The remarkable part about the news that Sony is discontinuing the Walkman cassette player in Japan is that Sony was actually selling a cassette player! That’s amazing. And here’s something even more astonishing – you can still buy a Walkman cassette player in the USA. I would have bet against this, and I don’t bet.
Rectangular-headed monstrosities do seem to have a way of hanging on. The Walkman Cassette player looks rather clunky to us now, but in its day it was sleek and amazingly small. Most people have moved on, throwing their old cassette technology away in alarm, as if it were on fire, fearing that they would be left behind. Perhaps we’ll find Walkman remains submerged in a local lake or buried in the trash.
But the playback technology for photos, audio and video has changed so rapidly, future historians and garbage pile archeologists sifting through the landfills of our day will have a tough time telling what the various electronic devices were for, or in which era they were used. I suppose the landfill layer on which items are discovered will set an approximate date, much like counting the rings to determine the age of a tree. But will they have the patience to work out the technical difference between an open reel tape recorder from the 1960’s and a wire recorder of the 1930’s?
As the excavation goes on, evolutionary clues will emerge. On an upper layer they’ll find many differently configured and exotic CD players, and then a missing link – the vinyl LP to CD recorder! Just below that, discarded record sleeves and tone arms will begin to emerge. A few layers underneath will be the living room stereo cabinets with turntables nestled inside, their speakers covered with a luxurious looking fabric to fit in better with mom’s expensive drapes.
And at all levels of the debris there will be abandoned VHS tapes – rectangular plastic boxes. Just like the original Walkman.
How many layers of playback technology are in your landfill?
Trail Baboon 
Greetings! I fear we will have all layers possible in our household. Last night, I was digging through all the layers of boxes in garage to find my spice cupboard so I could cook something, and I found the first layer of home computer technology. I believe we still have a VIC-20 and a Commodore 64 — the very first home computers sold at retail, and we still have them! Yikes! I can’t believe it. Jim is such a packrat. He probably thinks they’re actually worth something or the Smithsonian might want them.
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Commodore 64’s ARE worth something.
I just saw one on ebay for $79.99.
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OK so you were searching on ebay for commodores why? (My husband is a packrat, too)
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Ha! Your comment made me want to see if there was one there. But I don’t want a Commodore 64 in the basement – it would block my view of the Radio Shack Tandy computer and the IBM PC jr.
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Can you beat a radio shack quadraphonic reel to reel that we got as a wedding present from my husband’s brother?
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Rise and Find a Pile of Soggy Leaves Outside my Door Babooners:
The question to ask about this question is DO COMPUTERS COUNT AS PLAYBACK MACHINES? Setting the computer aside for now, I am still surprised at the size of the pile. A stack of about a dozen Beatles, Monkees, and Paul Revere and the Raiders 45’s lurk somewhere in the basement. (I once mentioned this “stack of 45’s” to a group of teenage drug addicts in the chem dep treatment center where I worked. They responded, shocked, saying, “Why do you have so many guns?”! Generation Gap). There is an extensive collection of LP’s from the 60’s and 70’s, too, but I never owned an 8 track tape or player. There is a VERY LARGE PILE of Walkmans and other brands of personal tape players dating back to 1993 when I discovered the wide world of audiobooks at the library. Audiobooks have accompanied my walks and car rides since then. Those were followed by another large pile of personal CD’s and CD consoles for both music and audiobooks. I have abandoned the personal tape players and tapes for 5 years, using CD’s and now, I AM USING MY SECOND IPOD! Hard to believe. The first iPod, does not charge well anymore, but sits on a dock in my office grinding out Waiting Room Music. iPod #2 contains my revered Johnny Cash collection, and a wildly eclectic selection of music that reflects The Morning Show listening over the years. Thanks Dale.
The oldest cassette tape though, from 1973, is one my uncle recorded at my college Sophomore recital of me playing Mozart’s Clarinet Concerto in A. A Minor I think. It’s been a long time and I forget. I am now afraid to play it back because it will break. I must take that in to a recording specialist to re-record….when I get time…maybe tomorrow….
