how things have changed
 

Watching a classic Byran Adams video Heaven, he uses tons of CRT tvs, all different types to replace his band and even audience in auditorium.:rockon::rockon:I think something of a tribute to TV that made videos possible too showing its influence. IN twenty years, someone can point to them and say, that's what TVS look like.

Today I saw a neighbor down the street breaking down a box for a sony HDTV, how much wa$ that?$ I still watch low def, TVs almost free til gone.

Sometimes we get CRT tvs at the recycler I work for. When I put them in our store, sometimes kids as old as teens will say "why do these TVs have such big backs?!"

This generation won't know what a CRT is. Or a carburator, corded phone, wrist watch, encyclopedia, or a board game, hehe.

Want to have some fun? Ask a teen to call up & order a pizza, and point him/her to a rotary dial phone... I did that to my wife's nephew age 19; he's no dummy; advanced math student at USC). He figured it out, but it took a minute!

Charles

That could come back to haunt a person, though... That teen could hand you THEIR phone and say "order a pizza, without calling the pizza place"! :)

Speaking of rotary phone... My nephew came over last week. I have several rotary's and he wanted to call his mom. I handed him the phone... wired, of course, and he punched at the holes in the dial for a long time, getting more and more frustrated. He's 13, and got MAD at the phone... He slammed the receiver on the base and yelled at it.

I got the phone away from him, and operated it for him and handed it back to him. His mom answered, and he told her to come and get him. He doesent like being at my house. She came and got him, and I told her how he reacted to my phone.

I dont understand how people function in the REAL world anymore.

I wouldn't allow anyone; child or adult, into my house if they get angry at inanimate objects. Too scary.

Charles

I mastered rotary dial phones before touchtones back when I was about 6 years old in the mid 90's(and still use rotary dial phones), so that joke won't work on me.

Tom C.

I'm 34 and the main phone in this house, up until around '98, was an old green rotary dial wall phone. I still have an old Western Electric 500 series rotary desk phone as a back-up.

My grandma used the rotary phone until she died a few years ago.

She also had the "party line" until they discontinued the service. Remember the party line? It was one phone line that you and your neighbors share, and you could pick up the phone and listen to them talk (and they could do the same to you). I remember being a kid and wanting to call home and all the old biddys in the neighborhood holding up the line. One time I got in trouble for yelling "get off the phone!" into the phone, hehe.

My grandma also used the rotary phone up until she died in 1999.
On another note but related to this discussion could you imagine an average teenage ipod listeners reaction to selecting sides of an LP record album with a rotary phone dial? Well that's how you get my Seeburg HSC1 home stereo console to play music. And instead of something you put in your pocket and stick little earbuds in your ear this baby is 6 feet long and rocks the house.

I have a Western Electric dial wall phone as my only phone that rings (except some cordless handsets). When someone calls, I want to hear real ringing, not those wimpy "whee-dee-dee" or "blub-blub-blub" sounds of electronic devices.

I was the same way until I got married. We now have a cordless phone that chirps. The wife got used to the bells in my old phones after a while :D

I grew up not only with rotary phones, but also we lived in the country and were on a party line system. I think there were around 6-7 neighbors on this "branch" of the party line, and when a phone call came in, everybody's phones rang at the same time. Each subscriber had a unique phone ring, a combination of long and short rings, so you had to listen to the phone rings to determine if the phone call was for you or for a neighbor. As CoogarXR mentioned, anyone on the party line picking up their phone could hear your conversation. I remember my mother spending what seemed like hours listening in on other neighbor ladies' conversations (and I'm sure they did the same!). I recall one neighbor had teenage kids, which kept the phone system tied up for hours, much to everyone else's chagrin. Can you imagine people putting up with that kind of phone system nowadays? We moved to town in 1966 and got a private line, which was like heaven. Mom stayed with a rotary phone until it broke and she couldn't buy a rotary replacement. Now she's using a pushbutton phone, but has never changed to touchtone service.

Even at my relatively young age, the changes have been quite apparant & shocking to me. I won't even begin to get into the computer and hi-tech waste issue...but as far as TVs are concerned, it sucks how things have changed. My mom's side had Zeniths and my fathers side bought S0ny's, Hitachis's, Mitsubishis, one of em had a huge old woodpaneled Pioneer projection set.
And now? Every single one of those tv's is gone, save for my father's '86 S0ny trinitron 27" and one from my mom's mother's house: a 13" Quasar (matsushita) from 85 with the remote that is a smalled down version of the tv. There was a 19" chromacolor in that house which I later trashed in haste.

