Why Portable Music Revolutionised The Way We Listen To Music

Music is an important part of our society and also many people’s lives. There once was a world without music, which is very hard to imagine in the modern era, with all genres of music being easily accessible. Today’s generation may take their portable music devices for granted , the thought of using a vinyl or cassette would be an alien concept to them. It is however important to understand how the portable music devices revolutionised the industry and we need to appreciate how lucky we really are.

Portable music has come a long way in such a short space of time, with technology constantly changing in order to improve the listeners overall experience. The first major attempt at a portable music device that was predicted to take the world by storm was the transistor radio. The Regency TR-1 was patented by Richard C. Koch in 1954 and was sold for $49.95 which is equivalent around $400.00 today. Sadly it was not as successful as anticipated due to its high price tag and limited capabilities.

The first biggest success in the portable music industry was produced by technology giants Sony and was known as the Sony Walkman. This was a portable cassette player which allowed you to listen to your favourite music on the move and give that special someone a personal mix-tape! It was first introduced in Japan in 1978, word spread very quickly and it then became a worldwide success. The new music format in the form of a CD was set to change the industry all over again, which inspired the invention of the Sony Discman in 1984. It would be far to say that Sony definitely played a huge part in the success and development of the portable music devices.

The one thing that has truly revolutionised the way we listen to music on the go was the invention of the MP3 player, with the most notable one been the IPod Classic in 2001. This was the first portable media player that Apple introduced and came with 5GB of storage and was not yet compatible with windows. Skip a few years to the modern day and the IPod’s success has grown from strength to strength will millions of sales worldwide. The IPod really pioneered the portable player market and with its developments in the IPhones, they are set to dominate for many more years to come.

The portable music industry also created an outlet for other technology to be created such as wireless speakers available from Superfi. This meant not only could you have music on the go; you would also share it with your friends and family. There are many wireless speakers available on the market with a wide range of features. You can even get speakers that are suited to certain situations such as rugged water proof ones for outdoor use. They even come in ultra-compact designs such as the HMDX Jam Bluetooth Wireless speaker available at Superfi, making them easily transportable. Other developments include MP3 docks, headphones and DAB radios.

Portable music really has changed our lives and the way we listen to music. Having your entire music collection at the touch of a button is definitely one of lives little luxuries.