Move to the beat: The evolution of mobile music

August 10, 2011

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Wireless speakers like the Nokia Play 360° have taken our ability to enjoy mobile music to new heights. Yet there are still people alive who remember the days when music wasn’t portable. Instead, it came from big, clunky radios the size of refrigerators, and sound systems housed in tons of varnished wood.

To remind ourselves how far mobile music has come, we’ve taken a look at how music machines have evolved over the last century. And believe us, it sure is one groovy kind of history.

1877: Thomas Edison invents the world’s first portable music device, the phonograph, at his lab in Menlo Park, New Jersey.

1889: The first jukebox is installed at the Palais Royale Saloon in San Francisco. Constructed by the Pacific Phonograph Company, it becomes an overnight sensation. Four stethoscope-like tubes are attached to an Edison Class M electric phonograph fitted inside an oak cabinet. Towels are supplied to patrons so they could wipe off the end of the tube after each listening.

1954: I.D.E.A. releases the very first ever portable transistor radio. The Regency TR-1 radio features an analog AM tuner and comes in a variety of colors, ranging from a simple bone white to pearlescent lavender and lime colors. The TR-1 tuned stations by a simple gold dial and played through a low-fidelity monophonic speaker.

1965: Swiss manufacturer, Gerinvex, launches the KB Discomatic, a completely portable self contained 40 selection record player. It becomes known as John Lennon’s Jukebox, when he fills it with his favourite records and takes it on tour with the Beatles.

1972: Andreas Pavel invents the stereobelt, the first portable audio cassette player. Pavel approaches big companies like Yamaha, Sony and Philips with his invention, but they tell him “nobody wants to walk around with headphones on their ears”.

1976: Marantz releases the Marantz Superscope, the first of what would later become known as a boomboxes. It included an AM/FM tuner, cassette recorder, and “stereo matrix” (wide effect) through its 2-way, 4 speaker system.

1979: Sony launches the Walkman built by audio-division engineer Nobutoshi Kihara for Sony co-chairman Akio Morita, so he could listen to operas during his frequent trans-Pacific plane trips. Marketed in Japan as the Walkman, in many other countries, including the US, it’s called the Soundabout. In Sweden it’s known as the Freestyle and in the UK, the Stowaway.

1984: Sony releases the first portable CD Player, the Discman D-50. The release of the D-50 sparks huge public interest in CDs as an audio format, causing the CD industry to experience dramatic growth.

1998: Eiger Labs launches the MPMan F10, the world’s first ever MP3 player. Announced at CeBIT in March as a prototype only, the device gets so much attention it is launched in May, with 32MB of internal memory.

2006: In the first three months of the year, Nokia sells over 15 million MP3 capable mobile phones, making Nokia the world’s leading supplier of MP3 players. The Nokia 3250 is the first of the XpressMusic series of mobile phones, which goes on to sell tens of millions worldwide.

Anything surprise you about this rockin’ timeline? If so, we’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments below.

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Showing all 44 comments

Charlie P August 10 , 2011 @ 11:57

Fascintating read! Poor Mr Pavel. Do you know if he ever got any money for his invention?

Loud and Gear August 12 , 2011 @ 12:49

Good question Charlie. We did a little research and this is what we found.

“Sony started legal talks in 1980 with Pavel regarding a royalty fee. In 1986 Sony finally agreed to pay royalties to Pavel, but only for sales in Germany, and only for a few models, and refused to acknowledge him as the inventor of the device. In 1989, Andreas Pavel started new proceedings, this time going through the law courts in the UK. Seven years later, the case was dismissed and Pavel was left with $3.6 million dollars of debt for his court costs. Then in 2001, Pavel threatened Sony with legal suits in every country in which he had patented his invention. The corporation agreed to resume talks with Pavel and a settlement was finally reached in 2003. The exact settlement fee is a closely guarded secret but European press accounts said that Pavel received a cash settlement for damages in excess of $10,000,000 and is now also receiving royalties on some Walkman sales.”

So there is a happy ending, even if it took nearly 25 years to reach it!

Maximilian August 10 , 2011 @ 13:25

Major fail, you forgot the launch of the ipod. Don’t rewrite history.

