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Digital Generation, Analog Retro Chic
securitas writes "The New York Times' Juliet Chung writes about the latest technology trend: the growing popularity of analog technology with a generation that has grown up digital. 'Yesterday's technology designs are becoming popular among those in their teens and 20's eager to usher back a time they experienced only barely, if at all.' An MIT graduate student interviewed for the article, Ali Rahimi, was tired of the 'impersonal, unthinking' nature of modern technology, so he hacked an old telephone handset together with his mobile phone with the rationale, 'The handset has been going through about a hundred years of evolution in design and ... have the perfect shape.' According to Brown University technology historian Steven Lubar, 'When the available technology converges at a certain performance threshold ... consumers begin to base their choices on nontechnical considerations'. Chung also includes a sidebar that lists some of the new retro analog devices and interpretations, ranging from radio PC case mods to ancient clunker cell phones. Any other cool or interesting retro analog devices or hacks out there?" I've personally enjoyed owning tube amps on and off - the sound warmth, whether it be psychological or real, is definitely different then solid state amps.
Anyone else reminded of the Futurama episodes where Bender rebelled against technology ? And de-upgraded himself to wood ? I know you are. I really want one of those RX-1000 robot workers.
"usher back a time they experienced only barely, if at all.' " it should say briefly not barely. Learn grammer..
everyone i klnow wears an anolg watch.
now if i only someone would release Doom 3 for my fluid-dynamics-based analog computer.
lysergically yours
...ranging from radio PC case mods to ancient clunker cell phones.
YES! Now I can own that same model cell phone Gordon Gecko used on his beach front property in the movie Wall Street! I've been waiting to use a cell phone just like that!
fact it, if you only know analog, your career as an EE is numbered. I fired my last analog EE last week - the guy was stark raving mad, mumbling about some type of sea-moss. Those analog only guys belong in an old folks home
People want something different, not something better. The handset of an old analog phone is by no means better or more ergonomic than a good cellphone, but it looks odd and you can't buy it, so it sets its owner apart.
And all of the ones I've built in the past 5 years have no cases - the tubes are exposed so you can see them. Real retro. Real power (400W/Ch). Real sound. Even makes 128kbps MP3s sound good!
Kenny P.
Visualize Whirled P.'s
It's like something Oscar Wilde would have wrote.
I don't need no instructions to know how to rock!!!!
...The sampling rate is higher!
Seriously, this is good news. IMHO the real fun is in designing analog "functions" and adding smarts and calibration via a uC hardware controller.
Cloned foods give the statement "We had that last week!" a whole new meaning.
well and truly Godwinated. The end!
It's all psychological. Or settings. I've heard a few people say they didn't care for their CD systems' sound. Turns out, they aren't using their equalizers for anything.
Turn up the bass, and poof, sounds warmer.
Analog clocks are the best, because they go "tick tick" to let you know when each second of your life expires.
Analog still rules the cell phone airwaves, because when you're out in the middle of the boonies(not on the interstate), you'll be glad your have a dual or tri band phone(US).
I preferred my "analog" carbuerator to fuel injection as well. It felt better to be able to actually look at what mixed my air and gas and be able to mess with it, even though I am car-ignorant.
Chris
Certainly there has been a resurgence of old lately, but you will find this trend among any time where there has been a mass revolution in the way things are. For instance, the whole arts and crafts (Gustav Stickly, Morris, Green and Green, etc....etc...etc...) movement which in some part was a reaction or rebelling against the industrial movement of the early 19th century and celebrated the individual craftsman, designer and artist.
Right now we certainly have a rebellion against the "digital world" in many senses with a resurgence of what is warm and old including the use of tubes in stereo equipment and musical instruments to growing popularity of "old phone styles", to automobile designs borrowed from older elements and Hollywood has been borrowing every theme and idea from movies in the past for many of its current releases in an effort to come up with something successful.
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it's really hard to believe that old trends are coming back! It's never ever been fashionable to wear/use items that existed before you could remember them.
No one wore bell bottoms before the late 1990s. No one wore sweat shirts cut strange so they would hang off one shoulder before 2004. No one wore Daisy Duke cutoffs before 2002!
Sadly, in this day and age everything that comes back into style isn't original. It's made by companies that are out looking to make a buck. So yeah, it's going to start out that trendsetters will make their own stuff for free but companies will pick up on it and resell "retro stuff" for the same amount as it costs to have something "modern".
Bah.
Actually, solid-state does not equivocate to "digital". Tubes did produce a slightly "warmer" sound. Audiophiles have for years advocated the old analog vinyl and tape technology over digital CD or DVD for the quality of sound. Of course, mp3's and other compressed digital media are even poorer quality. Humans are predominantly analog (except for politicians).
Or valves, as British people prefer saying, are making a comeback. Some people tend to prefer the warm sound produced by tubes. Of course, tubes were always there in the audio production end, however, tubes are increasingly being used on the playback end. Some manufacturers are still selling tube gear, and they appear to be quite popular.
Although not very cheap, I think that tubes look pretty cool.
Everyone knows that records sound better than CDs. Too bad they don't sell video content on records.
Tsunami -- You can't bring a good wave down!
Go to compusa or any computer store and try to find a dial control ( you know like the one used in games like Tempest or Pong ). I've been looking for years for a $20+ dial control that would allow me to navigate through horizontal menu's and play games like Breakout! and they don't exist unless you look from an old retro-fitted junk from ebay or some 200 Dlls over-kill X-Arcade control set.
Bring back the dial control.
Now I just counted to three and made my peace.
- these are not the droids you are looking for -
"'When the available technology converges at a certain performance threshold ... consumers begin to base their choices on nontechnical considerations'"
Electrical engineering is OVER, folks, unless you enjoy spending your whole life in front of a computer trying to get that 0.01% edge over your competitor, until you lose your job to outsourcing and STILL have to pay the cult dues, errr student loans.
I keep hearing this statement about tube-amps being better than digital amps because of their warmer sound etc etc. Why doesn't someone do a spectral sound analysis for tube amps that outlines the differences with digital amps and settles the argument once and for all? Is there such an analysis somewhere out there already? I would do it myself except that I don't have access to either tube amps or spectral analyzers...
Hasn't anyone come up with a way of using a PC to drive a cutter which makes LPs from vinyl blanks? Besides being a cool hack, club DJs would love you for it.
When I am king, you will be first against the wall.
...the commoditization of so many high tech items (cell phones, PCs, etc.). We all want something a little different from the beige box or the grey flip-phone. Manufacturers (check out Nokia's new stuff, for example) try to hit us with "out there" styles, but retro is cool because, at least for a while, tech companies won't touch it. After all, we're not going to see a Pentium4 boxed up in an IBM PCjr box any time soon.
Don't be a looter...and yes, I know that it's spelled with an "A" instead of an "E".
