Sure, I-pods are great...they can store hours and hours of music. Bose wave-radios are neat too...lots of sound in a little package. The problem is that the things that make these modern music devices so good though are also what makes them so boring. There's no spinning or rotating media in an I-pod like a record or tape reels...it's just a tiny box of motionless memory chips. Wave-radios have a simliar drawback. Very vew buttons, and a tiny display screen.
To me, I tend to enjoy the big component stereo systems designed back in the early eighties. The early 80's, just as the compact disc was introduced, seems to be the pinnacle of stereo design to me. This was when speakers were their largest...18 inch woofers installed in floor-standing cabinets were common. Amplifiers were powerful, and had their power output measured in the hundreds of watts. You can't forget the miriad of controls from pushbuttons, sliders, knobs, etc. ...and all those lights, indicators, meters and stuff too!
Just becaue these stereos put on a good visual show didn't mean they lacked in the sound side either. Their big speakers would crank out crystal clear it felt like you were right there. The speakers would crank out bass strong enough to cause structural damage to the building...or at least make the neighbors at the other end of the street fuss! Playing sometihng on one of these old component stereos was not just an audiable enjoyment, but a visual one too, as all those lights, meters and indicators would blink flash and dance to the music. Of course, any aspie can enjoy watching reels spin, records rotate, etc too!
I guess the reason stereo systems like this faded from existance was because they were daunting to NT's who probably didn't like trying to figure out what all those buttons and knobs did, and didn't find the appearance of all that big equipment fitting with their home decor. Still, it's pretty challengine to attempt to carry around a huge component stereo system and a stack of media to listen to your favorite tunes while out & about. What about the boombox though? Those huge classic 80's boomboxes were equipped with all the features a home stereo had. Taking those with you was not a problem, as long as you had a strong sholder to balance one on, and 12 D-cell batteries to power it!
I couldn't live with myself though...I had to do it! I took one of those cassette adapters designed to play a CD player in a cassette deck, and cut a hole in it so my I-pod shuffle would fit in it. Now, I can place my "I-pod cassette" into the cassette deck of my old 80s vintage boombox and take it with me...8 inch woofers, analogue meteres and all! (anybody got fresh batteries?)
22 Mar 2006, 11:01 pm
As much as I hate i-pods, words can not describe how absolutely amazing that post is. The more complicated something looks/is, the more fun you can have messing around with it.
