In the world of portable audio players, some players have been more portable than others.

The first audio player to hit the world was the humble transistor radio. Owners could listen to AM radio for 20 hours before having to replace the batteries , with a jack for one earphone, an owner could listen to “Secret Love “ (Doris Day), “Sh-Boom(life could be a dream)” (The Crewcuts) or “Shake Rattle and Roll” (Bill Haley and his Comets) in, relative, if somewhat “tinny” seclusion.

It took, nearly, another 25 years before the next big thing (big, being the operative word here) was to hit the world of portable music players. Enter the boom box or ghetto blaster. The boom box featured twin cassette decks (with dubbing capabilities), LOUDSPEAKERS, an amplifier, as well as, a radio tuner. The boom box was not really about listening to your music choices for your own personal pleasure and was more about how loud you could play music and how many people would hear it. Weighing in at approximately 20lbs and requiring up to 10 D cell batteries, it was not too portable or practical, although it did have a carry handle!

Then came the Walkman™ which really heralded a new era in portable, personal audio devices, first with the audio cassette version and then later with CD. It was truly portable and, using stereo sound was the first portable cassette player to match the quality of sound of musical systems for home use.

The 21st century saw the emergence of the Apple IPod, which is not, merely, a portable audio player, but, is a multimedia player, as well. With the capability of downloading a huge amount of music from Apple’s own iTunes store, the IPod can store a whole library of your favourite tunes. Not to forget the fact that the IPod can let you play games, watch video and store your favourite photos and with Apple IPod you have a portable digital player that can fit into the palm of your hand or if you fancy something even smaller the IPod shuffle, weighing in at a half ounce, can easily hold up to 240 songs and has a battery life of 12 hours. Not too shabby for an item that is smaller, both, in size and weight than the D cell batteries that the boom box used, way back in the ‘80’s.

Pyramid.com supply Apple IPod’s for your own personal, portable listening pleasure, including the latest IPod Nano, available in a host of vibrant colours.

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