I remember a section of the story from William Gibson's "Idoru" where one of the main characters has a retro styled computer made by "Harley Davidson". Ever since reading that book I have been waiting for a company to start designing electronics that doesn't look like another piece of hardware. Considering how much I use my MP3 player and digital camera, you would think more companies would have a range of styles. Basically I want "retro styling" to be a step towards be getting my mp3 player to look like my watch.
.. its not 'better', its just 'different'.
...
... ]wink[)
face it, there really isn't any good reason for technologys' made pace. its fed by the consumerican 'keeping up with the joneses' white-picket fence factor, and pretty much not much else.
most people, for example, hardly even use %30 of the average power their computing devices are capable of producing.
it is consumericanism, plain and simple, to even compare analog to digital. all that so-called 'old tech' is still just as applicable today as it was X-days ago.
old tech isn't! its still tech! tech is what works, no matter how old it is!
stop the race to the cliff, everyone! technology updates at the speed of light are not needed and not required for us all to live happy, productive, enriched lives
(i'd be quite happy to have an 'old' analog stereo system right now. as long as i could control it without getting out of my chair/web-browser, that is
; -- the corruption of government starts with its secrets. a truly free people keep no secrets. --
i got a couple of these when they came out http://www.aopen.nl/Products/MB/AX4B-533Tube.htm and the output stage is very nice to listen to, prolly becouse of the lovely even order harmonics
Sure, we've all seen digital analog clocks, where a digital display renders the hands of the clock.
I'd really like to see an analog digital clock, i.e. a clock with wooden hands that physically move to display the time as digits.
That would settle it once and for all! And you're the FIRST person to think of it!
Hurry, go apply for a patent!
It seems to me that in the digital bandwagon, many companies ignore the potential utility in analog. A lot of our technology is mere digital representations of an analog data.
I know I really miss the analog dials for quickly finding radio stations. With analog, it was just spin the dial quick to get to your station fast; with digital, click and hold, click and hold some more, tap, tap, tap. Though, I do tend to like digital tuning, analog tuning sometimes allows you to get that pesky hard-to-tune station where digital tuning would just skip it.
Also, I have heard that analog amplifiers have better sound quality than digital. They should, if you just look at the basic properties of sound. Maybe if companies spent some new research money on making a better analog amplifier, analog would turn out to be better overall.
--- We need more Ron Paul!
That's why I've resurrected my old ENIAC to play Doom 3.
http://www.rustyrazorblade.com
Be sure to check out the analog computer museum, among others
And don't forget about relay logic
"It is a greater offense to steal men's labor, than their clothes"
Well, it's true you don't know me but I haven't worn a watch in about five years. I feel a lot less stressed without one, and I'm still able to keep track of time. I need to know when to leave the house - my ordinary clocks will tell me that (as will my body clock), I need to know what time it is at work - my computer will tell me that. I need to know what time it is to catch my train - the station clocks will tell me that. And, if it any moment I need to know the time I can look at my mobile phone, or simply ask someone if my phone isn't charged.
I imagine there'll always be someone for whom it's absolutely vital, but for the rest of you - try this for a while. Feels odd at firt, but you soon find it quite liberating not caring if you're running 1 minute 23 seconds late as compared to yesterday. Relaxation is sure to follow.
Cheers,
Ian
If those organizations like RIAA/MPAA/whatever keep pushing restrictions like rights managment systems on digital media, and corrupt goverments listen to them and pass shitty laws like DMCA/Super DMCA and such.
I was wondering this the other day when I read some random posting on the internet about a guy who cleaned out a 1930's era RCA radio and crammed a miniITX board inside. What happened to the radio? He threw it in the trash.
This worries me because that radio was created during a time when Analog sets were state-of-the-art and cost upwards of hundreds of dollars. The PC components he placed inside that wooden case probably cost the same, but will be obsolete in a few years due to the speed at which we are updating technology these days. The radio however, was probably in use for well over 20+ years until a tube burned out and the previous owner could no longer get a replacement.
20+ years Vs. 2-3 years. I prefer keeping vintage electronics whole and in one piece. There are tons of resources out there for people who would love to get their hands on old sets and get them working again. The PC in an RCA case will probably be forgotten and discarded not soon after it's internals are considered yesterdays news. Much like it was decades ago, only that much sooner.
There is no spork.
i strongly suspect this all goes back to the comfort things that people are seeking in our post 9-11 world.
I'm fed up of the phrase "post 9/11" being used to explain changes in fashion and taste. Frankly, it would be easy to 'explain' most trends in this way, and I believe it's impact in this area has been grossly overstated.
Fact is, digital watches have not been "cool" since sometime in the 1980s, and they are now coming back into fashion, this time as *retro*.
I don't accept that *this* is down to 9-11; it is more likely to be another retro trend. The early 80s were a *long* time ago now; too long ago to be passe' any more, so let's revive it, goes the reasoning.
"Slashdot - News and Chat Sites Deviant". (Click "homepage" link above for details).
After my grandmother died, the only thing I wanted to inherit was her old standard-issue GPO rotary-dial telephone. My grandparent's house was built at the tail end of the 1960s, and the phone was installed new in that house. My grandmother died at the tail end of last year. Since I want to keep it original (it's a reminder of my grandparents every time I use it) I haven't even changed the little paper disc in the dial that has their phone number and the usual 'Emergency: Fire, Police, Ambulance: 999' bit at the top.
The phone is one of these and anyone who grew up in Britain in the 1970s and 1980s will remember them (and there's still quite a few around that have never been changed out for modern phones).
They are pretty much indestructable, having an electromechanical ringer and solidly-made mechanical parts (including the clockwork dial mechanism with generates the LD pulses). So as I didn't even have to change the wire that goes from the telephone to my modern RJ-45 jack - originally I had planned to just crimp on an RJ-45 plug to the cable - I managed to obtain an old GPO junction box from the same era. You just need to screw down the little connectors on the end of the telephone cable into one end, then crimp on some of those little fork-connectors to the free end of a piece of Cat5 with an RJ-45 at the other end, which you then screw down into the original junction box - then plug into the socket.
I'd also like an Ericofon, but I don't think without soldering resistors to the ringers of the phones to increase the impedance, the ringer current just won't make two phones with a real bell ring at the same time...and I don't want to modify the phones.
Oolite: Elite-like game. For Mac, Linux and Windows
\got nuthin. that's all
http://www.thinkgeek.com/computing/accessories/5ca 2/
LOAD "SIG",8,1
I bought one recently, in fact I'm using it now. Accept no substitutes as an iTunes control (volume, scrolling through lists, pausing etc.) or movie editor. And it's great for Tempest under MAME.
