The evolution of the Walkman

Twenty-FIVE years after the Walkman made its U.S. debut, the personal music player is back on the top of many a gift list this holiday season.

Those who weren’t around back then might find it hard to appreciate what a revolution in personal technology the Walkman was. Before that, truly portable music was mostly confined to tinny-sounding transistor radios. The Walkman produced astonishingly high-quality playback through stereo earphones that made it seem as if the music were playing inside our heads. And perhaps most important, it was our own choice of music on cassette tapes -- not from radio stations -- that came through those earphones.

But it was far from perfect. The tapes also produced a hiss and held, at best, a maximum of a couple of hours of music in a rigid order.

Skip forward a quarter of a century: Digital hard-disc players are smaller than the original Walkman, hold a thousand hours of sound in crystal-clear quality and come with a little screen to show the title of songs as they play in any order commanded.

But the basic idea remains the same: music of your choice, on the go, from a hand-held device and a set of stereo earphones plugged into the top.

Just as the Walkman was all the rage 25 years ago, the iPod now rules -- and with good reason. But there are other very worthy choices at a wide range of prices.

There’s also a new variation on the basic theme -- a just-introduced player that can deliver a huge variety of music genres, all beamed down directly from space.

Talk about futuristic.

IPod (Apple $249 to $599): These players -- from the iPod Mini (44 hours of music capacity), available in a variety of colors, to the standard models (up to 1,000 hours), available in an understated white/chrome motif -- are elegant in function, making them not only a pleasure to hear but also to use. And how often can you say that about an electronic gadget?

New this year, the higher-end iPods can also hold downloaded pictures, allowing them to be used as electronic photo albums as well as players.

Downsides? Other brands deliver more music capacity for the money. And for purchasing music online, iPod users are restricted to the iTunes and Real Networks stores, which don’t always have the best prices.

But the iPod definitely wins on ease of use, not to mention the cool factor.

Virgin Player 5GB (Virgin $249): Several competitors to the popular iPod Mini are at about the same price point, but the Virgin player comes with a bonus -- FM radio.

And it works quite well. Using the buttons on the face of the player, you can scan for local stations and assign frequencies to digital pre-sets that function like the push buttons on your car radio.

In addition, the Virgin player has capacity for more music than the iPod Mini (even though they are the same price), and it can be used with discount online music stores. But the controls are not as easy to use as the iPod’s, and it doesn’t work with the handy iTunes music organizer.

IFP-790 (iRiver $150): Before hard-drive players such as the iPods and Virgin 5GB arrived on the scene, MP3 players using lower-capacity flash memory were the only choice for downloadable digital music. And there are still a lot of them available for two good reasons: They’re petite and relatively cheap.

The player from iRiver can fit into many of the smallest pockets, even though it also includes an FM radio. The primary drawback is capacity -- it has only a quarter of the memory storage space of an iPod Mini.

XM MyFi (Delphi $350, plus $9.99 monthly subscription): The first truly portable satellite radio player receives more than 100 channels of music, news, talk and informational programming from the XM service. Very impressive.

There is, however, a big disadvantage: For the most part, MyFi can be enjoyed only outdoors, where the built-in antenna can pick up satellite signals. When you go into a building or even board a bus, the signal will probably be intermittent at best. It takes some planning, but you can record up to five hours of programming for playback when you’re indoors. And the player comes with adapter mounts, complete with antennas, so it can be used as your regular satellite radio in your home or car.

Accessories: On the high end are speakers, including Virgin’s cleverly designed Boomtube ($99). Less expensive carrying cases are available, including the admittedly cute but not very protective iPod socks that come in packages of six ($29).

And for those last minute presents, most online music download services offer gift certificates. Just make sure you know which service your recipient is using.