Old vs new analog technology
Technology is a vital part of our everyday lives. A day doesn’t go by without a glimpse on your tablet or a peek on a computer to check your email, or even social media platform. Finding a non digital piece of technology is pretty tough these days. What ever happened to the rage of bulky cellphone, record players, MP3 players or even a simple cd player. I mean, I remember walking around my block feeling so fly playing my tape recorder jamming out to some Backstreet Boys… don’t judge me.
Today I want to look into where tape recorders came from and why first world countries see them as taboo compared to the 90’s. Tape recorders are ubiquitous as they are found everywhere, even though this generation calls them antique.
Tape recorders are analog devices which means they don’t have that fancy processing system most of our technology has today. They were invented in Germany during the 1930s (based off a 1928 paper tape invention by a gentleman called Fritz Pfleumer; however, that can be traced down to Thomas Edison!) where they were tweaked and made more accessible to the public in the years to come.
The commercialization of tape recorders came with the booming technological revolution after the second world war. It was used in the 1960s in offices while the 70s introduced them for personal and home use. In the 1980s SONY developed the Walkman, which we all know best, based off of the tape recorder to play music on the go. They became more compact and efficient becoming a go to gadget.
It was very successful from the 80s to the early 2000s until the introduction of the MP3 player. I remember listening to the radio and recording my favourite songs for later jamming sessions. However the MP3 took away all the hassle as you could just download music without any hustle and better playback quality. I guess in short, the recorder was booted out by more technologically advanced devices.
You can still find tape recorders; however they might hurt your wallet a bit.
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