Cheers,
Ian
The good old desk phone handset was designed to fit the human hand and head. The contemporary cell phone is designed to be as small as they can make it, to win cool-points. But engineering will eventually triumph over decoration when people settle down and *use* these artifacts. I think that more people are beginning to realize that machines should first of all be fit for their function.
Some of the new stuff is much better than the old. I would never willingly go back to the old LC FM tuners now that I've used PLL types. But I want a radio that's big enough for my hands to operate, no matter what is inside. The use of pinheads masquerading as switch buttons is the opposite of engineering.
User garcia is a known troll. Please mod down.
For the sake of grammar pedantics, you did not capitalize the first letter of your sentence. Hypocrite.
I love my old rotary phone. It funny to see someone try to figure out how to dial it. They keep pushing the "buttons" in the dial. Silly kids.
I do have to hit the mouth piece every so often to loosen up the carbon in the mic.
It's even more retro in that it's a Commodore phone that came with my VIC modem.
And in the old analog days, it was "definitely different than solid state amps."
I'm an American. I love this country and the freedoms that we used to have.
Tubes rock dude!
The Tao that can be spoken is not the one eternal Tao
when we wanted to make a phone call while away from home, we had to find a phone booth on a busy street corner. A dime was then placed into a slot and then, get this, using a dial that had holes punched in it, we had to insert a finger into a hole representing one of the digits, turn the dial, and the release it. Once it returned to its original position, this was repeated until the phone number was entered. Retro? Bah! You young 'uns don't know how good you have it today.
Then solid state amps what?
HA HA!!!
definitely OWNED! ;)
It felt better? Ok, I'll buy that, but speaking from someone who isn't "car ignorant" I'll take my fuel injection and electronic ignition anyday. Why? Because it works better, that's why. Don't mean to flame, but getting those older technologies working well was a lot of work. Yes, I've rebuilt carbs, changed timing etc... on an older car. I'm glad my current car has none of those.
Is retro stuff great? Yes, certainly. But man, I'll take my modern car anyday.
Mechanical wrist watches have never gone out of style. Some of the geekiest geeks I know are watch geeks. Mass production has also reached a level where even a tightwad like me can own one. A few months ago I bought this Rolex knock-off with a Japanese movement for US$100. Keeps pretty good time (loses about 1 minute per week), and feels sooo much smoother when changing time zones than a quartz watch. With the clear back, you can look at all the cool little parts too.
Stop-Prism.org: Opt Out of Surveillance
wait until 8-track mp3 players come into voouoouugggcliclclickclickclick
Anybody got a pencil? I've got to fish the tape out of the machine again.
My friend's shameless display of his oversized cellphone was finally put to rest when I trotted out my Ajeeb chess-playing automaton... ...though the very, very short master-level chessplayer was admittedly difficult to source.
~ Whence do you come, slayer of men, or where are you going, conqueror of space?
The point is that playing your 32Kbps MP3s through a tube amp will likely sound nicer than through a standard solid-state amp, not that it will sound nicer than the original.
If any of you really want to see retro-hobbying at it's greatest, just do a search on Ebay for Nixie tubes.
:-)
Nixie tubes were createrd in the erra before LCD displays. Basicly it's a vacuum tube with metal numbers or letters layered one after each other. When a voltage is applied to the right pin, the number glows, much like a little neon light. They were often used in test equipment and a few computers. Hobbiest now use them to make clocks and other displays. It would be neat to use them as a status moniter on a linux server for that retro-look.
Obviously it is multi-factored, but I am sure that some of the reason I bought a powerbook is because it looks a bit different from the crowd - but I suppose for the really trendites, there are two many Macs around already :)
Yeah, Flavor Flav is still cool. Only now he's retro cool.
Ali Rahimi, was tired of the 'impersonal, unthinking' nature of modern technology, so he hacked an old telephone handset together...
Because telephone handsets are renowned for being both personal and thinking.
My Journal
Then why do they come in so many shapes? Why did someone have to invent those stupid foam pads that help you cradle the phone against your ear? The shape of a telephone handset is as much about appearance as it is about functionality and the need to have a modern appearance drives the shape of all types of home appliance as much as the functional design, probably more.
The only telephone "handset" with a "perfect" design is the headset, because you don't need to use your hands to talk on the phone. However, people don't seem to like headsets much so most phones have handsets and you pay extra for a headset. I think part of this is that it's impossible to make a headset that looks like anything other than a bare bones headset without making it look absolutely horrible, and making noise-cancelling headsets is kind of hard - since they can't market headsets, they're going to keep selling us handsets until the phone as we know it is only a distant memory or anachronistic curiosity.
"You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
The trend of looking back at technology is hardly new. I recall RadioShack selling the old style candlestick phones of the 30's back in the 70's and just about every catalog they've published has had the old 'antique radio' with the solid state guts in it.
Just how old is the writer of that line?
I can't decide if that was just an unfortunate choice of phrase or not.
every day http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:Random
Um...my digital watch has a compass on it.
Did you buy a Neuros today?
Aopen released a hybrid tube audio-based motherboard back in... 2002? Perhaps it was 2001 even... My analog brain seems to have problems with old, non-important dates.
Also, it's worth pointing out that for most musicians, particularly guitarists, tube technology has never gone away. It may have gotten a little more scarce in the consumer world, but musicians have long known that tubes offer an element that while perceptive, often enhances any sound, digital, or analog-based.
It's also worth pointing out that many companies are now emulating tube sounds. For example, I sold my old Marshall stack a long time ago, and moved to an Line6 AX2 tube-modelling amp. It's very impressive, and allows me to achieve many natural sounding tones, without requiring multiple amps, or annual tube replacements.
T-Racks is a notable piece of software which can do wonders to your music tracks. Many of its functions are designed to emulate tube-based equipment.
So while it's nice to see that more people are re-discovering the magic of analog equipment, it's not like it's ever gone away.
Actually, solid-state does not equivocate to "digital"
;-)
*Sigh* I'm not normally a grammar nazi, but one of my pet peeves is people using 'bigger' words than necessary to sound more sophisticated... especially when it's the wrong word:
equivocate
Main Entry: equivocate
Function: intransitive verb
Inflected Form(s): -cated; -cating
1 : to use equivocal language especially with intent to deceive
2 : to avoid committing oneself in what one says
synonym: see LIE
Next time try:
'Actually, solid-state is not the same as "digital"'
or
'Actually, solid-state does not necessarily mean "digital"
or
'Actually, solid-state doesn't have to mean (or be) "digital"'
Your remark about politicians is ironic considering you seem to be trying to sound like one
-chris
San Francisco values: compassion, tolerance, respect, intelligence
These surely are the End Times.....god I though this whole Ironic fad had died...here in NYC I thought I was going to have to start shooting everyone I came across in a mesh-back Trucker hat. UGH!!!! Now its into the Tech world. Die already you demon spawn called Ironic. This is worse than Disco.
