The cassette Walkman was the first low-cost , portable music player . MASHABLE.com . It had a small screen and buttons on it that you could use to navigate through your songs or play them back if they weren't in alphabetical order First generation Walkman was released on July 1 , 1979 in Japan . Announcement delivered just one day ahead of the iPod 's ninth anniversary .
The cassette Walkman was the first low-cost , portable music player . It had a small screen and buttons on it that you could use to navigate through your songs or play them back if they weren't in alphabetical order First generation Walkman was released on July 1 , 1979 in Japan . Announcement delivered just one day ahead of the iPod 's ninth anniversary .