LET THE MUSIC FREE YOUR MIND

It’s time to relieve your smartphone of its musical duties – a portable music player not only sounds better, it sets you free from call interruptions too

When it first launched in 1979, it’s fair to say that the Sony Walkman was a revolutionary product. These devices took the most portable music format of the day, the cassette tape, and, with some neat packaging and a pair of matching headphones, people were able to listen to music of their choice on the move for the first time.

The cassette Walkman survived into the first decade of this century, with the brand hanging on for a few more years with a CD option. With the arrival of streaming, though, the idea of a dedicated portable music player seemed to be superseded by the all-conquering smartphone.

But as useful as they are in terms of audio performance, the smartphone has its limitations – average capability, limited storage space for music files, their ever-increasing size – and, of course, there’s always the danger your listening session will be interrupted by unwanted calls. Today’s portable music player market features plenty of reputable players, so if lacklustre smartphone sound won’t cut it any longer, there are plenty of PMPS waiting to free your phone from its musical duties. Whether you need to save memory and battery on your phone or simply want the best on-the-go sound possible, there is a PMP for you, whatever your budget.

Here, we have rounded up three of the best portable music players across a range of prices. First up is the last surviving member of Apple’s successful ipod family, the Apple ipod Touch (2019). We also feature the thirdgeneration of the Cowon Plenue music player, and our most expensive PMP here, the Astell & Kern A&norma SR25.

So from an all-purpose device for music, movies and gaming to a hi-res, higher-end PMP that sonically would put many a home system to shame, we’ve got you covered.