Dimes
"Imagine this: I'll walk into a bar and ask for a girl's number, then break out my phone," he said. "How could you say no to that?"
uhm, yeah.
> so he hacked an old telephone handset together with his mobile phone
No he didn't. Nowhere in the article does he say that the did this. All is says is that he bought one off eBay. Nothing else. It doesn't say that he got it working or modified the phone in any way. I'd be more impressed if he'd actually done the mod and got it working as the original poster implied.
For now, this is a non-story about a fairly badly done computer case mod (why have a beige CD drive in a wooden case? He could at least have veneered or replaced the front panel of the CD drive as many other modders have).
Something this made me think of happened a few years back. I was in the north-west Highlands of Scotland and telephoning someone on the other side of the country.
I assume at least part of the line was not digital, because there was still a lot of analog noise on it. If it had been clear and hiss-free, I doubt I would have thought about it. But hearing that noise made me aware of the infrastructure and the distance involved (just a few hundred miles, but still...), and brought back to me how impressive it was that I could talk to someone (of my choosing) at that distance.
And yet, when I talk to a friend in Japan for 5p/min (!), it's too easy to forget all this stuff, because the line is clean and digital.
It's the same with using the Internet. When I first realised *what* the Internet was, I was impressed at the possibilities. Sitting here typing this, it's easy to forget all the infrastructure being used, that the Slashdot servers are thousands of miles away, that I'm sharing my net connection with many other users, that my packets are going all over the world.
Could it be that digital technology sometimes hides too much?
"Slashdot - News and Chat Sites Deviant". (Click "homepage" link above for details).
I think I agree on the analog being hip thing... I've got a big Sony CRT-projector/coffeetable since a short while now and most of the people that see it, think it rocks :-) and some think it's just old junk
Sony CRT-beamer/coffeetable
How's this for that 'analogue control feeling' ?
40 potmeters to keep you happy
But I still use good old fashioned records all the time, partly it's because it's the best way to DJ, but even outside of the clubs I'm a vinyl fan.
I've just been at my mother in law's this weekend digging through furniture, toys and other nik naks to stocky my new house. I found this ancient 'show n' tell' toy - basically a player for little 7" records and an associated slide show - usually kids stories or mini documentaries. I'm feeling a strange fascination towards this 1950's predecessor to 'Encarta' - at least the hardware doesn't blue screen (although I guess it needs a bulb replaced from time to time).
Anyway, the best find is a 1951 Sunbeam toaster, all automatic, drop the toast in and it lowers itself, toasts, and pops up slowly (and silently). Sure, most toasters these days aren't digital (except for that java driven weather forecast toaster) but this 'fully automated' device feels more high tech than many modern variations.
I've got a bunch of 50 year old vinyl (33 rpm 'microgroove') records that I can't wait to listen to when I get back, I wonder how many of my CD's will still be working 50 years after buying them.
fudge-packer
pooptruck
Anyone who has done any human factors know that one of the most important factors in design is a product's usage. In the case of the handset it was designed for a desk phone, nothing else.
http://www.brentcastle.com
According to Brown University technology historian Steven Lubar, 'When the available technology converges at a certain performance threshold ... consumers begin to base their choices on nontechnical considerations
This is one of the reasons Apple's products sell so well: The company puts an enormous amount of thought into the design. It's one of the reasons I have a Mac, the fact that the design, although not retro, is very smooth, the materials are top quality and Apple evens puts thought into the placment of screws. That and OSX, which exhibits the same processes, but in an OS.
Electrical engineering is not over by any means. Traditional circuit design may be somewhat of a limited field, but there are many EE jobs out there. If your vision of EE is just circuit design, maybe you need to think about a major change (by your lack of vision assuming you are a student), or start reading IEEE's Spectrum magazine to see what other fields are hot. Last I heard, controls and automation, communications, and signal processing are still solid right now. Just like radio engineers of the past, there are areas of EE that do die off, but the need for EE's will exist for a very long time - even with outsourcing.
I am using an analogue browser. It's soo dandy!
It's using the tubes in a digital way.
Awesome! I knew all these TNT Ultra cards would be worth something one day.
For the same reason, we have a 11th-Century politician running the country.
This guy uses an antique radio to listen to his iPod .
As far as I'm concerned - these kids are stupid.
Why not start replacing all your light bulbs with kerosene lamps? While you're at it, why not replace all your MP3's with cassette tapes?
This is plain stupid. Analog chic? Please.
You want to know what analog is? Its getting a different radio station every time, without changing the dial. Its noise, its distortion.
Thank god for digital media. Even though my MP3's and Vorbis's might not sound as good to some people, at least they carry a signal to noise ratio as high as the d/a convertor in the final stage, and have no total harmonic distortion. And I don't have to pay $5 for a Denon Metal-Oxide tape in order to get full frequency response.
I'm Gen-X. I grew up with a hodge-podge of digital and analog technologies, and I don't miss analog one stinking bit. I don't miss the tape hiss, the muted highs or distorted lows. I'm happy I don't have to waste any more time of my life fast forwarding or rewinding.
Oh yeah, solid state amps (like Onkyo or Harmon Kardon) kick the crap out of tubes. My HK integrated amp is going on 20 years old, without any problems. No tube amp lasts that long, without replacing the tubes, not to mention the damping factors that kick the crap out of mosfet amps.
I don't listen to the radio any more, because it sucks. You can pay for XM, or get mobile internet and listen to streaming audio. Either way, you get a much cleaner signal than any broadcast tower. Digital kicks ass.
You know what else? Digital is cheaper. Back in the analog days, in order to interconnect audio components, you needed beefy ass expensive cables. Now, with digital, all you need is a basic 75 ohm cable for coax digital and any old Toslink will do. It either works or it doesn't work. And I don't buy any of that audiophile signal drift or any of that shit. Its all snake-oil.
Analog signal quality can always be improved or degraded, while still working. Digital, on the other hand, is either working at 100% or 0% (or intermittent). If you can hear it, it is properly set up.
And one more rant - how many of these snotnosed brats would be on the internet if it meant a 300 buad modem, and all that entails?
Huh.
Thought so.
I've personally enjoyed owning tube amps on and off - the sound warmth, whether it be psychological or real, is definitely different then solid state amps.
Oh, it's definitely real. It's called "distortion."
The following sentence is true. The preceding sentence was false.
You hear that Apple? Your "digital" device isn't retro cool! You better start making tubePod before the apple elites start whining that their mass produced device is no longer uber cool. I could see it happen, once again they could charge double for something that gives no benefit. Remember your $10 ear buds won't produce the full audio spectrum. Guess they should market studio headphones too.
Is simply because tube audio amplifiers generate even numbered harmonics while transistors generate odd numbered harmonics and to the human ear 'even' sounds better. I verified this with a teacher of mine who's an EE and worked on all manner of 'cool stuff' for trw and lockheed.
