We moderns are accustomed to rapid turnover in technology. Each year’s crop of smartphones is smarter than the previous year’s. Monophonic vinyl records gave way to stereophonic in my childhood, to cassette tapes in my youth, to digital CDs in my young adulthood, to mp3 files on portable players, to music streamed from an infinite music library in the cloud. New medications and medical technologies push the outer bounds of normal, healthy lifespans ever farther into the future.
“Monophonic vinyl records gave way to stereophonic in my childhood, to cassette tapes in my youth, to digital CDs in my young adulthood, to mp3 files on portable players, to music streamed from an infinite music library in the cloud.”
Omitted from this lists of progressions and evolutions was the 8-track, which fitted between stereophonic records and the cassettes of my youth and came with the first car I owned, an Oldsmobile Cutlass (with tubeless Goodyear whitewalls). While I do not bemoan the improvement with each iteration, I do reflect on each costing me money. I have bought many of the same songs sung by Willie Nelson in each of the seven (7) formats pre- and post- “The IRS Tapes,” and I hope every penny of royalties that were due him found its way into his pocket.
Great article. I love the diversity of topics you write about. Thanks!
“Monophonic vinyl records gave way to stereophonic in my childhood, to cassette tapes in my youth, to digital CDs in my young adulthood, to mp3 files on portable players, to music streamed from an infinite music library in the cloud.”
Omitted from this lists of progressions and evolutions was the 8-track, which fitted between stereophonic records and the cassettes of my youth and came with the first car I owned, an Oldsmobile Cutlass (with tubeless Goodyear whitewalls). While I do not bemoan the improvement with each iteration, I do reflect on each costing me money. I have bought many of the same songs sung by Willie Nelson in each of the seven (7) formats pre- and post- “The IRS Tapes,” and I hope every penny of royalties that were due him found its way into his pocket.
Ah, yes - 8-tracks. And reel-to-reel, for the ultimate in-home system. The latter were finicky, the former comparatively indestructible.