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books on tape are tremendous. separate ipod for different tune genres. how bourgeois
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Not really. The office waiting room iPod REALLY just plays the loop all day. Harps, oboes, etc. The New Age equivalent of elevator music–The Mormon Tab. Choir singing “Having my Baby!”
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The first big loss was my 45s. I pruned out the lame music, getting down to a collection of unique and compelling songs. I had some powerful Dale Hawkins stuff, some early Coasters, some Howlin’ Wolf and other things they played on a down ‘n dirty station in Little Rock but not in Wonderbread Iowa.
When I lost the 45s I lost my copy of “Leadfoot,” a cautionary tale about imprudent driving: “Leadfoot, Leadfoot, speed was all he craved, his right foot on the pedal and his left foot in the graaaaaaave!” That faded to a girl’s voice crying “Look Out! Loook Out! LooooookOutLooookOut!” and then squealing tires and crunching metal. We liked to play that one at parties.
Moving on to college, I left behind the 45s and got into 33 1/3rd vinyls. That’s a long story, but it left me with a weird collection of classical and pop stuff, Rachmaninoff and Mitch Miller, plus of course Johnny Mathis “make-out music.” A gem from those days was Johnny Horton singing our dorm’s favorite: “Let’s drink to old Jim Bridger, lift your glasses high! Wherever there’s a USA, don’t let his memory die!” We honored Jim Bridger often in West Norris.
In college and then grad school, I became passionate about classical music. Whenever I had four bucks I bought another classical album (making great use of minor labels and orchestras nobody ever heard of). Because my vile little American-built stereo was always losing one channel or the other, I bought mono recordings so I wouldn’t be cut off from half of the recording. When the day finally came to throw out my last hi-fi turntable, I was left with a wonderful collection of worthless classical vinyl. I couldn’t bring myself to buy again all that music I had already paid for. That signaled the big jump to folk, Celtic, blues, Afro-pop, Malagasy, bluegrass, classical jazz and other obscure pop music.
I hated cassettes, but they played in my cars, so I tried them for a while. One day my Fleetwood Mac “Tusk” recording got stuck in the cassette player of the Ford. For two years my choices were “Tusk” or silence. That was my primary motivation for getting a new car. By that time I hated Tusk more than I hated car payments!
I’m done. If something comes along to replace CDs and DVDs, other folks will have to buy it. But I have my tunes on my computer, and I’ll admit I never touch actual CDs these days.
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now that you mention it the only time i play cd’s is in the car and when i am plugging them into the computer to stick in itunes. interesting bio, little rock to wonderbread…
it never occurred to you to get a new tape deck to install?
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Tape decks weren’t that widespread or affordable then. Or if they were, I didn’t know. I later installed a deck in my current car, but I hadn’t heard of that when I had that red Ford wagon.
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I remember a song similar to “Leadfoot.” It was “The Leader of the Pack” by the Shangri-Las. I had a girlfriend who was lead singer for the East Side Pharaohs (70s Mankato band). She got some of us girls to sing it with her (back-up vocal harmonies on the echo phrases). Midway through, there was the sound of a motor revving and the girls would all cry out the same thing: “Look out! Look out! Look out! Look out!” That must’ve been a popular theme!
[Spoken:]
Is she really going out with him?
Well, there she is. Let’s ask her.
Betty, is that Jimmy’s ring you’re wearing?
Mm-hmm
Gee, it must be great riding with him
Is he picking you up after school today?
Uh-uh
By the way, where’d you meet him?
I met him at the candy store
He turned around and smiled at me
You get the picture? (yes, we see)
That’s when I fell for (the leader of the pack)
My folks were always putting him down (down, down)
They said he came from the wrong side of town
(whatcha mean when ya say that he came from the wrong side of town?)
They told me he was bad
But I knew he was sad
That’s why I fell for (the leader of the pack)
One day my dad said, “Find someone new”
I had to tell my Jimmy we’re through
(whatcha mean when ya say that ya better go find somebody new?)
