The transistor radio was a technological marvel that put music
literally into consumers’ hands in the mid-1950s. It was cheap,
it was reliable and it was portable, but it could never even
approximate the sound quality of a record being played on
a home stereo. It was, however, the only technology available
to on-the-go music lovers until the Sony Corporation sparked
a revolution in personal electronics with the introduction of
the first personal stereo cassette player. A device as astonishing
on first encounter as the cellular phone or digital camera would
later be, the Sony Walkman went on sale for the very first time
on July 1, 1979.