Loud and Gear August 12 , 2011 @ 12:57

Thanks for sharing your thoughts Maximillian, but we’re not rewriting history. This is a timeline of mobile music firsts. The first MP3 player, the MPMan F10 was launched in 1998. In the next three years, before Apple launched the ipod, there were almost a dozen MP3 players on the market. While the ipod was a fantastic device and became very popular, most of it’s features were copied from the numerous MP3 players that came before it.

Jon Duffy August 15 , 2011 @ 20:01

Yeah apple haven’t done anything for the music industry, they don’t need to be mentioned at all……

scott August 15 , 2011 @ 21:00

You are correct sir, aside from stifling it they really haven’t. Thank for making it clear for others.

pickles August 15 , 2011 @ 23:28

Apple is a piece of shit on wheels, there is not one piece of evidence to the contrary.

Christian August 15 , 2011 @ 20:20

So in what way is the entry that comes right after the one about the first MP3 player an entry about firsts?

“2006: In the first three months of the year, Nokia sells over 15 million MP3 capable mobile phones, making Nokia the world’s leading supplier of MP3 players. The Nokia 3250 is the first of the XpressMusic series of mobile phones, which goes on to sell tens of millions worldwide.”

Not including a single entry about ipod, itunes, iphone or apple in general in an article about the evolution of mobile music would be like not including IBM or microsoft in an article about the evolution of the home computer.

Dan August 15 , 2011 @ 22:34

Or, in fact, Apple…

NokDown August 15 , 2011 @ 22:46

“So in what way is the entry that comes right after the one about the first MP3 player an entry about firsts?”

Dude, it says it there in black and white. It’s the first Nokia music mobile. Apple didn’t invent the MP3 player. That’s the facts. Get over.

daddy_san August 16 , 2011 @ 04:24

“Dude, it says it there in black and white. It’s the first Nokia music mobile. Apple didn’t invent the MP3 player. That’s the facts. Get over.”

A couple of things:

- Are Nokia implying they were the first mobile phone manufacturer to incorporate mp3? It’s not clear from their description.

- If not, then to be equally pedantic, the iPod was Apple’s first mp3 player.

Yeeesd August 15 , 2011 @ 20:25

Sick burn.

Jim Love August 15 , 2011 @ 22:46

iPod includes iTunes: the first store inside a music playing device. Apple changed music distribution and the entire industry. Ignoring them makes this page silly.

Will August 16 , 2011 @ 06:07

By that logic the Walkman shouldn’t have been mentioned either considering it wasn’t the first portable cassette player, Pavel’s invention was. The iPod popularized portable digital music, there is no denying that, sure it was inevitable someone would do it after the first one, but apple finnallly did it in a way that hit with a mainstream audience. And that wasn’t a fluke just because they have a rabid fanbse, they did it then on the brink of bankruptcy, when no one thought they had a future. I get excluding the iPhone, people had been listening to music on their phones well before the iPhone, but to exclude the iPod in a history of “The Evolution of Mobile Music”, is leaving out the biggest influences on the mobile music industry in recent time.

Joe Fatzen August 16 , 2011 @ 10:34

“This is a timeline of mobile music firsts.”

So by that right, then, the Nokia 3250 should not have been mentioned at all, as MP3-capable mobile phones existed long before 2006? And even if you were going to push it instead as a “music brand of cell phones” first, XpressMusic itself was seen as an answer to Sony Ericsson bringing “Walkman” to their phone lines, as the 3250 was not even announced until after the W800 was already on the market.

This is quite specifically pushing popularity over “first.” Does that mean you should also be saying: “Sorry if that shattered any preconceptions about Nokia being mobile music innovators”?

Loud and Gear August 16 , 2011 @ 14:02

Thanks for taking the time to comment, Joe. We really appreciate it. As we’ve already mentioned elsewhere, this was the first Nokia brand of music phones. As Nokia is the biggest manufacturer of mobile devices and as, in 2006, it become the biggest manufacturers of MP3 players, we thought it was a first worth highlighting.

We never expected this post to evoke such passionate responses, but we’re pleased it has. It goes to show how passionate people are about technology, which is something we totally understand.

