Music is great, but it’s even better when we can listen to it all the time! So, that means that we found ways to take our music with us, on the go. So let’s take a look at how we did that through the generations!
Boomers:
In the mid 50s, we started being able to take radio on the go. Unlike the apps we have these days, the portable music revolution started with a portable transistor radio. Running off a 22 volt battery it’d give you over 24 hours of listening time.
For a short time in the late 50s, maybe you saw someone who had… what I gotta question how well it worked: in-car record players. I can understand most other ways of playing music in cars, which we’ll touch on later. But vinyl records are something that famously don’t do too well with a ton of movement or bumps. That just MIGHT be why they disappeared by the early 60s.
Gen X: As we worked our way into the 70s, there were a few better ways to listen to music. Like the 4-track, or the much better-known 8-Track tapes. If you had a long trip ahead, these were the tapes that kept on going. No need to rewind, this tape would just keep going. And going and going and going. If you wanted to pick your favourite song, it was a bit easier to fast forward and rewind this next piece of tech.
The cassette—or the Compact cassette tape was around back in the mid sixties, but it got a lot more popular when you could take it on your walks, man. Yeah. Walkmans were a pretty popular way to take your tapes, whether it was the latest by your favourite artist or you were recording your favourite tracks from your vinyl collection or even the radio.
Millenials:
The Millenials saw the introduction of a music format you can still get these days: the Compact Disc, or CD. Once again we had a disc format that you could take on the go in the car or on your jogs… though they do skip when jostled around. Just like cassette tapes, these also were a common way to make your own playlists. Goodbye mixtapes, hello mixed CDs! The best-worst way to show just how much you were into your crush or introduce your friends to the latest tunes.
While Millenials did see the CD, they also saw the rise and fall of a much smaller disc format: the Minidisc. Almost like if you took a mini CD, stuck it in a squared off floppy disk cover. Once the 2000s started, it was over for this relatively short-lived format. But I’ll get into why a little bit later.
Gen Z:
When we look back at the early 2000s, Gen Z had one particular way of taking music on the go that is experiencing a bit of resurgence these days: the MP3 player, or if you were lucky, particularly an iPod. These were able to fit multiple CDs worth of music on them, and usually were rechargeable, instead of having to rely on batteries.
These days, Gen Z has abandoned the music players for, what else, but streaming. Just like you can stream Netflix, you can stream your music, too. Usually on an app on your phone. Whether on your subscription of choice… or hey, we’ve got an app as well! We’ve even got news and some cool blogs. Check it out wherever you download your apps.
Beyond Generations:
Over the years, one popular way of taking music on the go has been the Boombox. Large, loud, and… if you could balance it on your shoulder or manage the weight with a carrying handle, technically portable. Usually they had a radio and whatever the Popular Format was, cassettes, CDs or even MP3s.
If you happen to have an old piece of tech, like a car from the 90s with a cassette player, you are probably familiar with the Cassette Adapter. It used to be a cassette with a long 3.5 inch audio cable coming out of it, and these days you can even get cassette to Bluetooth adapters.
Another thing that has evolved over the years has been the All In One device that, let’s be honest, you’re probably on right now: the cellphone. It started with little 30 second clips of our favourite songs to use as ringtones, then mp3s to download to listen to music on the go. These multi-use devices have done a lot for us over the years.
