A while back I was looking for a typewriter. I was given a pile of 3-part forms to complete for a charity and I didn’t want to write them by hand. I thought the library might have a typewriter, but they just laughed. Of course, who uses 3-part forms anymore?
That got me thinking about the obsolete things I use, some almost every day. People think of me and my husband as being techies, but they might be surprised at how many obsolete things we have. How many of these have you even heard of?
iPod. Top on my list is one of my favorite devices – my iPod. I can’t believe it’s been discontinued after only 19 years. Gone the way of the typewriter. People are using their phones and streaming now. I’m old-fashioned. I like playlists. I like to choose specific songs for specific tasks: aerobics, spinning, weighs, cleaning house or just listening. And before Apple eliminated the iPod, it eliminated iTunes on everything except for the computer (which is how I manage my playlists).
LaserDisc*. I’m guessing most of you have never heard of a LaserDisc. The LaserDisc was home video format introduced in the late 70s. It looked like a giant CD, but unlike VHS or Beta, it was not digital. It was analog. It had higher quality than VHS and Beta but never caught on. Possibly because you could only play two hours on a side and many movies required up to 4 discs. We debated whether to relinquish our LaserDisc in our move to Florida, but we have some wonderful director’s cuts of movies such as My Fair Lady (with one disc showing Audrey Hepburn singing the songs), The Sound of Music, and one of our all-time favorite feel good movies Auntie Mame.
We did, however, give up our CD jukeboxes and scanned over 700 CDs before we moved.
Open-all. A wedding gift, our Gold Plated Open-all is our go-to kitchen tool. We use it to open almost anything (plus it has a screw driver on the end). Almost all our visitors admire it when we use it. Sorry - you can only buy it on Etsy for $58.83 AU (plus $$$ shipping).
Wii games. The Wii game console was discontinued in 2014. Our niece and nephew introduced us to Wii Cow Racing. You never know when we’ll want to play it again.
Nook eReaders. We have a couple of Nooks that are no longer supported with software upgrades. I have two accounts and don’t remember the password on one of them, so I probably have a whole list of books I’ve bought that I can no longer access. Oh Well.
Twitter. Ok, it’s not obsolete, but I forgot my password. A couple of months ago I changed my phone number so I can’t reset my password. Catch-22. I’ve been trying for over a month. Seems you can’t get a live support person any more. So, if you are inclined, you can tweet at me @Sleonar811 and I can see it in my email – I just won’t be able to respond. I can set up a new account but now it will be @Sleonard98402388u7q30879q, not exactly a good twitter ID. Good news - since I first published this I was able to change my password, so now I can tweet away.
eMail. Again, it’s not obsolete, but I certainly can’t use it to communicate to my nieces and grand nieces and nephews - it’s obsolete to them.
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I still have a wall phone in the kitchen! Yes, I am a dinosaur!