While word processors are great work-savers (in that , after you write your draft, you need only make a few changes and hit the "print" icon), I don't get the same physical satisfaction that I get with a typewriter. There's just something about feeling the impact of the machine in your hands as you type up a document. The work just seems more, well, real I guess. The sound is soothing too, for some reason. I guess that's why I'm a keyboard snob. I like old fashioned heavy mechanical keyboards for my computers, the kind that make the "click-clack" noise as you type, and you can feel it in your fingers. I despise modern soft membrane keyboards. Working with them is like being in a sensory deprivation tank.
I'm 35, and had a typewriter before I had a computer (and remember actually learning to TYPE on a typewriter), so I realize a lot of younger Slashdotters have never even touched a typewriter. I encourage you to give it a try if you can find one.
Life is hard, and the world is cruel
You have one too? I keep mine right next to my indoor Rollerball arena.
"It's the height of ridiculousness to say for those 9 lines you get hundreds of millions."
> I've personally enjoyed owning tube amps on and off
On and off? You can't fool me, you DIGITAL PHILISTINE. You might as well have gotten a FLIP-FLOP.
-I like my women like I like my tea: green-
By analog watches, do you mean they have hands rather than numerals (LEDs/LCDs)? Most watches that have hands have a quartz crystal and are digital, that's why they tick. Real analog watches have gears that are wound (rather than take a battery) and cost a pretty penny. Their hands 'sweep' rather than tick.
Or a fuel cell and methonal tank that would run it for a year!
"It's the height of ridiculousness to say for those 9 lines you get hundreds of millions."
I prefer an analog watch, but I can't find one that's reliable. I need a watch which keeps time to within a few seconds a month, doesn't need me to remember to give it regular maintenance (winding, changing batteries, etc), and can stand up to being accidentally smacked against walls, doors and so on.
I went through several analog watches before reluctantly settling on a Casio G-Shock. If they had a solar Casio G-Shock with hands, I'd probably have gone for that.
GCHQ Quantum Insert installed. If only our tongues were made of glass, how much more careful we would be when we speak
I've looked at the retro-styled phones (like you can find at Pottery Barn or whatnot), but they get the whole concept wrong (big surprise). I don't want a phone that has a keypad shaped like a rotary dial, I want a real rotary dial that has buttons beneath the dial (where the numbers are).
That way, I can retro-dial anywhere, but have the option of pressing a button when I have to. I'd make that "button" simply be touch-sensitive plastic that has a built-in delay (press and hold for a second). I'd be just as happy with a pure-rotary dial if I had some sort of switch that would allow the phone to send a touch-tone signal when I dialed a number ("Please dial '9' for more assistance.")
I know some of these young whippersnappers would be impressed with my father's 8-track player.
This sig no verb.
Even-order distortion usually comes from tube amps. Odd-order comes from solid-state amps. Both of these are analogue. In practice there's no such thing as a digital amp.
Very few amplifiers are actually completely digital. They are still in experimental stages, and none that I know of are produced commercially.
Escher was the first MC and Giger invented the HR department.
Is there such an analysis somewhere? Yes. In fact, there's about as many as you'd expect there to be. Here's a quick sampler:
Tubes vs. Transistors: Is There an Audible Difference? (From the Audio Engineering Society)
Tubes vs. Solid State
That's just the tip of the iceberg, my friend. I mean, that's just generally the difference. Once you start considering different design paradigms, there's all kinds of other stuff to get into. The analog vs. digital debate, as far as I'm concerned, is moot; analog and digital can (and do) peacefully coexist. Some people like the way certain things sound, and maybe that thing is a radio from 1938 with tubes, maybe it's your solid-state computer speakers playing digital source.
There is a lot of engineering that goes into making audio equipment and audiophiles aren't all rubbing bizarre cream over everything that enters their houses. Pick up an issue of Stereophile (although for actual reading, I'd suggest Listener) sometime. As much as you'll find it astounding what some do with their stereos, you'll also find it filled with graphs on everything from spectral decay to impedence to power to frequency response... There is a science to audio engineering; just because the results of that science may or may not appeal to you, doesn't mean they're not there.
...use both technologies. We go for tube amps or transistor amps with digital modelling of tube amp characteristics. Effects are also a mixture of both, with classic analog devices like tape echoes often replaced by digital simulators for lower cost, higher reliability, programmability and so on, but admittedly not for improved "tone". Our guitars are another story altogether: hardly anyone plays anything that isn't made of wood, despite more "practical" alternatives. In fact, there is more appreciation than ever of the qualities of fine tone woods. Finally, electric guitarists have been slow to adopt digital pickups, guitar synthesizer systems and so on. Give us our Gibson '59 PAFs and mic our acoustics!
Don't confuse the two. Just because the PC won't run today's software, doesn't mean it ceased to function. For all the tasks it was doing before, it is still just fine and can continue to do them for 20+ years. The difference is that the external standards the radio was designed to deal with (frequencies, modulation method) didn't change while the ones for the PC (software, perhaps network connection) did.
There are computers decades old still chugging along just fine doing what they were originally designed for.
What the hell does that have to do with going back to analog?
Sounds more sacrilegious then anything else to me..
Analog was/is better as it was 'real'.... like it or not, everything else is sampled and of lesser quality..
( yes I know that with digital, its close enough for most, and you can get better quality for cheaper.. I'm talking absolutes here.. not realities )
Now if car companies can do this, and get rid of the damned ECU's..
---- Booth was a patriot ----
This article's author is suprised at these tech preferences only because they've bought into the marketing myth of "progress", and the disrespect for the past that sells you a "brand" new future. The Mr. Rahimi who she quotes is right about the long design evolution that produces objects fit for their human environment. But she's wrong about how "sophisticated" modern tech has become. It's become cheap, allowing economies of scale that offer ubiquity, at the cost of quality. That's the hallmark of digital tech - it's cheap enough to produce for nearly everyone, so communications systems benefit, and people's lives change. Not because the gear is better, but because it's affordable at all, so now we're all in the game, though it's the dinky home version with the plastic spinner that breaks after a week, and no Vanna White.
People don't care whether our phone or other things are "analog" or "digital". We prefer the fidelity of analog, and the usability of things that were designed in collaboration with successive generations of users, who usually paid more for a given featureset, which was then refined rather than expanded. It's vendors, and the media that depend on them for advertising (and tech "chic" column subjects) which share their worldview: digital is the latest and greatest; analog is for boring old grandparents, not lovely young people like you.
--
make install -not war
This appreciation for retro or analog things is one of the themes of Neil Stephenson's book, The Diamond Age. It's really an interesting idea. At the point when technologically nearly anything is possible to create in the blink of an eye, what do you then consider to be valuable? The value of something is no longer determinied by scarcity or technological difficulty. For the Vicky's (Victorian's), one of the phyles in Stephenson's book, they value hand-made, primitive things like hand-made papers and quill pens.
