New Technology

[tv star collector]

Being a "baby-boomer," I have been around long enough to have seen many
technological advances within the last half-century or so. I have to confess
that I have mixed feelings. To give you just two examples:

When phonograph records began to be phased out, I transferred most of my
audio library to cassettes. But when the CD came along, although I now
collect CDs, I didn't bother to transfer the recordings I already had to CDs.

Similarly, when the Beta format of VCR tape began to be phased out in favor
of VHS, I transferred my huge library of Beta tapes to VHS. But when DVDs
came out, although I do now collect DVDs, I didn't bother to transfer my
movies and TV shows on VHS to the DVD format.

I am hoping that there will still be audio cassette players and VCRs for at least a few more years, for us "die-hard fans." I've noticed that phonographs are making a small comeback. At least, they have started selling units at stores like K-Mart that are combination radio/phonograph/cassette/CD players
(these even play the old 78 rpm records; anyone remember those?)

Unless I'm mistaken, there are also combination VCR/DVD players. So maybe there's still hope for us "old-timers." Maybe my audio/video library won't
become obsolete for, oh, at least another decade (hopefully).