10 Things That Will Soon Disappear Forever (And 7 That Refuse to Die)

Some earlier posts talk of cassette tapes. Yes, I still have two functioning stereo cassette decks, and they still worked as of a few years ago when I digitized all of my cassette tape collections to convert them to MP3.

I still have these decks, but do these decks still work or their belts and rubber wheels all dried up? I do not know. But I will admit that I have not listened again to the resultant MP3's, but know where they are stored in my Buffalo NAS.

Here's something curious. I recently discovered that people are still trading open reel-to-reel tape decks, the rigor of the 70s. And they were not going for cheap. We are talking thousands of dollars for a good high-quality deck.

What the heck? How do they get blank tapes for them? And to use them for what? There's no way these old expensive decks, as nice as they are, can match the specs of modern digital high-quality sound recording equipment.
 
Sojourner said:
All the ones on the Disappear Soon list seem reasonable to me... except #2: blackouts. I guess it depends on what the definition of "soon" is in this context, but I have serious doubts that occasional power outages here in my neighborhood will stop happening anytime soon. For that to happen, the price of whole-home batteries would have to drop substantially and/or the power lines running to my neighborhood would have to be replaced and re-installed underground.

We have, on average, around two long-ish (1+ hour) power outages per year in my neighborhood. While inconvenient and annoying, I don't see enough incentive for the power company or individual homeowners to invest a lot of money to completely eradicate this problem.
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That's the one I thought was a bit off, also. I've often read how bad are energy grid is and how huge blackouts are likely. The massive expense makes fixing it difficult.
 
NW-Bound said:
...

Here's something curious. I recently discovered that people are still trading open reel-to-reel tape decks, the rigor of the 70s. And they were not going for cheap. We are talking thousands of dollars for a good high-quality deck.

What the heck? How do they get blank tapes for them? And to use them for what? There's no way these old expensive decks, as nice as they are, can match the specs of modern digital high-quality sound recording equipment.
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Maybe just nostalgia/hobbyist level interest. People collect much odder things.

But like the 'special' distortion that a tube amp provides, magnetic tape has its own unique distortion properties. Magnetic saturation and other non-linearity is different from tube/transistor. I have heard of audio engineers running a track, or entire final recording, through a magnetic tape recorder, recording the playback, just to gain that distortion. There are tape simulators built into audio editing software. For some ears, or some applications, digtal is just too 'pristine'.

There is plenty of tape available. Radio shows would record/archive stuff, I think collectors can find boxes and boxes of once used tape cheap.

Cassettes just don't make sense for this, they are too limiting, unless you were going for the special effect, like they change a film segment to B&W and add grain and scratches to make it look old.

-ERD50
 
GalaxyBoy said:
After my recent retirement :)dance: btw) I had to actually fax paperwork to the 401(k) company. Dropped by the local UPS store who wanted $1.50 per page as if it actually cost them anywhere close to that. So I went by the old office and used the multifunction machine (we used to call them copy machines).
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There are a handful of free faxing websites you can use if you just need to send a few pages. I had to fax two pages to my local DMV tag office recently, so I used FaxZero. It seems there are still quite a few places that will only accept signed documents via fax or originals by mail. Sometimes I wonder if the people working there are still using Windows 98 and 56 kilobaud modems... :rolleyes:
 
Sojourner said:
There are a handful of free faxing websites you can use if you just need to send a few pages. I had to fax two pages to my local DMV tag office recently, so I used FaxZero. It seems there are still quite a few places that will only accept signed documents via fax or originals by mail. Sometimes I wonder if the people working there are still using Windows 98 and 56 kilobaud modems... :rolleyes:
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Legalities and security.

Of course, if you are emailing something that then gets robo-faxed, there goes your security.
 
One more thing that refuses to die: the notion of the paperless office.
 
Sojourner said:
There are a handful of free faxing websites you can use if you just need to send a few pages. I had to fax two pages to my local DMV tag office recently, so I used FaxZero. It seems there are still quite a few places that will only accept signed documents via fax or originals by mail. Sometimes I wonder if the people working there are still using Windows 98 and 56 kilobaud modems... :rolleyes:
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There are free fax apps you can download to your smartphone.
 
GrayHare said:
One more thing that refuses to die: the notion of the paperless office.
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:LOL: I remember that was 'in thing' about 45 years (or more) ago...right after people gave up on The Jetsons' flying cars, this seemed to be more within reach.
 
meierlde said:
As indeed are tube type amplifiers. It appears that because they handle distortion differently than transistors some like the sound better.
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The stereo/hi-fi tube snobs are a tiny fraction of the tube market. The buyers that keep the tubes in production are mostly guitar players. There are lots of old amps and new amps produced in the last 80 or so years that run on tubes. Until 40 years ago there was only really tube amps. After that the solid state amps were for practice only or for those playing ultra clean. Rock, blues, a lot of jazz, etc. wanted the warmth or the hairiness or the crunchy drive that you only got with a tube amp.

That's been changing over the last 20 years or so. The modeling amps have been getting better and better. They use either solid state analog technology (op amps and such) or more commonly digital simulation to make the same sorts of warm, hairy, or crunchy sounds that you used to need tubes to get. They've gotten so good that most young guitar players are using these kind of amps. They are getting better all the time and really for most purposes they have become almost indistinguishable.

A lot of older (30+) guitar players still want tube amps because it was what they grew up with but as they age and are replaced by younger players it won't be long until the need for tubes drops off on the guitar amp side. When that happens the hi-fi tube snobs won't be enough to sustain the production tubes.
 
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When it comes to tubes and vinyl, I think the appeal goes beyond sound. There's a visual or tactile element lost. Feel the warmth of the amp. See the glow in the airholes. Watch the vinyl spin.