He stood there and asked me why
But all I could do was cry
I’m sorry I hurt you (the leader of the pack)
[Spoken:]
He sort of smiled and kissed me goodbye
The tears were beginning to show
As he drove away on that rainy night
I begged him to go slow
But whether he heard, I’ll never know
Look out! Look out! Look out! Look out!
I felt so helpless, what could I do?
Remembering all the things we’d been through
In school they all stop and stare
I can’t hide the tears, but I don’t care
I’ll never forget him (the leader of the pack)
The leader of the pack – now he’s gone
The leader of the pack – now he’s gone
The leader of the pack – now he’s gone
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That’s a classic! Do you remember “Teen Angel?” Somewhat similar but more soggy teen sentimentality.
That fateful night the car was stalled
upon the railroad track
I pulled you out and we were safe
but you went running back
What was it you were looking for
that took your life that night
They said they found my high school ring
clutched in your fingers tight
Teen angel, can you hear me
Teen angel, can you see me
Are you somewhere up above
And I am still your own true love
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Oh yes – I remember that one too!
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Krista – our chorus sang (part of) that song last spring, part of a medly of 60s do-op and pop songs… 🙂
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Anyone remember (late 50s) Endless Sleep? At least in that one she didn’t die…
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I may win the outdated technology smackdown! While wading through boxes and boxes of family antiques (what I call the Ancestral Crap), I found a collection of phonograph cylinders, all but one still it its cardboard tube. Entirely too much Sousa and too many waltzes for my taste, but fascinating nonetheless.
I’ve replaced nearly everything of mine that’s still in print with CDs, but I did uncover some old filk cassettes a while ago (filk can be original science fiction or fantasy themed songs, but a lot of it is parody, a la Weird Al). Haven’t moved into the bright shiny world of iTunes or MP3 yet, because I’m afraid I’ll spend too much money on downloads, but reception for my radio at work is so awful I’m going to have to make the leap soon.
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Wonder if your phonograph tubes are worth anything these days!
I also am without iPod or MP3, despite urging from the teenager. But I have radios upstairs and downstairs and in the car. I check around and if there isn’t anything playing that I like, I turn it off. I know, radical…….
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We have them all, too. My favorite is one I use in my play therapy room. Its a large brown teddy bear named Spinoza who has a tape player stowed away inside and who comes with story tapes concerning relaxation, stress reduction, trauma, and grief. The younger children believe Spinoza is talking to them The tape player is turned on by a red button paced strategically over Spinoza’s heart. I’ve had him about 15 years. That bear cost a lot of money and I’m going to use him until his tape player dies. I haven’t checked to see if they have newer versions of the bear that plays CD’s
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Renee My daughter had a talking stuffed bear in the 1980s that didn’t speak actual words, just human-like sounds. It was amazing. An American kid listening to it would hear English words. A Mexican kid would hear Spanish. It was a sweet toy.
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OK, Crow Girl, you win. I thought I was going to win this one with the old 78’s in a rack in the basement, but cylinders-wow. Do you have any way of playing them?
I confess, I would really like to be able to play and record the old 78’s, just to see what they are. Not a lot of titles I recognize in the group (not that I have looked in years). I have yet to move beyond cds, but my day is coming.
RH seemed to be all about poignant this morning-Mike, it is tough enough to drag myself into a noisy, fluorescent-lit office on an Edmund Fitzgerald-y sort of day like this as it is-poignant was not helping me, I needed hilarious!
Dale, is there any way to get another copy of Best of Keepers? I have worn mine out over the Mary Ellen Carter (so much for the superiority of cds!) track and surrounding environs.
It is not to my credit that as the s&h and I have been watching Ken Burns’ Civil War on dvd, I keep expecting Einstein the Genius to follow all those cuts of Ashokan Farewell.
I know, I know, should just suck it up and start downloading.