We didn't get rid of our party line phone until 1990-ish. The CO (Altel nee Allied Telephone) was too cheap to run enough trunk lines to our community of about 250. Private lines were available, but you had to pay an outrageous mileage charge to the next station 17 miles away. Something like $100/mo I think. They didn't play nice with touch tone either.

Rings were done on a frequency-resonant basis. A "regular" phone would ring when the neighbor's phone rang, but the "party line" phone would only vibrate. The ringer would hit the bells when your ringer frequency was sent by the CO.

I've tried the rotary phone trick on a few of my peers that are my age and even they don't get it. They had the same reaction as KX250rider's nephew. I had a very bright 42 year-old attorney say to me once "Explain to me how a record works; I don't get it" when he was playing with my Victrola VV 4-40. I'm not even 40 yet and I felt ancient. Face it we're walking anachronisms....

I'm 30 yrs old and I grew up around rotary phones too. Infact when I was a toddler one of my first toys were a fisher price rotary toy phone (I got my older cousins hand me downs). But I noticed my nieces and nephews now have fisher price toy cell phones haha. Its funny how these toys are supposed to help prepare us for the world when we grow up, but by the time we get there the things we learned are obsolete. I also had a toy camera as a kid that had a fake flash cube that turned when u pressed a fake shutter. It was many years later that I finally realized what a flash cube was- since when I was growinp flash cubes were long a thing of the past. So I was prepared for a life in the 60's except I was born in the 80's. It no wonder I love things from that era.

Until recently I had a rotary phone in my house, I had one installed in my bar. Then one day when I left my wife alone in the house a telemarketer kept calling and (according to her) the bell from the phone annoyed her so much that she ripped the cord out of the phone. She claimed she didn't know how to silence it (just pick up the receiver and put it down??). Now I have to rewire the damned thing, I was really pissed. Anyways I find this a good example of how most people these days don't care about the past and won't even take the opportunity to learn something new ... err old haha.

I'm 35, and clearly remember my parents using their Polaroid 103 with the flashbulbs up until 1981 or 1982, when my father brought home two promotional Polaroid 600 cameras from the office (an Amigo and a Spirit.) They used the flashbars. Mother used that camera into the 90's - eventually the flashbars became unobtainable. There were also Magicubes, which had a different base than the regular flashcubes. I've still got a bag full of both kinds somewhere.

Personally, I carried an Instamatic 304 in my glovebox (along with a couple of flashcubes) for years, up until Kodak discontinued 126 film (early 2000's.)

I was the only person in my dormitory (possibly the entire college) using a typewriter. This was in 1997-98. Couldn't afford a computer, and detested waiting in line and having to write reports in a cramped basement computer lab. So I went to the thrift store and bought a Remington Ten electric from the sixties, but it made a lot of noise between the keys and the electric return. I replaced it with a late-50's Adler Universal, the smoothest manual typewriter I've ever touched. Lost it in an accident and never found another.

During a blizzard we had a power outage one day. A guy from one of my classes came down and said he had to write a paper and would I lend him the typewriter? Of course. Thirty minutes later he brought it back - couldn't figure it out. I offered to show him but he declined.

That same winter another acquaintance from a class happened to be on my floor and peeked his head in the door, asking if he could use my phone. Sure - no problem, it's on the desk. He walked over, picked up the receiver and stared at the Western Electric 500 for about fifteen seconds, then hung up and said never mind!

Again, these guys would be around thirty today.

I'd be lost without a typewriter. In fact, I just bought a lightly-used electronic daisy-wheel typewriter to replace my old IBM Selectric III. I use my typewriter almost daily, for typing checks, envelopes, labels, and filling out forms. My computer printer won't do any of these items, and I like the professional look of a typed check or envelope.

I don't have too much sympathy for these youngsters who can't dial a phone or figure out an automatic record player, or tapes, etc. I get a kick out of the kids 21 and younger who do embrace the old technology, and they love it!

I'm 34 and there were classmates of mine, in jr. high, who did not know what a record player was.

I hate to say it, but I doubt that he will be coming back here. That outburst was a first for me. His mother always has an excuse for things he does. I think that her husband and I agree that something is not right.

