I don't know if this has been posted, I don't remember seeing it but here's the forum before 2003! AO is a "newbie" https://web.archive.org/web/20040405043838/http://frost.bbboy.net/boombox
Wow. and almost sixteen years later the top post is still accurate https://web.archive.org/web/2004122...boy.net/boombox-viewthread?forum=3&thread=695
Even early on there was a lot of interest, I think the early guys like Jens and AO and PCS were grabbing cool units as soon as ebay and craigslist went live. I'd love to know how the early "collectors" started, I joined after I found a bunch of Walkmans and a huge AIWA but I started from nothing and checked out this forum and audio karma and was excited to see I wasn't crazy. These guys had the cream of the crop before any of the buying sites were around, they had to do it the old way with boots on the ground. Edit, I remember AO not really liking internet buying he mentioned he found his stuff in the wild.
While the internet is new, to me Walkman / Boombox collecting is just an evolution of radio collecting, which I was doing in the early 1980s, once I had grown out of buying them at Saturday morning Jumble sales (conveniently held in the village hall my parents garden backed onto) then dismantling them in the afternoon to see how they were made. At their house, while clearing out some paperwork, I found this, most likely copied from the local paper by my late Father who knew I would find it interesting. I'm not sure of the date, but from at least twelve years ago. The only thing that has changed is that time has moved on, and what was the latest and greatest gear is now considered to be an Antique. Yesterday I was watching LGRs review of a 2005 Acer Ferrari laptop, and there were comments like "I had one of those at elementary school but spilled Coke on it" and "my Grandma used to have one of those". I am sure many people who watched the video would now like one themselves as an "antique" retro computer, especially as it was such an object of desire when in came out. p.s I just realised I went through a computer collecting phase in the early 1990s. Same story different item. At one point I had a BBC Micro, Dragon 32, Sharp MZ80K, and a Research Machines 380Z. The going rate for any of those was less than a tenner each back than.
Longman, I can't tell you how many computers I walked by at the thrifts, even knowing they had pretty good value. I've seen Osborne Portable, Apple II with all accessories, lot's of Commodores and many more. They were just too big for me and I don't sell or flip my stuff unless it's to a friend.
I actually sold all of the ones I mentioned, and that was back in the days before eBay when you sent an advert by Snail Mail to Micromart Magazine and then waited a couple of weeks for it to be published. Luckily most went to the same buyer whose friend was visiting my area the next week and collected them. I'm sure they would be worth a lot more now than what I sold them for back then.
This was also my first post to dear old Litfan. Shame the images no longer load, he had one of the nicest collections in the UK. My small collection of 10 or so boomboxes currently boasts three of his. Definately keepers. 20 years ago this hobby was quite different. There was only a few of us collecting back then and finding great clean rare boxes in the wild was still very much a reality. I would visit one or two carboot sales (flea markets) every weekend and would usually find something. Usually a GF-9191 or a Hitachi TRK-8190 but sometimes a real gem. I found a mint JVC 550 once plus I recall a PC-5 which cost me £5. I still have that one too actually. But it could be done back then, the eBay saturation effect hadn't even began to set in. eBay was still a good source. The big bucks went on GF-777's and GF-9000's. Those 9000's were going for about £800. RC-90's were around but weren't quite king of the hill for eBay tokens back then. £500 would net you a fair one. But the real fun was to be had by finding the poorly listed units. You just had to trawl through. There was no Boombox category so you could find them anywhere. I usually searched for 'Sharp radio' etc as cassette often was called tape so you could never be sure it was listed as one but radio is radio so that was a safer bet. Walkman's was a different story, I had to just go through the new arrivals in the 'portable cassette player' category every day. Also, buy it now wasn't really a thing back then so watching auctions to the end was the norm. Usually on the train back from work getting stressed out as the connection on my Ericcson phone was so poor. Anyway, nice to see these again, thanks. Also, nice to see you lot agaian. Dimi, you OK sir? It's been a while huh?
I was looking for something on the Wayback Machine and just checked out the link, the URL is goofy and you'd never know it was for a forum. I remember one of the members posted his ebay secrets, some of the spellings he would use to find equipment. The ebay search engine was very literal so you had to think like someone that never owned a box. I didn't use ebay much in the beginning because it was a trust issue, before Paypal you sent the money and trusted they'd send you the goods. There were a few brokers that might take your money and hold it until the item arrived and then send it to the seller but it was very crude. You guys had the cool stuff, it got me motivated, I'd seen a few high-end boxes and players but not the stuff you guys were showing. Cassettes were pretty much considered crap in the 2000's so I was finding 2-5 players and week and usually a pretty nice boombox or two, they were a little harder, the contractors and mechanics were still cranking them up.
great link. sadly i can't find myselfe there - surely i was there (...from pocketcalculatorshow allready registered in 1999 !)
