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When Sony released the first Walkman in 1979, it changed the way music lovers saw the world. Suddenly everything around us played to whatever soundtrack we created, emotionally augmenting otherwise mundane experiences.

The iPod in 2001 brought more headphone wanderers into the fold with its monolithic success, but for many, it’s not the musical companion of choice. Some of our readers’ submissions took the ‘portable music player’ topic a little loosely, but here are some of our favorites.

Left:
Archos Jukebox
Submitted by Brad Hodges

Photographer’s comment:

“In preparation for several years in Central Africa, I bought this device long before MP3 players were commonplace. Boasting one of the first internal hard drives (20 GB) and a built-in recorder, it was a source of entertainment for an entire African village during three years in the tropical rainforest. I returned to the U.S., then spent a cold winter in Canada with it. Back in the U.S. again, it’s still my favorite MP3 player, despite its small screen and amazing simplicity.”

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Sony D-88
Submitted by Jason Sewell

Photographer’s comment:

“The Sony D-88 blew my mind when I first saw it. As far as I know, this is the only CD player with a footprint smaller than a compact disc. Two-thirds of the disc stuck out of the player. And if you could find any of the smaller CDs, you could actually reposition the spindle so that the entire disc fit inside the player.”

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“The first” portable music player, early 30s
Submitted by PAOMAG

Photographer’s comment:

“Early Columbia portable with ‘automatic’ louvres. There is a further subdivision of portable machines, which takes in the many novelty miniature and folding gramophones, particularly popular in the late 1920s, but still being made in the 1950s. Some collectors collect nothing but these novelties, of which there are dozens of variations.”

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AM/FM Headphone Radio
Submitted by Ian

Photographer’s comment:

“Remember these? I guess lightning-risk awareness was not an issue at that time.”

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DataPlay Mini-DVD Player by iRiver iDP-100
Submitted by Jacquie Dutton

Photographer’s comment:

“It coulda been someone … it coulda been a contender … there were two devices and two dozen albums ready to ship to stores. Then DataPlay went bankrupt. Everyone ran. Flash memory came down in price. And Apple did something unthinkable: It incorporated nearly obsolete small form-factor hard drives — a commodity — into something HOT. But the secret sauce is always the software, and iTunes had the winning recipe.”

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mobiBLU b153
Submitted by Jake

Photographer’s comment:

“It wasn’t pretty, but it got the job done. The mobiBLU b153 had voice recording, a customizable equalizer, an FM radio and more. It was cheap at the time, too: 2 GB for only $120. The kicker, though, was its 153 hours of battery life.”

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Boom Box
Submitted by Sam

Photographer’s comment:

“Eight D-cell batteries guaranteed three hours of use on or off the basketball courts!”

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Diamond Rio PMP300
Submitted by Anonymous

Photographer’s comment:

“You kids and your flash players with USB ports and SD slots … this is the great granddaddy of all of your new small players, the original 32-MB Diamond Rio. Connected through the parallel port, ran on one AA, and if you had the money for some flash, could be expanded with SmartMedia.

Who cares about the 17th anniversary of the iPod? We should be more concerned about the 10th anniversary of the first portable MP3 player to see any success at all.”

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Portable music in a big way
Submitted by Not Anon

Photographer’s comment:

“Seriously, the thing was the size of a brick. Owned one before my Zune. Loved the thing. Still miss the Rio DJ feature.”

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XM Helix by Samsung
Submitted by Anonymous

Photographer’s comment:

“It’s like a self-loading iPod and I’m not paying $1/song. I have a home cradle to listen through my surround system, and set it to record overnight. Next day, I put it in my car cradle, and listen to live tunes w/o ads; buh-bye FM. At work, I listen to saved music on 15 hrs battery. I edit the stuff recorded the night before, lock in the good and skip the bad. Cap: ~850 songs. When I hear something good on live broadcast, I hit REC and it’s mine!”

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Sansa slotMusic Player
Submitted by Mike Kabala

Photographer’s comment:

“Even though most people are calling it a doomed format, I love my Sansa slotMusic player, shown here with an optional cover that lets me carry up to three additional micro SD or slotMusic cards. I enjoy being able to create custom playlists that I can listen to by simply plugging in a card and pressing ‘Play,’ rather than having to mess with menus or even look at a screen.”

