READING 2 A2

A D E
B
C

cassette player
iPod mp3 player
record player Walkman (with headphones) smartphone

Nowadays, we can download music onto our smartphones and listen to it when and where we want.
But it hasn’t always been this easy to listen to music as you move around.
• In 1962 Henry Kloss invented the first ‘portable’ music system. ‘Portable’ things are usually easy to carry
but this record player was so big that it had its own suitcase!
• The first portable cassette player in 1965 was big and it weighed 1.5 kilograms with five heavy batteries
inside. Modern smartphones weigh about 0.13 kilograms!
• In 1978 the Sony Walkman cassette player allowed people to carry music with them and listen on
headphones for the first time, but it was still too big to put in your pocket and it weighed 1.1kg. From
1984, there were also portable CD players with better sound, but they used a lot of battery power and
you couldn’t move too quickly with them because the CD would skip or stop.
• The first mp3 players (most famously the iPod in 2001), changed portable music forever. Hundreds of
songs could now be transferred from computers and put on one small device.
Can you remember any of the earlier players? Did you have a portable cassette player?

1 Read the blog quickly and match the year to the music player.
Laura: Nice post Musicman! I had a
portable cassette player for a surprise
birthday present in the 1980s. It was
amazing and had a radio too. The best
thing about it was that you could connect
two sets of headphones – so you could
listen with your friend. I’d like that on my
smartphone today! :-)
Maria: My mum has a portable record
player. Sometimes we get out all her old
records and listen to them. Some records
are really big and they only have one
song on each side!
1965 1962 2001 1978
1 record player 3 Walkman
2 cassette player 4 iPod
2 Read the blog again and choose the correct answers.
1 How did people carry the first portable music system?
A in their pocket B in a suitcase C in their handbag
2 How heavy was the 1965 cassette recorder?
A 0.13kg B 1.1kg C 1.5kg
3 What was better about the 1984 portable CD player?
A the size B the battery life C the sound quality
4 Which mp3 player does Musicman say was the most famous?

Paulo: I love your blog and read it every
week. That is so funny…a portable music
player that weighs over a kilogram! My
phone has thousands of songs on it
but my mum and dad still only listen to
the radio. They don’t have any portable
music!
A iPod B iPad C iPhone
3 Read the comments under the blog. Are these sentences true or false?
1 Laura bought her cassette player in the 1980s. TRUE/FALSE
2 Laura’s smartphone has holes for two sets of headphones. TRUE/FALSE
3 Maria and her mum sometimes listen to records. TRUE/FALSE
4 Paulo buys music from Musicman every week. TRUE/FALSE
5 Paulo’s parents prefer listening to the radio. TRUE/FALSE

Skills Boost A2 READING 2 © Richmond 2014 Photocopiable