Most often, that's also the age range that'll chuckle and badmouth it (when in groups) if they see a walkman in public. At least in my area. Overall I still sort of belong to the "younger" generation being in my 20s, a lot of people I deal with daily are around the 20 age range to late teens and I'd say it really depends on the character of someone. That decides whether they want to give it a shot or not. Curiosity plays a major part in that and it has to come from themselves, introducing them to it can help, but if it doesn't make them curious, it's likely not their thing (or at least yet). Phones have the comfort of having everything available on demand, on-the-go and in small. You can also chat on it, surf the web and check your mails. Besides there's a lot of prejudices against tapes and lots of advertisement being done for streaming services and their quality improvements, so due to all of that there's often a mindset in place that makes them unwilling to give something old a try, especially if it takes more effort to use. Let's face it, lots of people these days don't even have the patience to sit through an entire album anymore and rather just pick one or two songs of it, let alone having to bother with thinking about what tape to take with them for a trip, making a carefully crafted mixtape or the likes. They just start Spotify and let the algorithm decide where it takes them and add some songs they like here and there to one of their playlists - it's quick and not as "bothersome" as sitting through the recording in realtime and even planning things ahead. That's just how it is. Of all the people in that age range I know there's one who actually wants a walkman (though issues prevent them from aquiring one), and two or three who actually have a deep understanding of my hobby and reasons for using it but (actively) still don't wish to give it a shot due to the comfort streaming gives. The majority considers it a quirk and I understand why they'd think so. Besides, streaming and the likes can be played on more than one device, most devices have native bluetooth support and so on. Just think of Alexa and other digital assistants. People like to just say a command like "play my X playlist" and hear their music without having to do anything. You see, all this taken into account there are plenty of reasons why they laugh at it when they see it. To them it's dated, clunky, old, bad quality and way too much effort to use - in short: "laughable". Partially I can understand why they do and think so, but I also think it can be a bit narrowminded to ignore anything that's old as there's a lot of valuable stuff and quality-things that just so happen to be old. But if they don't want to, then that's their decision. It's them missing out. PS: Regarding the difficult times topic, if not for staying at home for this long I wouldn't have discovered two hidden tracks on two Hybrid albums (on CD). It really allows me to experience them all anew. Just need to find a way to get these songs on tape, DAT or MD yet... Of course they're hidden in such a way that Windows Media Player initially failed to copy them onto my harddrive and doesn't find them either. That'll be fun to figure out and makes me wonder if I could keep the tracks hidden on DAT with the same logic...
Hi Sly. All of that is so true. If I could get my son to sit down and take the trouble to listen to music through good headphones or ear buds he would be surprised just how much better the music sounds. I mysf have never been interested in computers and downloads so I cannot comment on the quality of playback. I have always enjoyed taping from CD on to either tape or mini-disc in real time because I enjoy doing it. Your article is a very good read . I shall continue to try and get my son to have a listen. If it's the size of this medium that they dint like and having to swap a tape or mini-disc over, my mz-e900 is half the size and thinner and lighter than his phone. Take care.
Ten years ago I lived in a house backing onto a playing field. I was out gardening and some youngsters were obviously on the other side of the hedge playing music quite loudly. My thought "this ones not bad" Other side of the hedge "skip to a different track" My next thought "I recognise this one" Other side of the hedge "skip to a different track" This went on for about five minutes until they wandered off. I was extremely tempted to shout "For Gods sake finish listening to one track". They obviously didn't have the patience to do that. Regarding the appeal of Old Technology I recall that when I was in my teens, and the Walkman was the latest, greatest but unaffordable gadget I was buying and collecting old Valve (Tube) radios and fixing or breaking them. At school I was always the boy asked to lace up the Reel to Reel Tape Recorder for language lessons. "Free Music" mean't sitting through the two hour long Top 40 with my cassette recorder linked to my AM radio through a home made patch cable, and using the precious tape to record the tracks I liked. There again I did go on to become an Electronics Engineer.
Hi Longman. So true. I dont think my son has ever listened to even a single track to the end without changing to another. When I left school I went into radio/TV repairs just before the transistor appeared. I use to be very good at soldering and did work on a few transistor radios but cannot pluck up the courage to open up the four units I have that are faulty. The old valves- that brings back some fond memories. When you're young you dont seem to bother about the damage you might end up doing.