Joe Fatzen August 16 , 2011 @ 22:44

‘sall right. ^_^ In this case, I was just irked by that final comment of yours in your reply. Certainly it’s worth giving the actual FIRST portable MP3 player a spot on a list, but you could assign the same sort of “firsts” to the iPod as well. It was the first foray by Apple into the arena, and no one can say it didn’t upend the industry. If you’re judging by “firsts of a particular calibur” then it would make sense for the iPod to have its place, and it is neither unexpected nor “fanboyism” to see someone ask why it was excluded.

And was not worth of a snarky rejoinder unless you can defend your own choices on equal terms.

Not every list deserves requires every checkbox filled, but I would expect a few more items defining the “Internet Age” of mobile music. Heck, mobile EVERYTHING has been sent spinning in all directions since 1998, music especially, and you could flesh a similar-sized list of worthy entries just talking about the past dozen years or so. Having just the one item representing the biggest changes in media consumption is bound to get people asking questions.

Jayze August 11 , 2011 @ 22:35

Remember my first walkman being the cutting edge. Now i look at it and it looks like a cheap kids toy!!

Loud and Gear August 12 , 2011 @ 20:15

We hear you Jayze, Just show that looks aren’t everything. Hats off to Sony, though. The Walkman really was a revolutionary piece of kit.

ZakMoo August 14 , 2011 @ 19:38

My respect for Mr Lennon, just grew even bigger. Nice, work buddy. Love to know what the 40 records he had on it were.

Chris August 15 , 2011 @ 19:36

Its definitely Menlo Park not Menio park.

Loud and Gear August 15 , 2011 @ 20:07

Whoops! Our bad. Thanks a bundle for pointing that out Chris. Much appreciated.

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TIL that when Andreas Pavel invented the world’s first portable audio cassette player, Philips and Sony weren’t interested because “nobody wants to walk around with headphones in their ears”. at SatelliteHeadlines.com August 15 , 2011 @ 19:41

[...] by Woolew to todayilearned [link] [13 [...]

Brad August 15 , 2011 @ 21:03

“Marketed in Japan as the Walkman, in many other countries, including the US, it’s called the Soundabout.”

It’s called the Walkman here in the US as well.

Wensley August 15 , 2011 @ 22:38

And in the UK too. Never heard of a Stowaway, except in relation to boats.

Daniel Faraday August 15 , 2011 @ 22:54

or illegal immigrants

Eddie August 15 , 2011 @ 23:01

in 1979, it was called the Soundabout just like it says. I know cause i still have the box it came in…

http://www.radiomuseum.org/r/sony_soundabout_orig_walkman_t.html

maurice August 15 , 2011 @ 21:22

I feel that you showed a typical N. American bias.

In Japan , Europe and most of the world, between cassette and MP3 the predominant media format was Minidisc for over a decade.

Only in N. America, the music labels resisted releasing that format, so it never caught on.
Sony only concluded producing the Minidisc player this year!

Ian Ferguson August 15 , 2011 @ 22:26

No mention of iPod but “Nokia 3250″ and “XpressMusic”, whatever they were? Ahahahahaha.

Sure, Apple didn’t invent anything new, but they popularised digital music in a way Nokia could only dream of.

Nice try.

Loud and Gear August 15 , 2011 @ 23:12

Thanks for sharing your thoughts, Ian. And the for the belly laugh.

Thing is, until researching this article, we thought Apple had originally conceived of MP3 players, too. Just goes to show the power of marketing. If they had they’d of been listed, but as you rightly point out “Apple didn’t invent anything new.”

As for Nokia not contributing to digital music, we’re not ones to argue, but the 100′s of millions of people worldwide, who shake their booty to a Nokia mobile might have something to say about that.

Alex F. August 16 , 2011 @ 04:37

As a multiple business owner I understand the tricky nature of customer relations in the face of imbeciles–so I’ll help you out here with the Apple zombies:
Mr. Ferguson and Co: You are a moron. While it is exactly this kind of brand devotion that Apple thrives on, we all know that sometimes devotion crosses the gray line into fanaticism–and thus creates a special breed of a fanatical ignoramus, such as yourself. I’m as much an Apple fan as the next person. Hell I’d shove my grandmother down the stairs if she got her hands on a new Apple gadget before I did, BUT, as was stated, this was an article about FIRSTS. And what Nokia did FIRST, was take a portable music format, and implement it into their phones–thus fusing a “walkman” and a phone together, make one glorious unit. No wonder they were the leading supplier of MP3 players–now it was a no brainer–as EVERYONE who had a phone, would take it with them without fail–certainly not vice versa. Apple is not a particularly innovative company–they simply excel and taking something that already exists, and reworking it into something infinitely better. That’s their genius, and I applaud them them for that. You, good sir, are looking for a God to worship, and have become misguided. I applaud Steve Jobs for that as well.