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Sony MPD-AP20U, the CD/DVD player and CD writer that played MP3 DVDs!!
Submitted by Anonymous

Photographer’s comment:

“Supported media: DVD-ROM, DVD-Video, DVD-R, DVD+R, DVD-RW, DVD+RW, CD-ROM, CD-ROM XA, Photo CD, CD Text, Video CD, CD-DA, CD Extra, CD-R, CD-RW. Additional media: Memory Stick Reader/Writer (Purple Stick). Write methods: Track-at-once, Disk-at-once, Session-at-once, Fixed packet writing. Write speed: CD-R Write: 4X, 8X, 8~24X Z-CLV max.; CD-RW Write: 4X, 8X, 10X max. Memory Stick: 1.5MB/s.”

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Sony Walkman Sports Edition (radio and cassette player)
Submitted by Michael

Photographer’s comment:

“It might be missing a few dials and buttons, but it’s been with me for a long time (through art school and my many travels) and still works…. (Sony really missed the bus on the MP3 player, IMO.)”

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Soundwagon: Smallest Record Player Ever
Submitted by Martin

Photographer’s comment:

“I used to carry this (soundwagon) around with me so I could drop it on a record in weird, dusty old record shops that didn’t let you listen to the goods. I’m sure it’s the worst ever for a record … but it works.”

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Toshiba XR-P9 Portable/Dockable CD Player, circa 1986
Submitted by Anonymous

Photographer’s comment:

“When I saw this page, I went to the basement and dug out my original XR-P9 (long non-functional). Seems I have the full kit: original leather-ette carry case with battery pack (6 C cells!), IR receiver and remote.

The power wedge slides off for use with the case.

My first CD player, chosen and loved for its versatility. Found this pic on eBay, but you get the idea….”

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Xclef
Submitted by Jon

Photographer’s comment:

“The Xclef is a dream for those of us who know how to build our own systems. I put my own 100-GB drive in there (standard laptop-sized drive), and can swap it out if I want. I can offload it and load onto it from Mac and PC, and the built-in equalizer sounds so much better than anything else I’ve heard. I wish they didn’t stop making this because it truly is an amazing player.”

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The original Zen Touch
Submitted by Anonymous

Photographer’s comment:

“The coolest MP3 player at the time, better sound quality then the iPod, etc….”

Continue reading " Wired.com Readers’ Favorite Portable Music Players "

: Photo: James Hough

James Hough is a lawyer by profession but a gearhead at heart. He’s always tinkering with engines and building things from scratch. About a year ago, he combined the two passions to create the Houghmade Cycle Works 71, a motorized bicycle that pays homage to the racing motorcycles of the early 20th century.

“I had been looking for a project and saw online that someone had put an engine on an old Schwinn,” Hough says. “I was inspired by that and thought it would be a fun project, an outlet for my desire to build. I thought it would be fun to ride around the neighborhood and to run errands. The 100-plus mpg didn’t hurt.”

Click through the gallery to check out the tech behind this cruiser on steroids.

Left:

Hough drew inspiration from the board-track racers that sped around steeply banked wood tracks called motordromes — especially the 1911 Harley Davidson “Silent Grey Fellow” and the leaf-sprung Indian motorcycles of that era. The Houghmade bike’s gas tank copies the tank found on the 1919 Excelsior OHC that some consider the most advanced motorcycle of its day.

: Photo: James Hough

Like most projects, the Houghmade Cycle Works 71 took longer and cost more than expected. “I started in August of 2007 and expected it to be done in a month,” Hough says. “However, as time went on, my vision of what I wanted became clearer. I wanted something special.”

Hough spent 13 months and “somewhere around $1,000, give or take,” on the project. Future plans include better brakes — drum brakes from a moped or disc brakes from a mountain bike — and perhaps a chain guard. “I do not see it as a safety issue, because my cuffs are nowhere near the drive chain,” Hough says. “I purposefully left the chain guard off both sides because board-track racers did not have chain guards.”

: Photo: James Hough

Hough modified or made many of the parts on the bike. The handlebars were formed from old plumbing pipe, and the headlight is a railroad lantern. He’s fitted it with a speedometer and electric lamp that uses a 3-volt flashlight bulb and two batteries. “I will probably install a more robust lighting system inside the current headlight housing, though I have no intention to ride at night,” he says.

: Photo: James Hough

Hough sweats the details, going so far as to install a manual oil pump and fabricate an air-filter housing similar to those the board-track racers used. Houghmade Cycle Works is a play on words, and the model number he assigned the bike — 71 — refers to the year he was born.

: Photo: James Hough

Though the final product looks seamless, underneath it’s a Frankenstein of disparate bike parts.