Youtube had hundreds of thousands of spinning records.
 
I was around 12 when I built my first electron tube triode radio. Will never forget the magic of the filament heating up and hearing a radio station in the earphones. Also had to string a long wire antenna to get signal. Later a magic eye tuning indicator tube added. It was simply the most amazing experience. Yet I have a box various electron tubes in the shop, one day I'll put them on eBay. Along with a bunch of Germanium transistors. 2N174s anyone? How about a few rotary dial telephones, genuine Bell system, and a Western electric.

Nowadays I have nothing that uses tubes. Though one day I may just for the nostalgia make a magic eye tuning indicator for my Pioneer transistor stereo.

The other stuff gone by the wayside is the Strowger linefinder switches for telccos. How about Patchcord switchboards, with Lily Tomlin inquiring if this is the party to whom I am speaking?

Does anyone remember what a Nuvistor is? Or a Nixie tube?
 
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Nobody has mentioned the wired telephone yet. My husband makes fun of me because I not only insist on a landline, but also have a wired, wall-mounted telephone. I always told him that it was so that we could order an emergency pizza in a blackout. Finally, one day we got home just as the power went out. By the time I got back from the pizza place with my pizza, SDG&E had the transformer fixed and were packing up their big truck.
 
ls99 said:
...Does anyone remember what a Nuvistor is? Or a Nixie tube?
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Of course I do.

A while back, I mentioned a vibrator for car radios, and nobody knew what I was talking about. It's a mechanical vibrating switch used in the voltage step-up inverter to boost the voltage of a 6-V car battery up to the 100V range to run a car radio using tubes. I played with it as a kid.
 
ls99 said:
Bye, four wheel drive's manual front locking hubs. My 79 Chevy K20 pick up had it. The 98, and 06 GMCs are push button. The 06 eve has an auto 4wd. Never used it, not sure it is fast enough to lock when needed. Prefer engaging before I need it.
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My '03 GMC pickup truck has the auto4WD button, I use it frequently in the rain, and there is about a 1/2 second delay before it kicks in. For that reason I press lightly on the throttle to not be hard on the transfer case and transmission. I also use it after a snowfall when shady areas of the roads still have snow on them and sunlit areas are dry.

CaptTom said:
I have yet to see an automatic transmission that can rock a car out of a snow drift.
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It can be done, I've done it a bunch of times but admittedly it is harder to get the timing right than with a clutch.
 
JoeWras said:
When it comes to tubes and vinyl, I think the appeal goes beyond sound. There's a visual or tactile element lost. Feel the warmth of the amp. See the glow in the airholes. Watch the vinyl spin.

Youtube had hundreds of thousands of spinning records.
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I still have my folks old 1947 Philco AM radio that I listened to in the 60s. Still works although it does take a while to warm up. I turn it on every once in awhile but unfortunately the radio programs and music have changed and generally not of any more interest. :(

Cheers!
 
travelover said:
I worked in the US auto industry. We switched over to the metric system in the 80's.
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So you know a partial switch back was implemented in the late 90's (?) so now we have dual dimensions on most products. They are designed with metric system and marketed with conventional dimensions. You end up with things like 225/70-17 tires!
 
Hyperborea said:
The stereo/hi-fi tube snobs are a tiny fraction of the tube market. The buyers that keep the tubes in production are mostly guitar players. There are lots of old amps and new amps produced in the last 80 or so years that run on tubes. Until 40 years ago there was only really tube amps. After that the solid state amps were for practice only or for those playing ultra clean. Rock, blues, a lot of jazz, etc. wanted the warmth or the hairiness or the crunchy drive that you only got with a tube amp.

That's been changing over the last 20 years or so. The modeling amps have been getting better and better. They use either solid state analog technology (op amps and such) or more commonly digital simulation to make the same sorts of warm, hairy, or crunchy sounds that you used to need tubes to get. They've gotten so good that most young guitar players are using these kind of amps. They are getting better all the time and really for most purposes they have become almost indistinguishable.

A lot of older (30+) guitar players still want tube amps because it was what they grew up with but as they age and are replaced by younger players it won't be long until the need for tubes drops off on the guitar amp side. When that happens the hi-fi tube snobs won't be enough to sustain the production tubes.
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Not sure about the "snob" part of your comment (maybe true maybe not but personally I also have very powerful SS amps that cost even more than my tube amp - I just like the tube sound so most of the time I listen to tubes).
Anyway, don't know if you are aware that there are power tubes recently designed and currently in production that are used mainly for Hi-Fi power amp applications such as the TungSol KT-120 and KT-150. As far as I know these tubes are not used in guitar amps. ( I use the KT 150's in my amp - wonderful, really great sounding tubes)
 
I spent a lot of time convincing buyers of big trucks to spec automatic transmissions over manuals. The auto is way ahead in performance and productivity. In cars I expect auto makers will need to charge a premium for a manual transmission at some point and that will determine the future availability of manuals. I never heard anyone say they love to use a clutch before so I think an automated clutch/manual shift would be fun to drive. The tiptronic gearbox works this way.
 
jazz4cash said:
So you know a partial switch back was implemented in the late 90's (?) so now we have dual dimensions on most products. They are designed with metric system and marketed with conventional dimensions. You end up with things like 225/70-17 tires!
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I missed any backtracking. Yea, tires are definitely a weird mix of metric and imperial.
 
AllDone said:
I miss my manual transmission.
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Me too. Unfortunately my left knee doesn't wan't to do clutches no more. I wouldn't have thought that the slight pressure when applying the clutch would amount to a hill of beans but after a couple of weeks of driving an automatic transmission car my left knee pain went away. Rats and mice!
 
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