I'm goin' steam-punk

[Perd Hapley]

I'm gonna go hang out at the library, or at the Book & Brew, for the next few hours.  And I'm bringing my clunky old Sony Discman with me.  You whippersnappers won't know what that is. 



I can't wait for the puzzled look on the faces of college freshmen, when they see such a curious relic of the old days.

[ramis]

Hey at least it's not one of these. 



I had one of those when I was a kid.

[Perd Hapley]

I wished I had one of those when I was a kid.   

Actually, I think Dad got one and we all used it at times.  I believe it is currently clipped onto a hole in the headliner of Dad's 1955 Chevy flat-bed.   

[Manedwolf]

The only cassette I recall was an Olympus microcassette I had in college for lectures, it had a voice-sensitive mike. It could play back at doublespeed, which was useful.

I also had an early MP3 player that had a calculator-style LCD, held like 32MB max, and had absolutely atrocious software. Wow, was that awful.

[Gewehr98]

My stepsons had to ask me how to use the turntable and records from my big vinyl collection the other evening.  They were showing off the living room entertainment system to a friend, and got the tube amp fired up, but were at a loss with the half-speed mastered copy of Dark Side of the Moon.   

[roo_ster]

My stepsons had to ask me how to use the turntable and records from my big vinyl collection the other evening.  They were showing off the living room entertainment system to a friend, and got the tube amp fired up, but were at a loss with the half-speed mastered copy of Dark Side of the Moon.   

It has been a long while since I listened to DSotM.

[Manedwolf]

Well, there's one very old piece of equipment I'd found, it seems to be a full radio with headset and all, dated 1941, and marked Navy Bureau of Ships. Even if I could figure out how to get it powered up (wierd connectors with large pins), I suspect it'd be breaking a law to do so?

[never_retreat]

Well, there's one very old piece of equipment I'd found, it seems to be a full radio with headset and all, dated 1941, and marked Navy Bureau of Ships. Even if I could figure out how to get it powered up (wierd connectors with large pins), I suspect it'd be breaking a law to do so?

Be sure to wrap your junk in tin foil before you fire that thing up.

[Gewehr98]

Could be just a receiver.  No laws will be broken in firing one of those up.

I've got several of them, including this former CIA listening post Hammarlund SP-600-JX-17 set:




You can even fire up a transmitter to check the tubes, etc.  As long as you don't key the microphone or output a signal that's on a restricted or license-required frequency...

 

[RaspberrySurprise]

Be sure to wrap your junk in tin foil before you fire that thing up.

Tinfoil? I'd be using lead.

[Zardozimo Oprah Bannedalas]

I can't wait for the puzzled look on the faces of college freshmen, when they see such a curious relic of the old days.

'Old days' to me would be an eight-track player. Or at least a walkman... and I'm only 22. We were big on cassettes.

Matter of fact, we've never had an easily portable CD player. Just went from walkman to Ipod.

[Perd Hapley]

Yeah, cassettes.  My wife was wondering if there were people that collected tapes, like some people collect records.  I haven't run across any, so far. 

Well, here are some.
http://www.designboom.com/contemporary/cassettes.html

[freedom lover]

My stepsons had to ask me how to use the turntable

Turntable! Ha! My dad has a phonograph that needs to be wound up. Plays 78 rpm records. I don't think he has any records that were made after he was born.

I may have never seen an eight-track. I think my mom had a walkman.
 
The only old audio tech not yet mentioned here are those little plastic things from around 1999 that looked like thick camera memory cards. They would have a picture of the pop group and come with cheap earbuds. They only played one or two songs. I think they were meant to be cheap, disposable gimmicks.

[freedom lover]

Turns out they're called hit clips and they came with various little portable players. I guess they were just a fad. No wonder I barely remember them.

[Perd Hapley]

Hit clips?  That's funny, I've never seen those.  1999 (right after my tour in Bosnia) I had money for the first time in my life.  In addition to buying my first couple of guns, I went on a CD buying spree.  I guess they didn't carry those at the PX.   

[Manedwolf]

Hit clips?  That's funny, I've never seen those.  1999 (right after my tour in Bosnia) I had money for the first time in my life.  In addition to buying my first couple of guns, I went on a CD buying spree.  I guess they didn't carry those at the PX.   

It was meant for kids. Disney keeps trying a new version every year, and they end up at $1 on the end aisle of Target every year.