Loud and Gear August 16 , 2011 @ 13:46

Thanks very much for sharing your thoughts, Alex. Of course Ian’s absolutely entitled to his opinion ( and belly laughs ) but you do a fantastic job of articulating why we’ve included the Nokia 3250.

Joe Fatzen August 17 , 2011 @ 03:32

Just for edification, while the XpressMusic branding proved more popular than Sony’s re-branding “Walkman” for Sony Ericsson phones, their W800 was out about a year before the 3250. It was on shelves before anything about XpressMusic and the 3250 was even announced, I believe. So no, that is not technically a “first” either.

Sales-wise the “XpressMusic” brand has probably done a lot better than Sony’s new “Walkman” brand (likely even if you count smartphones AND other PMPs), but then that’s not actually the concern when pushing “firsts,” is it? (And it’s not like they were a sales slouch either, as they claimed about 3 millions sales after six months and 9 million by Q2 2007. Who knows where current tallies lie? )

Region-by-region, even familiarity with “XpressMusic” is anywhere between common and completely unknown, it’s doubtful it will stand the test of time. Even Sony’s “Walkman” re-branding will be best-known and most-associated with their cassette players. Not their CD Walkmen. Not their MiniDisc versions. Not their ATRAC or MP3 PMPs. And certainly not their cell phones. That’s where it hit the public zeitgeist.

So… be cautious what one worships. By and large, it should only be “facts.”

Loud and Gear August 17 , 2011 @ 09:49

Wow! You sure know your stuff, Joe. To be honest it soon became clear while researching this that it was probably too big for one blog post, but the idea was originally sparked after reading about the first jukebox, so we really wanted to start from there. Reading your comments it been confirmed the digital age warrants more attention. With this in mind, we’re going to do another post looking specifically at the history of digital music and try and rectify some of the omissions that people have highlighted here.

Thanks very much for your inspiration!

Joe Fatzen August 17 , 2011 @ 19:56

Always glad to help. Not everyone appreciates my constant rambling, so I appreciate your comments!

I love the broad, historical look at almost everything, so am looking forward to your next articles. The “Internet Age” has been one helluva exciting one to live through!

Gigg44 August 15 , 2011 @ 22:47

The World just didn’t go from cassette to MP3 … missed a big chunk of history, ever heard of the discmen or minidisc?

SlackerDan August 15 , 2011 @ 23:26

Ah, I remember the days in the 80′s when I’d walk to school every morning listening to one of my cassettes on my Sony Walkman. Heck, that Walkman helped me get through high school. And I still remember doing air guitar to ZZ Top. I miss those days…

Jiggity August 16 , 2011 @ 01:32

Eiger Labs only imported it. The first MP3 player was invented in South Korea by SaeHan. Let’s give proper credit.

The 5 greatest ways digital music has rocked our world – Loud and Gear August 17 , 2011 @ 13:16

[...] all that. And that’s not all it’s changed. 1. Freed music from physical objects. 1999 saw the first portable MP3 devices in which digits replaced discs. Perhaps, the single most important thing MP3s did was to free music [...]

Selena August 20 , 2011 @ 16:50

Great read!!! Never knew half of this. I chekc out john Lennon’s duke box and it has some really unusual tunes. Go see for yourself

Michi September 01 , 2011 @ 09:44

Awesome blog! Never knew mobile music had such a long and illustrious history!!

Loud and Gear September 05 , 2011 @ 11:04

Thanks Michi! Glad you found it useful.

Failure: The Secret to Success » Headphones are a Stupid Idea September 22 , 2011 @ 14:15

[...] days, mobile music is a booming business. A promotional section of Nokia’s website gives a timeline: 1976: Marantz releases the Marantz Superscope, the first of what would later [...]

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