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Nope. The old phonograph got terminally mold-damaged (along with a lot of other stuff) when water leaked into my storage unit. Maybe someday I’ll be able to get a reconditioned player from Vintage Music down on 38th and find out how well they survived. I wish I could say I had some rare and collectible early jazz, ragtime or even opera, but they’re all polkas, waltzes, marches and sentimental pop hits of the day. Still, from a historical perspective it’d be a interesting listen.
I was just thinking that music was somehow more personally involving when you had to put the record on the spindle and clean the needle and all that, as opposed to dropping in a CD or pressing “shuffle” on an iPod. Imagine having to hand-crank all of your technology, from your washing machine to automobile to phonograph! Of course, at the time they were amazed by the ease of playing prerecorded music, when previously if you wanted a tune you had to travel to hear a performance or learn to produce it yourself.
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If there is a way to buy Best of Keepers, I missed it. I tried to get a copy recently, assuming that the internet would take me to any used product I wanted. But no joy at all. That was not a CD distributed in the usual way but a reward for MPR membership.
Hmmm. If you went to Craigslist for the Twin Cities and advertised asking for a used copy, I’ll bet that would work.
I used to have a wind-up Victrola for playing 78s. It was cheap at the time, like $20 from an antique store.
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in reverse. the ability to go to the library and download all the cds to my itunes file which then syns with my phone and adds another fistfull of tunes to my shuffle button is the current technology of choice. cds were the greatest thing since sliced bread. the sound is thin and the sk,sk, sk sk skip and drive me crazy. better than the cassette tape sucked into the dashboard sound but the cassette recordings made of all the old prarie home companion shows along with books on tape and motovational stuff i have collected make a cassette deck a must. now i am out garage sailing and the cassettes are there in abundance. 25 cents a piece or 5 dollars for the whole box. its a a time capsule. fleetwood mac, elton john, miles davis, elvis, beatles, stones, then the grandma cds with classical, floyd cramer, german polka jamborees and lawrence welk, johnny cash, youre cheating heart, but my favorite is still vinyl. the lps are the best. there is a turntable now that turns lps into mp3s so you can turn them into cds. i’m sure i’ll go there but i am not there yet. it feels like you should play frank sinatra and the floweer drum song on lp. west side story and frank zappa or george shearing on mp3 just isn’t right yet. i was in a band in the 60’s and the reel to reel by teac was a sure sign of making it to the big time. i have 6 feet of reel to reel tapes form the old days and i will bet the first time i open them they will disintegrate in my fingers. but the memories are probably better than the recording anyway. i had an uncle who was a rich guy who never gave my dad a thing but one day in 1965 he gave my dad the first cassette player on the planet. the cassettes were the size of a hardcover book , like 9×6 1/2 inch thick. there had never been anything like it. you could record your voice and have conversations and send them to people hundreds of miles away. i think my uncle tried it twice and found out he had nothing to say and that was the end of that but we still had the mega cassette recorder. they didn’t have a way to plug it into the radio or stereo so you would have to play the big console stereo in the living room and record the music in the room to be played back in the garage or on the back porch. the portability was the key . this little playback machine was 1 foot by 2 feet by a foot and a half. weighing only 25 pounds its portability was amazing. you could carry it anywhere. like the portable phonograph but it was way cooler. no lp’s required. when the 1966 version of cassettes came out there was a sudden switch and i hadn’t thought of the machine again until cleaning out the back room a year ago and there it was. i would it throw it away. it does belong it the smithsonian along with those cameras in the peanut buttter colored brown leather cases, typewriters with ribbon, fountain pens with cartridges, lots of stuff that takes you back. to a simpler time when you could listen to a song and not have to be checking your email and wondering if the text you just got from the kid said you were supposed to pick them up or if your wife is picking them up. those ugly chocolate brown am radios where the dial turns yellow from the heat of the light bulb telling you what channel you are on. life was simpler. off i go to my xm radio in the car, my shuffle button on the iphone, the radio over the computer on my dsk, but when i want to relax and get away form the rat race, i go out to the garage, put on an lp, light a cigar and spend an hour or two without the modern technologies that make life better. remember dial phones and bonanza and walt disney on sunday nights with popcorn? life was simpler then huh?