When you paid 20p for something at the local Jumble Sale you definitely didn't care. I still remember trying to find out what was inside of a large IF transformer by trying to tear open the casing with a pair of pliers. After about ten minutes I realised there was a screw in the end and if I undid it the cover just slid off. That is how you learn. Nowadays I wonder how much the Radios and Clocks I destroyed would be worth now. There again they were next to worthless then. I did put a lot of time and effort into re-casing a Marconi transistor radio which was in what I thought was a stupid Jewell Box type case into something more to my taste looking like a minature guitar amp. It actually got used as the families main radio for quite a few years.
When I first started radio/ TV repairs I went out to peoples homes to repair. If not they were taken into the workshop. After 6 months I worked in the workshop doing with the more complicated repairs. They were the days equipment was able to be repaired at a reasonable price. Nothing was hardly just thrown away like today. Like you I use to take things apart and put them back together. As you say that is how you learned.
It’s funny you say people today never listen to a complete album nor know what’s on the album, they just know the popular tracks. Some years ago the company i used to work for always flew us somewhere new for Christmas parties. I remember we flew to France and had a chateau, where we had the chateau to ourselves. They had a night club in the chateau, all the equipment was there but no music. Well i took over the DJ part and thought i’ll play some music, i had my D6C and some cassettes. I got everyones music players and phones to use as my source of music, going through everyones players to find an queue the music up. I found loads of good albums, but when i went in to look for the tracks to play i found they have only downloaded the popular songs and all the good tracks were missing. What a disappointment. Just goes to show they have know clue and will only download what everyone else is listening to and not the whole album. I was at Munich high-end show about 2 years ago and i was in the Naim room, they had this young idiot demoing the system. I was attracted when i walked in as they were playing some nice tracks. I sad down to listen and the idiot that was demoing kept changing the track before the end of each track and was only playing the parts he liked, i got up and left the room as the guy was an idiot with know clue. Some months back my sister and her boyfriend came round to mine, and they listen to some tunes. They loved it and her boyfriend kept asking do i have this that and the other, i kept digging out most of what he asked for on vinyl. Anyway at one point i played an album i know my sister liked tracks from, i did not tell her what i was playing i just kept saying you will like this. She did not know what i was playing and kept saying this track is amazing, it turns out she had only downloaded the commercial popular tracks. I said to her that is what happens if you download some tracks and not a whole album. The album was Mark Ronson’s - Uptown Special and the only track she had was Uptown Funk. Other tracks on this album are far better, tracks like Feel Right or I can’t lose to name just 2. Anyway at the end of the day, she is now talking about saving up about £10000 to buy a system as she enjoyed mine so much. She want’s me to help her choose a nice system, i said once she has the money i will help her put something together. I will be able to put something together for her that will be good for that money. She liked my speakers and wanted something like that, i said to her it would not work in her room. I was willing to give her mine when i upgrade but like i said it will not work in her room. These speakers needs to be away from the wall, i have them a good 2 meters away from the wall.
That is certainly true with kids today. They only listen to what their mates are listening to. It's like they are incapable to try out new things by themselves. When I asked to listen to what my son was listening to I could not believe it. I couldn't even understand what they were saying. If you ask kids these days what is a lp or ep they wouldn't have a clue.
Yes they want to fit in, with their friends. But also did you really listen to what your son was listening to? I do listen to what my nieces & nephews are listening to, so i can get where they are coming from. At the end of the day i can see why they like it but most of the time i can tell them why it’s not for me.
Yes I do. My younger days were completely different to what children experience today. There were no mobile phones,laptops and even television had only recently appeared in homes. The homes that could afford it. You try and explain to your children how much everything has changed and try to explain to them just how lucky they are. This is the society we now live in. All parents can do is listen to them and try to make them understand.