My 2 little "girlfriends"-Bethany & Shay- were ASTOUNDED at my TT-they'd never SEEN "records", & one of Bethany's proudest moments was when "We" bought a Polk Phone children's Victrola...She LOVED showing it off to people. She also got a huge "kick" when I'd let her play w/my TV-7 D/U tube tester & test tubes.

The best was in 2007 when I drove to Manhattan to purchase a Stromberg Carlson 6BQ5 stereo amp which I won on eBay: The seller, an elderly Korean gent, exclaimed, "YOU won this auction? You're too young to be into this stuff!" Never will forget that.

A few years ago I pulled out my old manual portable typewriter and one of my twenty-something sons saw it, said, wow, can I try? He gently touched a key. I just laughed and said, that ain't the way it works! and proceeded to demonstrate how to pound away.

I'm 33, almost 34, and when I was a kid (80's) most people still had and used rotary phones. I can remember before touch-tone service was even available too. We finally got a push-button telephone and had to use it on "pulse" mode. My mom took photos on a Kodak camera which used 110 film and flip-flash bars, and we had a Chinon 8mm movie camera and projector and would get the films developed at Fotomat.

However when I was in elementary school/middle school I think records were thought of as old hat by kids (mid-late 80s). Kids would usually listen to cassettes. Of course I still liked records...in the early 80's you could still buy the current hits on 45's at Kmart. I can remember by 1989 or so you could still get 45's at record stores but they were mostly all oldies.

I think I was probably among the last classes of college students to go to college before the computer/mobile device revolution seemed to take place among teenagers/college students. I never saw a cellphone being used or heard a cellphone ring in college...professors still used overhead projectors/35mm slides rather than Powerpoint and most students I know didn't own computers...we used mostly Macs in the computer labs to type our papers. There was no such thing as class notes or messages being sent through email, etc. I graduated in 1999.

oops, double post

Ha, I still use overheads in my classes and never use PowerPoint. I actually have quite a number of students who reply in the course evaluations that they like the fact that I don't use PowerPoint!

Steve

I'm 34; and, when I was in school, we still used "old" technology (overhead projectors, record players, R2R tape, roll around tube type TV's connected to U-matic tape machines, etc.) By the time I got to high school, they had computers; but, they were very out of date, even for the early-to-mid '90's. Even though records were still available during most of my school years, not too many of my classmates were into them. It was mostly cassette tapes and, later, CD's. In the 9th grade, my English teacher pulled out an old Califone record player so we could listen to some sort of literary work and one of my classmates asked me what that device was. By my senior year in high school, cell phones were starting to take off among people other than doctors, lawyers, and other "business" people. However, I don't remember seeing any of my classmates using one. By the time I made it to college, record players had mostly been phased out and there were more modern computers in use; but, all my instructors still used slides and projectors for their presentations.

I also remember when people still used 8-tracks, rotary phones, and TV's with rotary tuners.

And, I was probably the last person on Earth to finally get a cell phone. Even at that, only 3 people have the number and the thing is not hanging out of my ear all the time. In fact, it may go two weeks without ringing. And, when I call one of those 3 people who have the number, I state my business and I get off. All long winded conversations are reserved for the land line. And, I've only sent two text messages in my life and I don't know how people do that quickly.

What is it about old technology that we all like so much?
For me it is both growing up with it, and appreciating that the old stuff still works (sometimes with a little coaxing). I still have a couple of rotary phones hooked up. I still use video tape of various formats, records, cassettes, reel to reel tapes, laser disks, old computers w/ 5.25" floppies and of course CRTs. This is my biggest disappointment with new technology, most of it doesn't seem meant to last 10 years. I remember thinking it was a cool video when the Bryan Adams video came out. I wonder if I'd would like it if I were a teenager now and a similar video came out but instead it was done with Flat panels.

I graduated Syracuse U back in 1978, long before word processors. But in engineering we did have access to a "mainframe" computer, a big IBM 370something. And there were printer-terminals scattered all around the engineering buildings. I figured out that I could use the APL program editor to write letters and papers, as editing was easier than trying to use the mechanical typewriters of the day (PITA). The dot matrix printing did look like crap though. I didn't have to do much with term papers back then, engineering classes were of the format of 3 to 4 tests thru the semester, and a final exam.

