Kids React to Walkman

Little River Band cassette not included.

Technology moves so damned fast that by the time you've saved enough money to buy that cool electronic trinket you saw on the shelf at Woolworth's, it's probably become obsolete and been replaced by something newer and better. Well, being replaced by something newer and better seems to have become Sony's corporate-mantra lately. The Japanese tech giant once held the enviable position of being the inventor of the Walkman, the first truly portable consumer stereo cassette player, but ended up losing it's winning grip on mobile music in the 2000s to Apple's juggernaut iPod. Oh they tried extending the brand to the Discman and the MiniDisc Walkman, and Sony enjoyed a brief bit of success with those formats, however with the mass-consumer drive towards digital music during the 21st century, physical storage formats like the Compact Cassette were clearly on their way out and the digital mp3 format was set to preside over their respective funerals. To an old fart like me, it doesn't seem that long ago that I was making kickin' mix tapes on my dual-deck to give to my sweetheart, but to any kid born in the last decade or so, it may as well have been a century. Check out this video of some little peeps pondering a portable cassette player and enjoy their frustrated and embarrassed reactions whilst we sit back and chuckle. Of course I make sure my kids are well-versed in ancient technologies like Atari, VHS and toaster ovens so that this never happens to them. They may grow up to be friendless and weird, but dammit, at least they'll know how to properly clean an LP.



BONUS VIDEO: SOME AWESOME OLD AD FOR A STEREO STORE IN TULSA

Cassettes Come Back

Courtesy of stealing from the internet.

You gotta love hipsters if only because they do nothing without being ironic. They drink the worst beer on the planet, they wear t-shirts from bands they don't listen to, they love dorky outdated glasses that no one in their right mind should find appealing (even after drinking several of those crappy beers) -- and now these hipper-than-thous have somehow managed to bring back…wait for it...the compact audio cassette, known the world over for having the lowest fidelity and reliability of just about any audio format invented since the 1960s. Yikes. Actual real-life bands have even started releasing their albums on this completely outdated format. Granted, the appreciation of any sort of retro technology makes me smile inside, but I could do without the irony. Check out this video for a look at this recent phenomenon. God help us if those hipsters discover VHS, God help us all.

Lost Formats Preservation Society

Since the dawn of history, not to be confused with the dawn of time, but the time at which humans first began to record their exploits and discoveries, the struggle for new and better mediums on which to store our intangible intellectual properties has been ongoing and unrelenting. While the uncovering of ancient ruins has proved that pictures and words chiseled directly into rock most definitely stand the test of time, it doesn't take a rocket-dentist to reveal the staggering un-portability that plagues of this sort of information technology. Thanks to the intelligence fostered by the development of opposable thumbs, it only took us 6,000 years or so to reach a time where our mastery of modern manufacturing and adeptness at electrical alchemy have advanced us to the point where we can now tuck several full-length novels, or movies or even a lifetime's worth of photographs, right into our pockets. But the path toward easily manageable mass storage is littered with the remnants of past attempts and while we have all begun to move on to this damned new-fangled cloud, it is imperative that we the retrogeeks maintain, for posterity's sake, the grand and sometimes awkward history of portable storage. With that I give you the Lost Formats Preservation Society.

CLICK HERE TO VISIT THE LOST FORMATS PRESERVATION SOCIETY

On The Flip Side

It's long been known that geeks, retro and otherwise, enjoy the novelty of "playing records" – not just listening to music, but the act of collecting vinyl records and gathering together to play them on vintage, and otherwise, music reproduction equipment. However those in the know will quickly point out that the 1/8-inch compact cassette at least equals the classic vinyl disc in terms of pure retro coolness (don't even get me started on 8-track). Finally someone has decided to revisit the long-abandoned idea of combining these two mediums into one package, and that someone has turned out to be the increasingly clever ION Audio, a consumer brand introduced by Numark Industries, who have already made waves in the music industry with their innovative DJ turntables and mixing gear. While it's certainly not the first of its kind, the ION Duo Deck is probably the first vinyl/cassette combo player to feature powered on-board USB, which not only allows the transfer of music to a PC or Mac (using the included cable and software) but also eliminates the need for a traditional wall-wart power adaptor, although one is included. Small enough to fit into your backpack, the unit can be powered by batteries as well and features both a built-in speaker and headphone jack making it a complete package in the category of portable retro music players. Here are the stats of this soon-to-be-released wonder:

• Compact, portable design fits easily into a bag or backpack
• Plays and converts vinyl records and cassette tapes
• Built-in speaker allows you to listen to your records or cassettes anywhere
• Convert records and tapes into MP3s using the included EZ Vinyl / Tape Converter software
• Headphone output for private listening or connection to external speakers
• Plays and converts 45 and 33-1/3 RPM records: 45 adapter included
• Plays and converts both normal and chrome cassette tapes
• Onboard light makes finding the groove quick and easy
• Retractable tone-arm clip for secure, compact travel
• Powered by batteries (not included), USB connection or wall adapter (included)

Click HERE to go directly to the product page.