Yeah, but there was no way it was ever going to be cheap the way tapes were. Even portable CD players never got to the point that you would let a child just do what they wanted with one.
A problem that was mostly solved by 1995 or so as RAM got cheap enough for a decent buffer. Still not something you could go running with but they didn't skip in cars any more. A child could play with one. Not a toddler, but a responsible-ish 8-year-old.