Editing Portable audio player (section)

==Personal stereo==
{{Main|Personal stereo}}
[[Image:Panasonic Stero Cassette Player RQ-JA63.jpg|thumb|[[Panasonic]] Stereo Cassette Player RQ-JA63]]

The first portable audio player available to the general public, the [[Sony Walkman]], was introduced in 1979 and sold very well. It was much smaller than an 8-track player or the earlier cassette recorders, and was listened to with [[stereophonic]] [[headphones]], unlike previous equipment which used small loudspeakers. Unlike small loudspeakers, headphones were capable of very good sound quality. All previous compact cassette devices could record as well as play back; Walkmans and similar devices often had no recording facility, but took advantage of the pre-recorded cassettes that had become widely available.