1. 1981
   1942
2. 1979
   1974

If you're wondering what on earth could have inspired the iPod, let us introduce you to the Sony Walkman. This little guy was in production for nearly 20 years and basically paid for itself with all of the entertainment it offered.

1. 1901
   1877
2. 2014
   1954

The phonograph gave us hours and hours of crackling sound from records ... well, maybe not us, but people in the late 1800s. They were expensive, and couldn't necessarily be found in every house.

1. 1925
   1401
2. 1792
   1954

Before the Walkman made an appearance, you could carry around this little radio to listen to tunes or news while you were on the go. It didn't have headphones, but it did have a tuning dial.

1. 1900
   1901
2. 1903
   1905

Cameras were hard to come by at the turn of the century, and Kodak wanted to change that. They created the brownie camera and marketed it toward children. However, a lot of soldiers carried it with them, because it was lightweight.

1. 1998
   2001
2. 1988
   1974

The Apple iPod was first released in 2001, a couple of months before Christmas. It gave us the ability to access multiple songs without carrying discs or cartridges and switching everything out. It was a genius move by the company.

1. 1980
   1990
2. 1960
   1970

When it comes to handheld devices, calculators are often taken advantage of. This guy was one of the first pocket calculators, but it was also an adding machine that printed your calculations. It was awesome.

1. 1982
   1992
2. 1972
   1741

In 1972, everyone wanted to know how they could watch their favorite shows without having to read the TV Guide. That's when Phillips came out with the videocassette recorder, or the VCR.

1. 1947
   1987
2. 1977
   1967

The Atari 2600 changed the way we think about home entertainment. Not only did people want a way to entertain themselves during rainy days, but they also wanted to show off their electronic games to their friends and neighbors.

1. 1987
   1991
2. 1986
   2001

TomTom first released a navigation device in 1991. Now, over 25 years later, GPS and navigation are basically free on every smartphone. However, buying a TomTom back in the day was extremely pricey.

1. 1888
   1971
2. 1814
   1741

Since the telephone was invented, people were trying to find a way to ensure that they didn't miss a call. It took until 1971 for a company to create an answering machine for home use, and that was the Phonemate 400.

1. 2004
   2002
2. 2001
   1999

While the BlackBerry company has been around for quite some time, the first email assistant with a screen was the BlackBerry 850, which was released in 1999. Most businesspeople owned one.

1. 2005
   2015
2. 2010
   2003

After the release of the first iPhone in 2007, Apple got to work on something bigger and better for people to buy. The iPad was basically a giant iPhone without the ability to make calls.

1. 1958
   1948
2. 1969
   1938

When it came to instant photos, Polaroid really wears the crown. Despite what certain songs tell you, you should never shake a Polaroid picture to make it develop faster. This can damage the image.

1. 1999
   2005
2. 2000
   2007

The first Kindle eReader was released in 2007, and it sold for a whopping $399. It didn't have a touch screen or even a color screen. It just held a whole lot of books. If you were planning on reading 300 books on vacation, this was totally worth it.

1. 2000
   2001
2. 1999
   2002

TiVo promised that you could pause and rewind live television while it was happening. However, if you couldn't control the remote, you would have a lot of problems skipping those commercials without missing part of your show.

1. 1996
   1985
2. 1982
   1994

Laserdiscs fell flat on their faces, but the smaller DVD really changed the way we thought about home entertainment. It was a clearer image and you didn't have to rewind. What could be better?

1. 1967
   1982
2. 1994
   1989

Playing a video game on a disc console wasn't necessarily unheard of in 1994, but the release of Sony's PlayStation really changed the gaming world completely, and the PlayStation 2 broke sales records across the board.

1. 2006
   1996
2. 1998
   1957

The Nintendo Wii was the first video game that you actually had to use with physical motions. This resulted in broken lamps littering garbage dumps in late 2006. However, the game was ahead of its time and made a huge splash.

1. 2001
   1978
2. 1999
   1987

If you came of age (or received your first cell phone) between 1999 and 2003, you most likely owned one of these bad boys. They probably still worked when you had to upgrade because they were basically indestructible.

1. 2002
   2000
2. 1998
   1996

Yes, in 1996, a personal assistant was released that helped you get all of the information that you needed right at your fingertips. The BlackBerry took this guy down about three years later, but it gave us everything we needed to survive.