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i forgot the 78’s . i have a couple victrolas and 6 feet of 78’s. you buy the needles 400 at a time on ebay for 10 dollars and each needle lasts maybe 5 albums.
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I found my old rotary dial phone (first one I had in my first apartment) and hooked it up. The 11-year-old thinks it is the greatest thing ever and is his phone of choice.
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simple pleasures
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Good memories, tim. My mom had a 78 rpm recording of Bolero. Although that’s a short classical piece, it took up six sides of three 78 platters. You’d play the first half of it with the stack set up on an automatic player, then you’d quickly flip the stack and play the last half of the thing.
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LOL-please don’t ask why
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we don’t have to ask why….
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I still have all my vinyl in the attic as well as the turntable – not sure why I’m holding onto it. I also have a stack of 8-track tapes, although I’m unsure why. I was in junior high when we got the 8-track and these tapes are clearly from that collection (Herb Albert & Tijuana Brass, etc..). But when I moved out on my own, I never had an 8-track player… it was obsolete by then. My mom must have snuck the tapes in when I was packing for my first apartment after college. Of course, the fact that I still haven’t tossed them after all these years is the biggest mystery of all?!?
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don’t toss them. they are priceless. i listened to the beatles white, bob dylans new morning (after all those years of no bob) and jessie winchester all the way across the country and back a couple of times. they never got eatedn like those rotten cassettes.
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I still have my ‘Arrow’ brand stereo with its 8-track player and my grandpa’s GE portable stereo with the built-in 8-track player. For the fun of it, I plugged in one of my old 8-tracks and listened to it. I suspect some kind of degradation in either tape or player because the sound quality was horrible.
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well theres always that part of the equation too. might try rubbing alchol on the heads. might help.
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I have a rotary wall phone in the kitchen. I like the sound of the ring. I keep a touchtone phone in the dining room, but it has its ring silenced.
I still have my cassette Walkman, too. It’s a Sony. On the front under the Walkman name, it says “An essential item of modern life,” and I take that at face value. A few weeks ago a friend gave me a Bill Bryson audiobook on cassette, so although it’s used sparingly these days, it is still used.
I burned through a lot of cheap walkman knock-offs in the 80’s. I think I got this one at a garage sale. I broke down and got a Discman when the price came down to about $50, but I was always annoyed by the way the disc would skip when you were walking. OK for listening on the bus, but if I was walking, I’d revert to the Walkman and dub the CD to cassette. Sometimes the old technology is the superior one. (That goes for HD radio and digital TV, too. $%*&%*%# dropouts.)
I have an iPod, but it tends to be cranky about having new stuff downloaded onto it, so it hasn’t completely won me over. I do like iTunes for streaming from computer to the stereo.
No 8-tracks or 78’s, but I kept all my old vinyl and have a working turntable. I still have the first computer I ever owned too – a Mac Plus. Yep, I have a VCR too, and a TV that has no remote.
My microwave oven doesn’t have a digital timer – it has a dial you turn. I’ve had it for over 20 years, and it was used when I bought it.
As you’ve probably guessed, my motto is “They don’t make ’em like they used to!”
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Linda: I’ve got a library of excellent films on VHS. PLEASE take it with you when you come here for BBC! I’ve just about thrown all that out. I could have it waiting for you and you could leave the ones you’ve seen. But I have some obscure gems. Ever see “After Life”? Or how about “I Know Where I’m Going”? I promise, there are some great ones there, and I no longer have a VHS player. Yours for free.
Or anyone else who is coming for the “For Whom the Bell Tolls” discussion.
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I’d be happy to take a look at what you’ve got. Generally, though, I like to borrow rather than acquire movies, as they take up precious space and I usually only watch a movie once.