I remember (and have) old technology as I am in my 50s. Before your memories get to warm remember this:

1. TV tuners with such poor selectivity that adjacent stations bleed over.
2. Sorry wafer style TV tuners that would not work right even if you cleaned them 10 times.
3. TV sound that buzzes no matter how the set is adjusted.
4. 8 track tape players that always dragged and blew track changer selenoid diodes(I know, I worked in a shop that repaired them).
5. Records that lost the high notes after a few plays.

And in non-electronic items.
1. The sorry automatic choke systems used on cars. I have a 70s Mustang with one, it does not run right until the car is warmed up. My 63 Falcon with a manual choke is much better. Fuel injection is much, much better.

Old technology was not always that great. As to new technology:
1. My Sanyo TV has not given a lick of trouble since I bought it in 2004 with daily use. Could any tube TV say that?
2. Other than an infant mortaility issue, the HP computer that I am typing this on has worked fine since I bought it in 2004 also. It has been on at lest 10 hours a day since then. By the way, I have printed envelopes with the printer.
3. The only non-maintance issue my 2006 Ford ranger has had in 70,000 miles has been the battery. As a contrast, the Mustang, (I bought it new) had a water pump change and a transmission re-build by this point(due to poor manufacture and factory parts quality)

I think that a lot of us remember the good things about the past, but not the bad.

The one thing that I will say is that the much older(pre-1980) electronic stuff is much easier to repair(wafer tuners being an exception) than the new.

AMEN! Them Standard-Kollsman and Oak wafer tuners were JUNK! PTS used to charge extra to fix them - it was easier for them to replace the tuner outright than to try and fix any broken wafers. When Oak converted to manufacturing cable boxes exclusively, PTS was at their door buying up all the spares.

I do recall the wafer tuners being a cost-cutting measure. If it was an inexpensive portable or a cheapie color, it seemed to have the wafer style tuner more often than the higher quality Sarkes "stick" tuners. Sarkes made only one awful tuner: Their 16 channel VHF-UHF all-in-one tuner. I recall a Magnavox that had one - same principle/construction as the 13 channel tuner (2-13 and UHF detent), but with 3 more detents, A-B-C. The switchover to UHF was squirrelly, and we could never get the herringbone out of the picture that was caused by the VHF local oscillator bleeding into the UHF. They worked well on UHF with the tunerr cover off, but low VHF sucked, with ghosting. It was a nightmare, but them wafer tuners....really sucked compared to the Sarkes.

Cheers,

since we are on the subject, i have a 1978 magnavox 12'' b/w with a Sarkes Tarzain tuner which, for some reason is very high quality in a low-end set...some nice color tv's had worse tuners

Cost cutting has been going on forever. I have two Philco Seventeeners, one from 1957 and one from 1958. The 1957 one has a nice brass tuning knob, the 1958 tuning knob is plastic(and has a crack). Of course since it is on a DTV box, it is always on Channel 3.

Even before that the was the "Decal wood grain" used by radio manufacturers(mainly Zenith) to hide cheap wood.

I'm 22 so my K-12 days were sort of during a transitional era. I went to several schools so they varied in how "up to date" they were. I've pretty much seen every format of audio visual teaching aid in my classes, except R2R audio tapes and 8 or 16mm film movies. Everyone used VHS tapes. Strangely, I saw one laser disc movie in my 11th grade science class. I never saw a full motion picture film reel used as a teaching aid until driver's ed in 2004 or so.

We had film strips with associated records in my high school, class of 72.
Sometimes in the auditorium the guidance dept would show us some film strip on how to select colleges and pitfalls to avoid. The records would have a beep tone telling the kid operating the film strip projector when to go to the next picture. Well, some of us kids could make a good replica of that beep tone, to get the kid to advance the film strip early. And have the presentation, as recorded on the record, run out of pictures before it was finished. :D

Pretty much the same way with me, and I am 25. Ive also witnessed slide projectors in use, and we used a record player in gym class to play ELO when doing laps. yea.. lol.

No film movie projectors. and no modern projectors either until high school.

Yeah, I graduated high school in 1985. We had 16mm projectors and the filmstrip projectors too with the record although cassettes were being phased in as well. I'll be 45 next month.

My school district was so poor, we were still using the beep-records and slide projectors... but I graduated in 1996! Thanks for bringing that up though, I had forgotten about those. I remember the old portable wood-box record player with the 6x9 speaker in the front.

We did have the standard "AV Cart"- a 70s-era color TV and a top-loader VCR too, for when we wanted to watch "modern" films, heh.