I'm really into photography and can understand the excitement about digital photography. It's great for 95% of people because it's easy, convenient, cheap and gives instantaneous feedback. But it's not for me. And I fear that the analog, silver-based photography industry is going to go through some really hard times in the next decade. As a consumer of their products I just fear how much is going to stop being produced. But eventually, I'm hoping the companies will shake out and there will still be left a couple of photography companies producing fine-art materials. Analog, silver-based photography will become something of a black art and most likely real silver based photographs will command a much higher price.
... just raising the issue that "high quality and hand-made" doesn't always equate to "empty status symbol". That said, there are plenty who pay for the most over-the-top stuff in order to make a (tacky) statement.
It's not all about distortion.
In pro audio, warmth is often defined as a lack of harshness.
Cheap sound cards, mackies, cheap condensers all add up to a grating sound with lots of hf intermodulation.
Get decent gear, whether transistor or valve, and it sounds warmer because it's cleaner, not because it distorts the signal in a pleasing way.
You mean (gasp) triodes and things. We remember them.
They are still fun. But don't let anyone here know
I said that. Shit, I even had some of the US mil's
educational stuff - damn good too. Taught me a lot
of electronics that my somethinghood of the confused
found useful in subverting your stinking US. hegemony
(no Mr. Hemo, if you didn't empty your bladder I just helped you).
I hope you enjoy that warm feeling.
Lots of love from Athens.
I was responding mostly to the content where the poster mentioned that the trend of high priced watches was going on for a decade. That indicated a lack of perspective that I had to respond to.
However, overall, I agree with *you* 100%. All of my "luxury" items fall into the categories you listed. I have many of my garments hand tailored to ensure that they actually fit me (at 6'4" and 270lbs) and generally seek out high quality merchandise when I can afford it, but NEVER as a status symbol. It needs to work better, be built better, last longer or look MUCH better for me to be willing to pay the extra premium.
The Glass is Too Big: My Take on Things
There are loads of class D amps out there.
Mostly PA amps where you want a lot of power, but also want to keep weight, cooling and cost to a minimun.
Peavy do some, and many others. It's not always obvious that it is a class D, they are sometimes called 'switching amps'.
The quality can be great too... I used a rig last year that got 8k of amps into a ten U rack including crossover.
I can't remember the make, but they sounded fine and stayed cool.
At the cheap end the omp MFD600 gets 600W into a 10*10*10cm box, including the power supply.
Some consumer gear uses class D too.
No comment really, just to say that class D amps really are in the market place and have been for some time.
Anyone interested in some great, albeit expensive, tube amplifiers ought to check out VTL. Probably the nicest sounding amplifier I've ever heard.
There is a difference in the sound; in particular, the tubes always introduce distortion.
With a transistor amplifier, the signal will be essentially distortion-free until it saturates, at which point it will "flat-cap", transforming a very high amplitude sine wave into something resembling a square wave. A tube amp will distort a little at any amplitude above zero, and the distortion will increase at higher amplitudes. So a very high input signal will not generate a square wave, the corners will be "rounded".
If you don't drive your transistor system to saturation, the output will be undistorted. If you do saturate it, the distortion will be considerable.
It probably would not be too tricky to make a transistor filter to emulate a tube system; perhaps you could write a plug-in for XMMS to accomplish this. :)
Well, if you ask me then the ultimate in retro computing has already been slashdotted once before: the ElectriClerk.
"Good news, everyone!"
I think we're getting to a point where technology is so complex that, as Arthur C. Clarke once noted, technology is indistinguishable from magic. Some people like magic, but many most certainly do not. It's not necessarily comforting to not know what is going on behind the scenes in technology.
This "rebellion against digital" is really an attempt to find technology that those people understand. Older technology provides a decent base from which they can understand the more complex technologies. This is the evolution of learning.
// file: mice.h
#include "frickin_lasers.h"
Even-order distortion usually comes from tube amps. Odd-order comes from solid-state amps. Absolutely right, I meant solid-state not digital, and tube/valve not analogue. In practice there's no such thing as a digital amp. Actually there are, but the market indeed seems to be very small atm, they seem to be mainly used in active speakers.
Interesting indeed.
I recently pulled some of my old analog keyboards (Korg Poly 6, Roland JX3P) out of storage to compare them to emulated VST versions that have been released over the last year or so. What a difference... sure you can program the same patches on both versions, but there is no comparison from a sonic standpoint and nothing compares to a bank of knobs and switches that you can actually grab with your hands instead of tweaking with a mouse. Of course there are advantages like being able to save a patch with the track you are working on but I think one of the great things about the old synths was that they forced you to be spontaneous... they sounded different every time you turned them on!
No, I think you have it backwards. Most people regard a watch as a device that tells time and, coincidentally, can be a form of personal decoration. If it were commonly thought to be jewelry with a time-telling function added in, you'd see a lot more ring, and neclace watches than you typically do. At times I do consider it jewelry, in much the same way a prisoner considers the bars of his cell to be good feng shui.
"I'm not impatient. I just hate waiting." - My Dad
Aside from digital recreations of an analog gauge/meter, an analog instrument has a built in range that can be easily seen relative to its current reading. Look at a speedometer, you're running say 80 on a 160mph guage. You're at 15 psi on a 60psi gauge. You at least know how much you have left before you run out of or get too much of what you're measuring.
When you learn how to tell time, a responsible parent would have used an analog watch to have you learn. Why? Because you can see the big picture and gain an understanding of how time works, rather than just read a set of numbers off a watch face. With digital watches, there is not much to reference for understanding. This is the simplicity of analog.
For the elegance piece, (to me) few things in instrumentation compares to the sweeping of an arm across a set of numbers. Maybe it is the old clock arguement (retro is cool?)? If you look at cars, there are few if any luxury cars with dedicated digital gauges for speed, rpm, temperature, fuel (the most used ones). It just doesn't LOOK elegant. It looks like a cheap watch. Hell, Infinity put in an analog watch in their cars to make it seem more luxurious.
With all that said, I'm still keeping my digital tuner in my car, some things are just better suited for digital.
I've got a candlestick phone on my desk at home. It's an "authentic" 1970's replica of the real thing with rotary dial (which I'm old enough to remember). It's kind of nice when taking a call from a jabbermouth, because I can hold the earpiece to my ear and leave the base and mouthpiece on the desk, and they won't hear me eating or drinking as they chatter away.
http://alternatives.rzero.com/
Class D amps are not digital in the same sense as, for example, CD audio. Their inputs are analogue, and so is the output after the necessary filtering. There is a digital stage at the heart of the Class D technology (which makes them incredibly efficient) but that signal is not comparable to PCM or other digital audio encodings.