“After Life” sounds vaguely familiar. Don’t think I’ve seen “I Know Where I’m Going”.
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i’ll be there to to peruse the collection. sounds interesting. looking forward to it
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“After Life” is a Japanese fantasy about what happens when we are dead. It is fascinating. You can talk about it for days after seeing it with friends.
“I Know Where I’m Going” is a 1945 British romance set in the Outer Hebrides (I think) of Scotland. Zany characters, old castles, wild and gorgeous settings, a family curse and great writing all add up to a film with irresistible charm. (Sounds like I’m selling it, not giving it away).
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Speaking of old relics…. today is the 25th anniversary of “Back to the Future”. I’ve seen the original and both sequels on tv a bunch in the last week… must be why. On CNN, they’re calling it “Marty McFly Day”.
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my son got his wisdom teeth pulled out and came home goofier than a ( i don’t have an expression for goofier than a______) well his brother said they were stopped at a gas station and the car next to them reminded him of the back to the future delorian. there was a little kid inside and my son still high on the gas from the tooth puller went up and told him to “say hi to marty”7 the little kid looked puzzled and when my older son saw him high and talking to the kid through the window he asked where marty was. my driving son asked what the high son was doing. “well it looks just like the car on back to the future” and then started laughing like a hyena . i asked him about it the next day and you could see his brain have a vague recollection of it but he kind of sheepishly remembererd and said oh “i kinda forgot about that.”
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Nice moment, tim. there was a video of a kid like that about a year or two ago. Voted best bit of film of the year.
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A link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=txqiwrbYGrs
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Good mid morning to all,
Since I am nearly 70 years old, I do recall using 78 records and even remember some very old record players that I think played cylinders, but I don’t think I heard them in use. I have a fairly large collect of LPs and a machine for playing them. The older LPs are ones I listened to in college on a small, low fi, not stereo, player. Many of my 45s were discarded by one of my parents when I when I went away to college and didn’t take them with me. I also have many tapes and a tape play. I had very few 8 track tapes and the old stereo that had an 8 track player is gone. Of course I have been buying CDs for many years and I am slowly learning to use an iPod. I know there are good reasons for all of the changes in this technology, but it does seem, sometimes, that we are being manipulate by commercial interests who want to line their pockets by getting us to buy new kinds of equipment before we have made full use of the old stuff.
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the thing that I am increasingly aware of is how many more things are now tied to a service contract with a never-ending monthly bill.
That, and all the things we used to be able to fix ourselves and get by with.
I won’t have a computerized sewing machine in my stable, for the simple reason that if something goes wrong with the board, you can’t even turn the thing on-there is no workaround.
I like to work with things I can take apart and put back together myself.
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I have a coffeemaker with digital programming, and something went wrong with the programming function which prevents the thing from turning on at all. After the warranty expired, of course. Does anybody fix things like that?
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My ex-boyfriend called this “planned obsolescence.” I agree.
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I too want to be able to fix my own sewing machine, and kept my mom’s 1948 vintage machine as long as I could… Hate the computerized machines.
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the has got to be a way to hot wire the coffee pot. any fix it shop worth its salt could do it, but the replacement cost 15 dollars at target is the problem
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As a part of closing our office here, I am trashing out technology–a phone system, computers, printer, modem, router–all of which are hopelessly out-of-date and not one of which is more than 8 years old.
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That sucks.
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When I cleaned out my mom’s house (due to her Alzheimers) 2 years ago I found a collection of HP printers — 4 of them! One unopened in the box! In her befuddled state, if she got a paper jam and she could not figure it out, she would just go buy a new printer. They are now happily in use and distributed throughout my office and family!
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So you are saying Alzheimer’s is good for the economy? I think you are ahead of Obama on this!
