Vinyl is expensive and not portable. New cassette decks use cheap, shoddy components. But CDs? Now we're talking about them.

Fiio’s new DM13 portable CD player is a discman for the 2020s. It plays CDs, sure, but it has a rechargeable battery good for eight hours of playback, Bluetooth, and a host of exotic ports for integrating it with your home hi-fi system. If you’re tired of songs disappearing from music streaming services, or even think musicians should get paid for their work, CDs might be the perfect way to get physical. It’s retro, but not too retro.

“I grew up with portable CD players and have a soft spot for them,” Sam Tarantino, co-founder of music streaming service Grooveshark, told Lifewire via email. “For pure portability and retro appeal without the high cost of vinyl, a CD player is a great choice. CDs don’t require an Internet connection and offer a nostalgic[…] experience.”

Of all the physical music formats, CDs are by far the most practical. They are small, offer excellent lossless digital quality, and the technology required to play them is still up-to-date. Unlike cassette decks, which rely on components that are no longer mass-produced and therefore have to make do with low-quality parts, CD players are still going strong. You can buy brand new CD players today at both the budget and audiophile ends of the market.