Escher was the first MC and Giger invented the HR department.
For those interested in retro tech where music production is concerned tapeop.com is the best free magazine around.
The nice thing about a digital signal is that it is self-regenerating. Send it through a repeater and you have a nice, new clean signal. An analog signal can NEVER be recovered this way. It's like this..
.7 .1 .8 .9 .7 you can still recover the original signal because you know that digital has discrete values. So digital can be transmited at a lower power or bandwidth.
If i send an analog 5.75 and you recieve (due to noise etc) a 5.31, you have no way of knowing it was supposed to be 5.75. However, If i send the number 5.75 as a collection of 1's and zeros (101.11) even if that gets degraded to
I've got two of them. One is a Swiss Army Quartz which steps one sweep hand movement per second. The other I've had since 1969. It's a self-winding Rolex Explorer that still looks great and keeps good time. Of course it's entirely mechanical. Its sweep hand makes several small steps per second. I paid $157 for that Rolex back then at at duty-free shop in Gibraltar. I saw one that sold for $4000 on Ebay a few days ago. My eyesight isn't all that good anymore and I like the high-contrast black face and silver/green hands on both of them.
At one time I worked for Texas Instruments and still have one of their LED completely digital watches. They were a total pain, IMO.
"Do the Right Thing. It will gratify some people and astound the rest." - Mark Twain
"Do the Right Thing. It will gratify some people and astound the rest." - Mark Twain
Class D amps ARE driven by a digital signal.
You just convert it to a PWM for the chopper.
If you use an analog input, it has to go through a A/D to make it digital!
Also, of course the output is analog, ever tried to drive speakers any other way?
Most digital devices were down during that time but the analog phones worked. Analog comes and saves the day. Geeks can dial in to get their /. fix.
Anonymous Coward since days of scribbling on the sands.
It's not quite that simple. For a moment let's look at a single communications channel (no repeaters). There is only so much information which can go through that channel. You can send an analog signal or an analog representation of a digital signal, but if the digital signal contains as much raw information as the analog signal, they're equally vulnerable. In your example a five digit decimal number represents a 5 digit binary number. The channel over which the analog representation of the digital signal is transmitted would have to be wider than the channel for the analog signal (3 decimal digits).
However both signals will usually contain redundancy. What sets digital transmission apart is that it's much easier to shape the redundant information to counteract typical transmission errors. Where analog TV can only use the channel to transmit the natural redundancy of our world, digital TV can remove much of that redundancy and replace it with redundancy that fits the characteristic behaviour of the communications channel. That's why there are many different encodings: Different channels produce different types of errors.
I presonally could care less if the technology is new or "retro." I want things that work and work well. I am a faction of the population that is anti-DVD, but not for any analog-is-better type arguments. When I go to rent a DVD, I often find it scratched. That's not really a digital issue. It's an exposure issue. I'm sure that if VHS didn't have the protective shell around the tape, it would suffer the same fate. (At least you can leave DVDs in your car in the summer.)
I also don't like that DVDs force me to watch previews and some other content on my DVD player. On my VHS tape, I can fast-forward past those things. Being digital or analog is not an issue there either. If the same beavior was present on VHS tapes, I'd be looking for a new format.
I watch my VHS tapes on an analog TV with a solid-state stereo and am happy with that. DVDs produce a nice picture and sound as far as I can tell, but it's not so much better that I want to deal with being forced to watch previews or complain to my video rental store that their DVD is damamged and I need a replacement (which has hapened 3 or the past 10 DVDs I've rented over a 10 month span).
Speaking of resurgence of the old, sometimes the old simply is better:
:D
I've noticed that roller skates are making a huge comeback, leaving those digital-age inline skates in the dust (check out http://www.rollergirl.ca/). Apparently their less-stiff design allows for better, smoother skating. People ditched their roller skates in the 90's in favor of the "New" space age inlines (progress isn't always a forward motion) and are now returning to the good old quads not only because of the whole retro nostalgia but because sometimes, the old is simply better. Like the phone, roller skates benefit from hundreds of years of design.
In any case, no one can argue that roller skates are way sexier (on chicks) than inlines. Now if only the ladies were to bring back them hot pants too, the world would be a better place
When I first read the topic heading, I thought we had an article about a hot young babe who was wearing nothing but a 70's model set of headphones. Imagine my disappointment.
The Chronic *WHAT* les of Narnia!
There is a digital stage at the heart of the Class D technology (which makes them incredibly efficient) but that signal is not comparable to PCM or other digital audio encodings.
The boundary between digtal and analog circuits are somewhat blurred, as definitions may vary. But a classic class-D amplifier design is in my opinion an analog system. I can be built with classical analog blocks such as a comparator comparing the input signal to a sawtooth pulse with frequency outside the passband. The output will be a pulse width modulated signal which is easily amplified since the transistors is only used in "off" and "on" state. A low pass filter with good power handling passes an amplified version of the input signal at the output.
Even though it might be possible, and probably sometimes desierable, to use digital blocks to generate the internal PWM signal this is not an inherent feature of a class-d amp design.
-dill
MSc, analog/mixed signal electronics design
Scitne aliquis remedium potimum crapulae?
Now that's a fun way to add Wi-Fi to your local coffeehouse--slip a m0n0wall Soekris and a DSL modem inside an old portable radio and put it on the countertop.
I think we'd want to have some weighted rules for judging a good "sympathetic" installation (highest first):
Rob
P.S. For do-it-yourselfers, check out ebay's 1930's radios and NYCwireless's primer on setting up community nodes
Andrew here, from Facade Computer, the radio case mod folks. Thanks for the mention!
"All it takes to fly is to hurl yourself at the ground... and miss." - Douglas Adams
"The New York Times' Juliet Chung writes about the latest technology trend: the growing popularity of analog technology with a generation that has grown up digital.
YUP YUP. I couldn't agree more.
There's easily a hundred-billion dollar market for products designed to take the coldness out of technology, and reinvigorate them with the humanity of the pre-information era. For example, analog joysticks for console game systems were a stunning and much needed improvement.
People are rapidly figuring out that digital is NOT superior to analog in terms of density and resolution. With analog, you get more.
Personally, my whole audio system is analog (well, except for a tube amp, which would sound great). I have a CD player, but I don't use it much.
Ask any antiques collector which they'd rather have.
I work at an antiques store, and this reminds me of the people that stripped their Victorla cases to put a radio inside. Resale today? Much less.
My coolest piece of audio? A pair of avocado green "portable" 8-track players. No clue if it works or not, but I do believe it is the sort of thing the Smithsonian is looking for these days.
Electronics: the new ephermea.
In the great CONS chain of life, you can either be the CAR or be in the CDR.
Scope Clock
Nixie Clock
cheap labor conservatives - they want to keep you hungry enough to be thankful for minimum wage.