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This is maybe a classic early summer recipe, but it is delicious and I couldn’t stop thinking about it last night so I wrote it up for you baboons. I’ve written this the usual way I serve it, a whole meal:
Steve’s Chicken and Capers
4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
1 tbsp olive oil
flour
salt & pepper
¾ c dry white wine
juice of 1-2 large lemons
1 3-oz jar of capers, drained
2 tbsp butter
With a sharp knife, butterfly the breast pieces (cutting each piece in half to reduce the thickness). Dredge pieces in flour seasoned with salt and pepper and knock off excess flour. Heat olive oil in large skillet (big enough for the 8 breast pieces with no touching). Brown chicken over medium-hot heat and cook through, about 3-4 minutes on a side. Remove chicken to 200 degree oven.
Make a sauce with the remaining ingredients, You can adjust the ratio of wine, lemon and butter to suit your taste and current health notions. Bring wine and lemon juice to a boil, stirring to pull up browned bits from the skillet, and cook until liquid is reduced by one-half (about 2 minutes). Add butter and stir until the sauce will cling to food. Return chicken pieces to skillet and heat through. You want a lot of sauce, way more than you would use just for the chicken.
I usually steam asparagus, starting the steaming just before making the sauce. Serve the asparagus and chicken with sauce slathered over both, perhaps with some rice or linguini or just a baguette of coarse-grained French bread and plenty of tart, dry white wine (like Sauvignon blanc).
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Forgot to say you add capers to wine and lemon juice before reducing. But you could have figured that out.
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Thanks Steve. The Great Chicken Caper has been re-posted at Kitchen Congress.
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Sounds good in any season.
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we’ll try it. my wifes old stand by for the kids was chicken breast. she would throw them in the oven and they would dissappear. now the kids want bar b que and something a bit more exotic. we’ll try this
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I got stuck at CDs and have not grown past that point. I haven’t moved on to an I-pod yet. One reason is that I don’t like headphones or ear buds. I really like to hear what’s going on around me and prefer ambient sound. I’ve always loved listening to FM radio and have had a hard time since the demise of TMS. I enjoy classical music and there’s a local public station, KMSU, in Mankato that is OK – not great, but OK. I like Radio Heartland but there’s really something missing there…
Anyway, I still have a bookcase full of LPs, a dresser full of cassettes and another dresser full of CDs. I keep a Philips turntable from the ’80s for the purpose of playing the LPs.
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An iPod can just as easily be integrated into a stereo system or a dock – you don’t have to use it with headphones, and it doesn’t have to leave home if you don’t want it to. Its primary appeal is that it holds a lot more music than a dresser of CD’s or cassettes.
The last time I moved, which was over twenty years ago, my record collection probably weighed about 500 pounds, and the friends who helped me move were not terribly pleased to meet it. Young people have it easier now – just toss the iPod into a purse and off you go.
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ok, coming out of my cave to ask-how exactly DO I integrate an iPod so it will play on, say my HD radio? Do I just plug in a cord as if it were an earbud and then plug the other end into said HD radio?
There is a port on the radio to plug in such a thing, but was not sure if that was to broadcast or to “record”.
I am with you, Krista. Sometimes I need to have private sound, but sometimes, we like to have something on we are all listening to together (how weird is that).
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I watched my brother plug his iPod into his car stereo system once a long time ago and was amazed. I didn’t know you could plug it into a home stereo. My home stereo system is from the late 1980s. Would it still work with a dinosaur?
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Buy a 3.5mm stereo mini-jack to stereo RCA cable. The 3.5mm end goes in your iPod’s headphone jack. The two RCA connectors go in the left and right auxillary inputs on the stereo.
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Forgot to mention the box of 78s in the basement.
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Krista Yes, the output from your iPod is like any output source. If you have the right jacks (or converter jacks) you can put the signal out through the home stereo.
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Bought an MP3 player a few months ago. Amazing and wonerful. On my bike rides I can listen to MPR or our brand of music.
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Crow Girl, thanks for defining filk. Steve: Malagasy?
Madisland girl: I could probably burn you a copy of Best of Keepers. Contact me if you want: mmbbhassing@usfamily.net .
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Thanks Barbara, I will be in touch. Thanks also for the iPod into stereo advice and a belated thanks to one and all on the buckthorn decimation information.
