound quality. I could never afford one and got a cheapo one that wasn't even close. Fun times.

 

[davidscott]

Aside from car 8 tracks, cassette and cd players only am/fm radios to walk around with.

 

[afterlife2]

Aside from car 8 tracks, cassette and cd players only am/fm radios to walk around with.

Were there portable 8 track player? I know they were in cars and homes.

 

[davidscott]

Were there portable 8 track player? I know they were in cars and homes.

Yeah I had a cheap plastic blue one a looooong time ago. Needless to say it didn't last long.

 

[sterling shoote]

 

[rnatalli]

I think my first with headphones was an Aiwa walkman for cassettes.

 

[MalVeauX]

Probably a Magnavox portable casette stereo with FM/AM radio and detachable dipole speakers. Took D batteries I think. I had a walkman with casettes and eventually got an RCA discman when CD's starting coming out. The headphones sucked. But after the early 90's I got a pair of Sennheiser HD580's and started getting into building portable audio systems. Now you can just buy portable headphone amps of course (never would have thought it would be a thing beyond niche enthusiasts). Now-a-days I keep it simple with a portable FLAC player that can do bluetooth to connect to the vehicles, but also outputs to a portable amp with my Beyer DT770's or Denon D5000's when I'm feeling it.

Very best,

 

[BMXTRIX]

I couldn't say which model it was. I mean, I certainly had the little portable radios that were all funky 70's shaped, but nothing that was really pocketable until the Walkman era. Like @rnatalli I purchased an Aiwa. They were pretty premium over what Sony seemed to have and came highly recommended. Metal construction and really slim design. I did end up trashing it within a couple of years or so since I took it skiing all the time. Early 80's time frame, and not this, but similar...