This thread inspired me to check when I joined Ebay and it was December 2001. The second item I bought using it never turned up and there didn't seem to be anything I could do about it, so that put me off for about six months. Then I was selling more than buying, mainly new computer parts, like a load of new boxed Celeron processors that I picked up for a very good price at a Radio Rally. However, I doubt if my profits paid for the £400 I spent on a 3 MPixel digital camera so I could put pictures in my listings. That was one of the differences between Ebay and selling platforms like Micromart. You could actually see what you were thinking of buying. The other difference was the auction format. The local paper used to have several dozen items in the "Audio and TV" section each Friday, but a large number always seemed to be along the lines of "Sharp Radio Cassette Recorder. Old but works well. Bargain at £40". Even if the advert had said something like GF9191, then before the World Wide Web how would you have found out what that was ? Of course everything was collect only as well. Going back to the 1950s Radios I had at least three books showing all the famous models, but boomboxes and personal stereos were considered to just be a consumer good like a Microwave Oven when you could still buy decent ones new.
I found the backup of the site years ago too, but could not see any familiar name. I didn't dig very much, I confess. Very curious... welcome back AO.
I agree. I have just been browsing through and found this thread https://web.archive.org/web/2003112...bboy.net/boombox-viewthread?forum=10&thread=1 A shame we can't see the pictures. Twin MiniDisc decks but no Cassette. XM satellite radio tuner instead of AM/FM and to top it all a 40Gbyte hard drive It is a good job Sony didn't listen to those ideas although they probably sounded good at the time. Interestingly, the iPod had been out a couple of years when that was written, although it hadn't adopted USB at that point which I suspect limited its appeal outside of Apple enthusiasts.
That was one of Retro's ideas, box looked great shame i think he only posts on boomboxery like so many others now
What I like about the early guys is they created something interesting when the rest of the world was telling us how juvenile cassettes were. I knew the format might not survive against the goliath MP3 format but the equipment was so cool and these guys brought it out everyday and showed me units that I'd never seen before. I'd love to hear these guys stories, they knew about all of these treasures, even back then Conions were over $800.00, that was close to 20 years ago! I read with wide-eyes about the coolest audio equipment I'd never been exposed to. I think most of us found something cool and looked it up, then BOOM, found the Pocket Calculator Show and all these neat little units. A lot of those guys might not be posting but I have a feeling they're still looking
Hey Walkgirl, always nice to see the waving kitty. Many of the old guard are still around. Many can be found over on Boomboxery, sadly we've lost a handfull along the way and then there's some like myself who simply lost interest. It was good fun though. There was something raw about the hunt, the search for those illusive gems and they were out there. As the eBay penetration took hold then folks began to appear who were only interested in making cash. For me this was the ugly side of the hobby and it really brought the worst out in people. We saw it on this site and it just spoilt it for me and I soon lost interest. That said, I stilll value the friendships I've made along the way. Fascinating, insightfull and dedicated folks who have a genuine interest in these items. For instance Autoreverser with his Clonemen, this is 100% what this hobby is all about. Auto actually visited us in France last month oddly enough, great guy and a true friend. Great memories of good firends TooCool, Samovar, Deech & Deliverance, not forgetting my dear friend NevOne in Bucharest who probably has one of the finest collections I've ever seen. My RC550 still has prode of place gathering dust in our lounge and I hate to say it but I 'think' it's the only boombox I own.
To answer your question about Jens...Jens AKA member TPR has indeed vanished completely, presumably he still owns the leginday TPR-950 but the last report I had was that he'd drifted off into some kind of bavarian utopia along with his rather impressive set of chisels. As for my other fellow mods, let me see, does anyone remember Panasonic Fan? Sadly I don't have a clue what happened to Bill but I can assure you he was a very decent guy outised his rather gruff moderator persona. Paul AKA Stereo2Go/Pocketcalculatorshow lives in Atlanta Georgia with his new partner. We speak very sporadically and he seems very well. As for Retro, we got on well but don't speak any more. As far as I know he still does graphic design in NYC, another very humble and dedicated guy from back in the day.