I fear that if this weather keeps up, this will be one of those falls when the yard does not get tidied before snowfall-and then I have slime to deal with in the spring.
oh ish.
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Barbara Malagasy is the music of Madagascar. If you want to try it, listen to Rossy “Isle of Ghosts.”
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My adventure of the day is to ride the 3 miles home with 20 to 45 mph winds at my back about half the way, at my side about 1/4 of the way, and in my face 1/4 of the way. On a broken bike. If you never hear from me again, I did not make it.
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I’m waiting for, “…with a pack of hungry wolves chasing me as I pedal toward a hungry bear.” Good Lord, man!
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no appreciation for the art of exageration tgith
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My story for the day is the 52 MPH gusts we are having as a blizzard moves into central ND. All we are getting in southwest ND is wind. There is also a story today in the local paper about a bull moose who for some unknown reason moved into our area 20 miles west of here near Belfield and trashed a farmer’s new lawn mower. The farmer’s wife wondered why the mower was 15 feet from where she had left it, and then saw that it was all bent up and mangled. The Game and Fish department said that young bull moose will toss things around in the fall to demstrate their prowess and appeal to lady moose, and probably got his antlers in the mower handles and tossed it around and stomped on it. I don’t think we have and lady moose around her for him to impress, poor guy.
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What town are you in? I’ve got to look this up!
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The paper is the Dickinson Press.
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Here is a link to the article. The lawnmower didn’t have a chance.
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What a riot!
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Can you imagine what that must have looked like?
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Let’s see… I have a boatload of cassettes, some 8-tracks, two 8-track players, some vinyl, a turntable, and some 78’s that I found at an antique store that I thought would be fun if I could get them transcribed. Some old 1940’s Looney Tunes kids records.
Got a Sharp VCR/DVD player/recorder for Christmas a few years back. When I tried transposing my tapes onto disc, the machine wouldn’t read the disc. I called Sharp’s service line and they informed me that my machine had become obsolete within 6 months.
For years, I went without a computer because I didn’t want to have to play the upgrade game. I used to tell people, “I’m waiting for the technology curve to flatten out.” My wife finally twisted my arm hard enough for me to buy a laptop.
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Krista and Steve and those who remember all those “sob story” songs…anyone remember (late 50s) “Endless Sleep”? At least in that one she didn’t die…
I still have a few LPs, but lost the 45s with all my moves. I taped a lot of the LPs back in the early 80s. Finally started buying CDs in the 90s at Son’s urging. Have inherited a few of the old 78s from my early childhood — the Burl Ives folk songs, for one. Would like to have those machines that convert LPs and tapes to CD. I’m with Steve, though, this is where it stops.
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Then there was “Tell Laura I Love Her”. She doesn’t die; he does.
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And of course “Strange Things Happen” which you might also know as “Laurie”. Every year around Halloween I’d drag out Steve Goodman’s recording of this eerie chestnut.
Last night at the dance I met Laurie,
So lovely and warm, an angel of a girl.
Last night I fell in love with Laurie –
Strange things happen in this world.
As I walked her home,
She said it was her birthday.
I pulled her close and said
“Will I see you anymore?”
Then suddenly she asked for my sweater
And said that she was very, very cold.
I kissed her goodnight
At her door and started home,
Then thought about my sweater
And went right back instead.
I knocked at her door and a man appeared.
I told why I’d come, then he said:
“You’re wrong, son.
You weren’t with my daughter.
How can you be so cruel
To come to me this way?
My Laurie left this world on her birthday –
She died a year ago today.”
A strange force drew me to the graveyard.
I stood in the dark,
I saw the shadows wave,
And then I looked and saw my sweater
Lyin’ there upon her grave.
Strange things happen in this world.
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I’d forgotten that one! Thanks for the reminder. I miss Steve Goodman.
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My niece named her laptop Godfrey.
Just thought you would want to know that.
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Yes, we would. Thanks, Linda.
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