All technology ends sooner or later, whether through replacement or evolution. We don’t ride horses through the street anymore and we don’t crank up the Victrola. Or the Model T.
Today Nigel and I were in an electronics store. An older couple (mid-60s or so) were walking around and the man says to the woman, “How much were those VHS recorders?” He was talking about another store because the store we were in doesn’t sell VCRs anymore, unless you count the one model of DVD recorder/VCR combo machine: It’s nothing but HDD recorders and DVD recorders now.
The night before, I went to the iTunes store and downloaded an album I wanted (which I’d “requested”, btw). I realised that I can’t remember the last time I bought an actual CD; now, I mostly buy songs or complete albums on iTunes.
I’m one of those people who loves change, and technological change in particular. So for me, this is all good. But sometimes I think about the people who are left behind, the ones who are frightened by change, let alone technology. I wonder if there’s more that can be done to bring them along.
But right now, I gotta go cruise iTunes.
Addendum: I didn't buy anything on iTunes. I just browsed a bit. And that older couple I mentioned? When we left the store they were looking at DVD recorders and comparing various models.
3 comments:
I love technology too, and absolutely adore buying just the songs I want on iTunes, but sometimes I miss having a CD to look at the art, lyrics etc. I know I can easily find that stuff online, but there are still a few things that I will buy on CD.
I still love the sound of a record on a record player... =)
With all your electronic downloading, just make sure you are backing it all up somewhere!
FPH: I do sometimes buy a CD, like a compilation disk, for example, or maybe an older one that's really cheap. These days, some iTunes albums come with"Digital Booklets" that mimic many of the features of CD booklets--but the first one I got was formatted for computer screen reading, so you couldn't print it out if you were to burn the songs onto CD.
But speaking of artwork, that was the truly great thing about vinyl LPs.
Dawn:I'm one of those weird people who actually prefers the sound of CDs to records--I don't like the inherent hiss and eventual pops and clicks on vinyl.
I do frequent backups, and iTunes actually reminds me from time to time. But my Mac's Time Machine software automatically backs up all my files, including my digital music, onto an external hard drive, which is great protection in case there's a catastrophic failure before I make a manual backup.
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