The Astraltune Stereopack was first used in commerce in 1975. It was the first personal, portable stereo cassette player with batteries and headphones and was introduced before the the Sony TPS-L2 (Walkman) in 1979. To show color similarities, pictured above is a Sony Walkman II in box (1982) next to an Astraltune (1975).

This picture shows similarities between the first Sony TPS-L2 carry pouch (1979) and the Astratune carry pouch (1975).

Astraltune in carry pouch.

TPS-L2 in carry pouch.

Ski themed Astraltune ad from the mid-70's.

Ski themed album cover from 1980 showing the TPS-L2.

Ski themed photo from 1980 showing the TPS-L2.

Below are various Astraltune pictures:

Astraltune in original box.

Astraltune in blue pouch with orange Sennheiser headphones.

1st and 2nd versions of the Astraltune.

The 2nd version of the Astraltune had removeable stereo headphones with a large sized jack on the rear.

Size comparison of the Astraltune and Sony WM-1.

Astraltune trademark document. The lower right corner shows that the Astraltune was first used in commerce in 1975.

Astraltune ad.

(Astraltune trademark information and advertisements are from Justin Purington at justabuzz.com)

Original Astraltune paperwork.

Below are 3 excerpts from a posting on cnet.com that claim how Roy Bowers was the inventor of the Astraltune, and that in 1978 Akio Morita purchased an Astraltune in Aspen Colorado: (could these claims be true?)

The rest of the story...Astraltune is the original personal portable stereo sold in the US (1975).  Morita purchased an Astraltune in Aspen, Co. in 1978. Prior art can void any patent claim.Posted by mbehling September 25, 2007 8:12 AM (PDT)

This is true. I was in Steamboat Springs in 1976 and Astraltunes were so popular I couldn't get one. I later found one in Breckenridge. This was an answer to a skier's dream, being able to ski and listen to music. It was basically a tape deck in an insulated pack that strapped to your chest. The headphones were bright Orange, an old Sennheiser design that dropped under the neck rather than over the head. I was so excited about these things that I flew to Reno the next week and bought the rights to the East Coast by buying a few dozen sets. I approached all the stores in Manhattan with a friend of mine to try to get them to put them in their stores. I remember Bloomingdale's response - They're too impersonal. No one will walk around Manhattan with headphones on. Right.
I always got a kick out of the stories that came out of Sony about how THEY came up with the idea. They had to have seen these things. I don't know whatever happened to the Astraltunes boys, but they were certainly onto something.Posted by bricajo August 27, 2010 8:37 AM (PDT)

The real inventor is Roy Bowers who was the founder of Astratune. I was involved with the first generation sales of a  a  Sanyo Under dash  Cassette Stereo to Mr Bowers for his first generation product into the USA Market. Mr Paul Lo and myself Manufactured the  2nd Generation of Astratune via YAMs Electronics for Roy, many years before Mr Pavel and or Mr Morita were even aware of this Worlds First Mobile Stereo for Sporting Enthusiast. Its sad that Roy wound up with nothing   and the two other Pickpockets came out smelling the big bucks and fame.

Posted by garyweissberg   July 19, 2011 1:43 PM (PDT)

The original cnet.com link is here:

http://news.cnet.com/2100-1041_3-5226735.html

Other links:

http://www.justabuzz.com/astraltune.shtml

http://unofficialnetworks.com/...an-astraltune-92977/

http://afflictor.com/2011/01/1...eo-for-skiiers-1975/

thanks for that nice article.

Are those photos from your collection? 

I like this

John this is one of the best done topics as a reference for our site I have seen.  Truly a important part of portable cassette player history.  You have obviously spent a lot of time researching and writing this topic.  Very informative and well done with fantastic pictures covering product, models and marketing/advertising.   Thank you for taking time to do this.   Hats of the those American inventors to be the first one to design and sell to public a personal portable STEREO cassette player BEFORE anyone else did.   Sad they never really made it big.  Some of problem was they did not have mfg. plant with engineers like Sony.  They had the idea and found parts and units from places like Sanyo and modified it to be their product.  Still.... they got it to market.

Thank you for the kind words. I guess that we should also credit Philips-Osterreich for their EL-3300 as the first (mono, not stereo) portable cassette player from 1964/65.

http://www.radiomuseum.org/r/p...l.html?language_id=2

I had a chuckle at the Bloomingdales response .

Thanks for the post!

Does anyone know this machine? Osaka Hi-Teen? It looks old?

http://www.marktplaats.nl/a/au...&previousPage=lr

Nobody yet? I've asked the seller to add some extra pictures of the modelplate and such, and he did.... Is this a Sputnik walkman?

Seller is going to try to look inside if there is something about the date of the machine...

Michiel, I looked around but could not find anything about the "Osaka Hi-Teen". Did the seller ever respond to you? By the way, I relisted my Astraltune today on eBay. Please see the eBay sales section on this forum.

Thank you

He told me he took a peek inside, but it didn't tell him much about where it came from and how old it is. No date on the rechargeable batteries either. There were some parts in it which originated from the US. But he didn't mention any details about which parts. Or why he thought they came from the US. I tried to buy it to investigate myself, but I didn't get any respons on my bid....

Oh well, thanks for your effort.

Elite, I bought the Osaka cassette player. Took more than a year! Better pictures can be found here

http://REPLACEMENT ERROR/topic/osaka-hi-teen-ht-404

luv'it ! thanks for sharing !

...shame, the girl in the "Astraltune"-ad looks like she's got to wear an artificial longue around - or is it ltd. uhura's tri-corder ?

These look like a car stereo under dash unit

with a battery pack added

note the 3 screw holes on the side for mounting brackets

these car under dash units were around back in the 1970's

I have a 8-track under dash unit from 70s

the beginnings of the the car stereo custom systems of today.

A friend of mine visited last week and saw my collection, he went on to say that when he was a pro skier they would use the Astraltune to do ski ballet.

It was a promo from the manufacturer; he still has it, what should I offer him in an attempt to reel it in  

Not to much I guess. There is no market for these units, people have been brainwashed for decades that there are no units before the tps-l2. Paid €30 for the Osaka, but owning it is priceless. It's your friend, so give him something he really likes

Hi Tim

As I wrote earlier in this thread, U.S. Patent/Trademark documentation from 1975 proves that the Astraltune was in fact the very first portable stereo cassette player using batteries that worked with headphones only. Because of this, it's a great piece of technological history to have. Although there is not yet a big demand for the Astraltune, there may be in the future. Remember that around the time that the compact disc became popular, there was little demand for personal stereo cassette players. Several years later, some personal stereo cassette players became quite valuable. Just think of it as long term investing...

To answer your question, If your friend's Astraltune is in good condition and has the original pouch and Sennheiser headphones, offer him $40 or $50. 

Good luck!

I just came across these Astraltune ads from 1976/1977 issues of Ski magazine:

Thanks elite. Nice addition!

You're welcome!

Merry Christmas and happy holidays!