The Sony Walkman came out in 1979! Thirty years ago now, and people have been using some form of personal music system ever since - when *out and about* of course. Most people when at home however, still continue to switch on the stereo - or at least I certainly do.

I have my amp & speakers connected to the laptop, and of course there are docking stations for iPods too, which do essentially the same thing. I don't think anything's really any different than it was.

Kat, you could get your grandson a twin headphone socket and a spare set of ear-phones to go with it, that way if he has a friend round they both get a set. Though it's possibly more sociable to have one ear free for chatter! On my old Sony Walkman, I even had a Mono/Stereo option, which meant when sharing you didn't lose half the music..