That's what I do every night, when my dad goes to bed...! It's necessary because his room is just opposite the wall the TV/computer monitor is on, with my Sanyo Soundbase sitting right below it, so any sound at an "Appreciable" volume level disturbs him. But it's not a big deal... as I've three different headphones to choose from. The only problem is: Of the Bluetooth-style pairs, the JLab Rewind will randomly break connection if there's a lull (pause) in the audio playing, with no guarantee they'll reconnect with this Chromebook if it does... as opposed to the JBL's, which only drop the connection the moment it's made! Funny how neither have that issue with my phone.... Then there's my Blue Lola's: A wonderful on/over-the-ear $250.00 set that requires I first uncoil the cable before inserting one end into the headset... a cable that needs a serious cleaning, so I don't play "Give it a twist!" to get a proper connection... that I find myself always brushing my hair back when I put them on to keep it out of my ears--again and again every few minutes, whether I've left them on or taken them off in the lull to give my ears a rest from them being pressed on by the surround pads of the cuffs! Then there's the sound: There's no special equalization or low-end bass enhancement program/app installed or available that'll work with this Chromebook, so it's a matter of cycling through the ones programmed into the Bluetooth headsets, or just bearing without it with the Lola's.
It’s not just children, look how much people are complaining about the lockdown at the moment. I say to them we are very lucky it happened now, imagine if it happened 15 or 20 years ago? Now we have internet / good internet connection, so we have access and good communication with people around us plus we can work from home. Imagine 20 years ago no Zoom, Skype, FaceTime, online gaming, home delivery of food ect.
As I said now is a completely different time compared to years ago, but I'm sure even 20 years ago, which is not that long, we would have been able to endure it. We would have had no choice. Imagine what it must have been like during the great plagues centuries ago.
I know someone (now retired) who lives in a £500000+ bungalow, paid for by doing TV and audio repairs in his garage. His reputation meant people took the equipment to him. In the 1990s a friend was delighted when after having it a couple of days he charged her £75 for fixing her Aiwa midi HiFi. The shop she had bought in from a couple of years earlier had kept it over a month before telling her it was Beyond Economic Repair and she would be better off spending £250 on a new one. Personally, I have always worked for large companies. I did my apprenticeship at British Aerospace Filton where, amongst other things, the UKs Concorde aircraft were built. I remember my boss telling me how when he was in the Navy he got permission from on high to get a transistor out of stores to see what it looked like and what it did. I just had a funny thought. In the mid 1980s we got an old guy into the department to help with some wiring schedules. He said how in the early 1960s you used to read about the computer wizz kids earning £100 a week, and that back then he had been one. Now I am the old guy saying how in the early 1980s a Walkman cost £100 and you could buy a house for £15000. If you have time on your hands have a look at this guys website http://www.twiglet.com/ Although I don't remember him he did the same apprenticeship, so I remember many of the people and places he mentions.
Well i don’t know what it would have been like during the plague, but i know one thing they did not have to put up with the crackpot conspiracy theorists. Which is at least one less thing they had to deal with.
I was reading about The Plague. Apparently they killed all the stray cats and dogs thinking they were spreading disease. A big mistake when it was being spread by rats. So maybe they weren't so wise.
The older generation always likes to compare now to back then. If you wanted to learn a trade apprenticeships were the way to go. Hands on experience plus the theory. I certainly miss it. My Brother In Law builds all his radio equipment from scratch and he has re elted a couple of my walkmans ut alas I do not have his knowledge or expertise. Children these days have no idea what's inside their phones or I-pads that they use.
[/QUOTE] All this reminds me of what i heard a comic say about how it was when you had an 8-track in the car: None of this "jump-jump"... if a track ended while you were pullin'-up to someplace, you drove around the block until it came back on! And it's good to see some parental involvement/interest in what their kids & the current generation are listening to... Remember folks: The moment we stop listening to new ideas, that's the moment we start getting old! But back to the "hits only" selection of music: Does anyone remember 7" 45rpm records? "Singles" we called them. Why? Because they usually had only one-single song on them that we liked. And because it was cheap & easy to get and use, many of us built our collection solely around them! Spotify and all that aren't much different--in those respects... so let's lay-off about what some folks have & haven't heard. And let's also remember the joy we had of either skipping over tracks on an album to heard what we most wished to in the moment, or fast-winding tapes to do the same, and be glad it's now so-much easier... at least for those whom can/do learn how to operate the equipment. And as a long-time consumer of second-hand hardware, I'd like to say I've learned one thing long ago... and that's: Old tech is good, as long as it's still usable.