1. 1996
   2006
2. 1999
   2001

Apple iBooks were personal computers that you could take anywhere. They were as simple to use as the iMac (when it came to connecting to the Internet), and they looked great (unlike those boxes and bricks others were carrying around at the time).

1. 2019
   2016
2. 2017
   2018

Virtual reality has been a long-coveted science. People have wanted to create this since before the '80s, and it took a long time to perfect. The Oculus Rift is the first headset that has gotten close to perfection.

1. 1984
   1994
2. 1974
   1980

Sony made a killing on the Walkman, but when the Discman was released, it was a little more complicated, as everyone owned cassette tapes. The Discman made a comeback in the early '90s though.

1. 1979
   1989
2. 1999
   2009

The Fitbit goes hand in hand with your smartphone. It helps you monitor your vitals and all of the physical activity you do in a day. It creates a log for you so you don't have to.

1. 2004
   1996
2. 1994
   1984

Apple wanted to create a personal computer for the home and office that people could actually use. This little box is worth a fortune these days to collectors, but it didn't have a lot of memory (because it didn't need it).

1. 1997
   1983
2. 1986
   1991

The Nintendo Entertainment System was released in 1983, and they made cartridges for it until the mid 1990s. This video game counsel was such a hit that people kept on buying it for years.

1. 1989
   1985
2. 1986
   1987

In 1989, Nintendo came out with a portable gaming system that allowed you to switch out cartridges and play your favorite games on the go. Though it was released in North America in 1989, it didn't hit European shelves until 1990.

1. 1983
   1977
2. 1952
   1964

It was released in 1983, but it started to fly off the shelves in 1985 after it was a featured prop in the classic movie "Back to the Future" (1985). This was an easy-to-use device to help you record precious moments with your family.

1. 1985
   1984
2. 1983
   1982

This state of the art computer was made for home and business. It gave people in 1982 the ability to play games, compute and word process all at once. It was a household name throughout the '80s.

1. 2007
   2004
2. 2002
   2010

While many of our devices have built-in hubs for our favorite streaming apps, the Roku changed the way people watched movies and television. If you're wondering why your cable bill is so high, it's because no one uses cable anymore.

1. 1971
   1981
2. 1991
   1961

The Osborne 1 was considered the very first portable computer that was successfully marketed to people. While the display size is smaller than a calculator's, it still gave people what they needed at the time.

1. 2007
   2014
2. 1999
   2014

The iPhone was the first ever smartphone. Many people can actually tell you where they were when they first heard of this crazy device, and they'll always remember — there's an app for that.

1. 2020
   2006
2. 2011
   2001

The Nest Thermostat was marketed as a "Learning Thermostat" that could understand when you wanted it hotter and when you wanted it colder. You could program the device to use less energy while you were away.

1. 1991
   2006
2. 1985
   1982

These days, drones are used for pretty much everything, including package delivery. However, they were initially only used for military matters, and in the early days, they were manned. These days, the only people necessary to work a drone are those who control it from afar.

1. 1999
   1482
2. 1741
   1941

In 1999, someone reinvented the bicycle to make it, so no one had to pedal anymore. The Segway has a cult following, and you can join a club where you ride these little beasts around cities. It's interesting.

1. 1994
   1997
2. 1952
   1947

The '90s brought us a lot of technology that needed a little help, and the Bluetooth was no exception. This device is now built in to basically every electronic we own today, but in the '90s, wireless technology was just getting its feet wet.

1. 1996
   1994
2. 1998
   1942

While many tried to make this happen before, the first cordless phone on the market for consumer home use came out in 1994. Since then, few phones have been made with cords.

1. 1474
   1874
2. 1982
   2014

The ZX Spectrum was the United Kingdom's Commodore 64. Its technology can be seen in many PC gaming devices these days. Their design was sleek, which was nearly unheard of at the time.

1. 2009
   2008
2. 2001
   2015

If your phone wasn't enough to give you notifications and communicate with people, you definitely needed a watch that could show you everything that was happening on it. These things also acted as fitness bracelets at the same time.

1. 1983
   1893
2. 1974
   1919

Toasters give us a lot of great goodies, and some products are even designed around the toaster itself (Pop-Tarts). While the inner workings of this gadget haven't changed very much, exterior designs are always getting upgrades.