I think that this applies to a lot of things. Retro-analog never meant that it didn't do a great job. I recently took up straight razor shaving because after 2000 years of evolution the single blade still seems to do a better job than the cheap disposable consumeristic solutions we have today. I know shaving equipment may be off topic but seriously, this article brings up a very valid point.
"Even-order distortion is as unique to analogue amps as odd-order distortion is to digital amps, and this is completely unrelated to bass."
Ummmm close but you are mixing up your arguments. Even and odd order distortions are not tied to the analog vs digital argument to my knowledge. Even order distortions are canceled by any push pull circuit (at least in theory). I'm not quite sure what type of distortion digital amplifiers make but I am sure that analog amplifiers make both even and odd (I said in theory) What has been known for some time is that the lower order distortions 2nd 3rd 4th etc. are less audible than higher order distortions 16th 17th 18th etc. Feedback lowers the low order distortion and raises the high order distortions, which is one of the reasons a cheap little receiver can have better specs than a high dollar tube amp but sound way worse. Its good to remind the digital guys that the quietest recorder made is an analog tape recorder (yes, yes, I mean sn ratios better than 24/96 digital) and that the power triode vacuum tubes of the 1930s are the lowest distortion amplification devices yet made. Digital music storage is at least now, the latest in a long string of mistakes in audio reproduction. The fact is that cds sound like crap compared to a good vinyl playback system and 24/96 is only close but still not at the level of analog. That being said, I know plenty of people who love the sound of the new "class D" amps and maybe, just maybe this may be the first good thing the music reproduction industry has done since WW2.
The preceding statement is not intended for EEs, obviously most of you are deaf. The simple fact is that when bell labs was in its heyday and movie sound was the newest thing the best minds in engineering were in the audio business. Now all of the real thinkers work elsewhere.
I ran across this not to long ago. I haven't bothered to pick one up yet, but an 8-bit Nintendo (as well as other classic console systems) conroller was hacked to give it a USB cord - supposedly works with any emulator you can download freely: RetroPad
This has the dual purpose of feeding my retro need for some classic gaming of my youth, and the modern addiction to free software.
updownupdownleftrightleftrightbabaselectstart
- my girlfriend can beat up your girlfriend.
"If your house is more than 50 or so years old, home depot isn't going to serve your needs very well..."
Since we're nitpicking. I should point out that there are merchants that carry genuine old hardware for houses.
"Reminds me of an old joke."
Just wait till you see it in it's new digital version.
"This "rebellion against digital" is really an attempt to find technology that those people understand. "
Or maybe we're just figuring out that most modern technology is more hype than promising.
If you listen to contemporary electronic music, you'll here a strong commitment to vintage analog synthesisers. www.synthmuseum.com provides details on these beasts, including past and present players.
Indeed, this trend is so well established that many musicians are rejecting it and moving to early digital equipment, like the Yamaha DX7. This makes sense, given that the DX7 was released in 1993 and the standard "window" for retro is twenty years.
After seeing "Collateral" I pulled out my old Miles Davis "Bitches Brew" LP (one of the tunes is featured in the night club scene).
On the inner sleeves was the following which explains why LPs are better than tapes, or any other medium:
Here's How Records Give You More of What You Want
The Best For Less Records give you top quality for less than any other recorded form.
They Allow Selectivity Of Songs And Tracks With records it's easy to pick out the songs you want to play, or to play again a particular song or side. All you have to do is lift the tone arm and place it where you want it. You can't do this as easily with anything but a phonograph record.
They're The Top Quality In Sound Long-playing phonograph records look the same now as when they were introduced in 1948, but there's a world of difference. Countless refinements and developments have been made to perfect the long-playing record's technical excellence and insure the best in sound reproduction and quality available in recorded form.
They'll Give You Hours Of Continuous And Uninterrupted Listening Pleasure Just stack them up on your automatic changer and relax.
They're Attractive, Informative And Easy To Store Record albums are never out of place. Because of the aesthetic appeal of the jacket design, they're beautifully at home in any living room or library. They've also got important information on the backs - about the artists, about the performances or about the program. And because they're flat and not bulky, you can store hundreds in a minimum of space and still see every title.
If It's In Recorded Form, You Know It Will Be Available On Records Everything's on long-playing records these days...your favorite artists, shows, comedy, movie sound tracks, concerts, drama, documented history, educational material...you name it. This is not so with any other kind of recording.
They Make A Great Gift Everybody you know loves music. And practically everyone owns a phonograph. Records are a gift that says a lot to the person you're giving them to. And they keep on remembering.
And Remember...It Always Happens First On Records
That's the problem i have with all these thousands of mobil phone models; THEY ARE TOO DAMN SMALL - its all well and fine if you are some lille pop chick with a tiny hand (don't feel bad we love you, really we do ;) but if you have a big man hand the damn things disappear.
If Google really cared they would fix Android Chrome to reflow text, instead of discriminating
Sigh. Watches. In my environment, the band breaks in less than a week. So the watch goes in my pocket, where the crystal face may last as long as two weeks. I just don't get watches = (.
^..^
I cannot stand the typical disposable culture mindset - [...] after throwing out the nth quartz watch that died shortly after replacing the batteries.
It's funny you should say that. I've been wearing the same digital watch (Timex Triathlon) for 17 years. Most of the labeling on the buttons is worn off, and the primary (mode) button is cracked. I've replaced the band and the batteries I don't know how many times. Every few years the plastic watchband starts getting brittle and breaks. Any store like Target has replacement bands in the watch department. I've probably replaced it half a dozen times. It's getting hard to find a battery for it. I usually replace it when pushing the (non-indiglo) light button causes the numbers to disappear. And a few years ago I submersed it and condensation appeared on the inside of the glass which was fixed by leaving it in the sun to dry. I still use the stopwatch, and countdown features. This morning, coincidentally, I am using the alarm to time tasks at specific intervals before a downtime window.
I'm going to keep this watch running as long as I can. I wonder if there are replacements for the minor rubber and plastic components for the watch body.
My GF says she likes it gradually in and out
(analogue); just in or out all the time (digital)
would be no fun.
that just like most people like tricking out their cars with rims and blue floor lights and 7-colour cupholders, most people now are learning that they can customize their PCs and other appliances physical appearance.
in other words imho this whole analog-design thing is just a part of a general growing fetish for case-mods.
iTunes
Fisher 404 Quadraphonic Stereo Receiver, the kind with the joystick on the front, circa mid 70s. [image]
KLH Model Twenty-Four Series II, circa late 60s. [image] (That was back when they were truly great, not just mass market grade stuff with an expensive brand name. (I'm looking at you here too, Bose.))
Various late model JVC and Polk Audio sattelites
Quantum materiae materietur marmota monax si marmota monax materiam possit materiari?