The project all started with a Huffy “Santa Fe” beach cruiser Hough found at a flea market for $25. The only things left from that old clunker are the frame, stem and seat post.

The Husky wheels sport white Kenda tires. Pedals from a Free Spirit that Hough road in junior high turn a crank set taken from a kid’s bike of unknown origin. The springer fork is from an old Schwinn.

: Photo: James Hough

The seat is an “eBay special” Hough re-covered it with goatskin. The front and rear leaf springs are ornamental and don’t actually provide any suspension damping, but the style is spot-on.

: Photo: James Hough

But how fast is it? Although the speedo maxes out at 50 mph, Hough says the Houghmade Cycle Works 71 won’t go that fast. “It runs smooth,” he says. “I cruise around at 25 to 30 mph. It tops out around 40, but that’s really pushing it. At 25 to 30 mph, it really feels like highway speeds, and I love every minute of it.”

: Photo: James Hough

The bike sports a half-gallon fuel tank bonded to a fiberglass shell that replicates the shape of the fuel tank on a 1919 Excelsior OHC. It’s enough to go about 50 miles. Hough is toying with the idea of fabricating a tank out of sheet metal. “This project has done wonders for many of my DIY skills,” he says, “Why not more sheet metal skills?”

: Photo: James Hough

The heart of the bike is a Honda GHX50 50cc engine mated to a Grubee Skyhawk II transmission. Hough spent a little more than $400 for the drivetrain, which is mounted to the Huffy frame with a Grubee engine mount. The bike is street-legal in Indiana and doesn’t require a license plate or registration. “I have ridden it to work,” he says, adding that it’s a 32-mile round trip. “I stick to back roads and try to do my riding away from traffic. I try to ride two or three times a week for fun.”

Continue reading " Gallery: Homemade Motorized Bike Pays Tribute to Motorcycles of Yesteryear "

Merino wool is the most efficient material for cold weather. Merino wool is softer than regular wool, and it feels more like cotton against the skin. Merino wool resists wind and warms better than synthetic materials. It doesn’t absorb odors and it regulates body temperature. It is also produced in a sustainable manner.
The jacket pictured […]

Continue reading " The Most Efficient Material For Cold Weather: Merino Wool "

Making Cheap, Inexpensive DIY Solar Panels at Home
Mike Davis is an astronomer. To practice his hobby away from the light-pollution of cities, he bought some land in a remote part of Arizona. But there was a problem: No electricity…. But he’s a resourceful fellow. He built some home-made solar panels using inexpensive blemished and damaged […]

Continue reading " How to Make Inexpensive DIY Home-Built Solar Panels with Damaged Solar Cells from Ebay "

I’m still surprised that people actually turn to eBay for selling big-ticket items like this. I can understand there’s the opportunity to make a tidy profit from a rare or in-demand item, but I just don’t see a frantic bidding war happening on something like this full motion flight simulator.
This simulator can simulate either airplane […]

Continue reading " Full Motion Helicopter / Airplane Simulator Now On eBay "

Filed under: Celebrities, Green Giving

The following item would make an ideal gift for any fan of dolls, Cabbage Patch collectors, one-of-a-kind fanatics, who love their favored political candidate so much, they’d like to take him/her to bed (or keep on a shelf, whichever).

Until November 4th at 5 a.m., you have a chance to acquire your very own John McCain, Sarah Palin, Joe Biden, or Barack Obama Cabbage Patch original. There is no other like it, and the proceeds are going to charity. You can hop over and bid, as they are only available on eBay.

Of course, some of these ‘Kids’ are mightily expensive. So far, Joe Biden is the least favored, and you could snap him up relatively cheaply, as the current bid stands at only $843 USD.

Amusingly enough, John McCain isn’t going for much higher. Maybe he just doesn’t seem cuddly, because the current bid for the doll in his likeness is $1,700 USD.

Barack Obama, the charismatic, handsome one of the bunch doesn’t top the auction list. With a current top bid of $3,552.99 USD, Sarah Palin beats him with a whopping top bid of $9,800.00 USD!

Even if you aren’t willing to shell out $10k just for a delightful Palin voodoo doll (that you can take to global warming education classes), watching how the bids turn out will be true entertainment.

eBay Green: Cabbage Patch candidates originally appeared on Green Daily on Mon, 03 Nov 2008 18:00:00 EST 0. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

 

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Continue reading " eBay Green: Cabbage Patch candidates "