**Магнитофон** is actually a name of the device that plays audio records that are written to a magnetic tape. It could be a cassette player, or a reel-to-reel tape recorder. If you want to disambiguate between these two kinds, you can call them **кассетный магнитофон** or **катушечный (бобинный) магнитофон** respectively (I guess this term become popular because of WWII german [Magnetophon][1] device). Магнитофон is single-source device - it can play or record audio. Nowadays most devices can play audio from many sources - from CD's, mp3 sticks or SD cards, FM radio stations, etc. So, they are called differently. * Personal device is usually called **[плеер][2]** for generic devices or if brand is widely known, you can use brand name instead (e.g. айпод or iPod, волкман or Walkman, etc.). * Stationary devices that one usually uses at home and rarely movable - are called **[музыкальный центр][3]**. * Portable devices that can be brought with you can be called **магнитола** (may be there are more popular names for them however). However for car audio systems it is mostly **автомагнитола**. Last kind has sub-classes like CD-магнитола (си-ди магнитола), MP3-магнитола (эм-пэ-три магнитола) based on primary source of audio data. [1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magnetophon [2]: https://www.google.com/search?q=%D0%BF%D0%BB%D0%B5%D0%B5%D1%80&espv=2&biw=1680&bih=941&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjMgrain9zOAhWOuB4KHc1-DUcQ_AUIBygC [3]: https://www.google.com/search?q=%D0%BF%D0%BB%D0%B5%D0%B5%D1%80&espv=2&biw=1680&bih=941&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjMgrain9zOAhWOuB4KHc1-DUcQ_AUIBygC#tbm=isch&q=%D0%BC%D1%83%D0%B7%D1%8B%D0%BA%D0%B0%D0%BB%D1%8C%D0%BD%D1%8B%D0%B9%20%D1%86%D0%B5%D0%BD%D1%82%D1%80