• Record players. Records were made of vinyl and played on a record player. The record spun on a turntable, and a stylus tracked the grooves in the record to produce sound. Records were typically 7 or 12 inches in diameter and played at 33⅓, 45, or 78 rpm.
• Cassette players. Cassette tapes were made of magnetic tape and played on a cassette player. The tape ran through the player's heads, which read the magnetic signals and produced sound. Cassette tapes were typically compact and popular for portable use.
• CD players. CDs (Compact Discs) were made of optical media and played on a CD player. The CD was spun by a motor, and a laser read the digital data on the disc to produce sound. CDs were highly durable and offered superior sound quality compared to records and cassette tapes.
• Portable stereo radios: These transistor radios allowed people to listen to AM and FM broadcasts. Radios often featured a tape player function to play cassette tapes. Portable radios offered freedom to listen to music while being easily carried around.
• Personal stereo systems combined elements of cassette players and radios into personal music players that incorporated headphones for private listening.
In more recent decades, iPods (introduced in late 2001) popularized digital music players, leading to significant changes in traditional modes of music consumption via streaming platforms and digital file management.