How many people still have a ... [Archive]

pcooley

4-5-13, 1:52pm

In my case it's the rotary phone, turntable, and film camera.

Our culture seems to present a message that once something new comes out, everyone just throws out the stuff they have.

I admit that I do have an iPod, a digital camera, and a touch tone phone, but, with the exception of the iPod, which I listen to when I'm walking, I believe I use the old stuff more often. I did have to buy an impulse to tone converter for the rotary phone. Our touch tone phone is on the wall, and we use it for quick calls. The rotary phone is on the desk, and if we want to sit and have a long talk with a family member, we use the rotary. I love the languorous feel of dialing the phone, and the sound of those little clicks as the dial returns to place. The handset is heavier, and the sound seems crisper and clearer. How could someone throw that out of their life?

We also seldom use the digital camera. On vacations or for family events, it's the film camera. If we're out and about without it, I'll use the iPod to take a photo.

I'm always surprised when a news program says "remember when you used to dial a phone?" Or some similar comment about 35 mm film or playing albums. "Remember albums?" the programs will say, as if everyone threw them over their back wall as soon as the iPod came out. There's nothing better than throwing an album on the turntable on a warm spring day, opening the windows, and dancing around while I clean up the house.

Oh yeah, I still use my manual typewriter quite a bit when I'm writing letters, or sometimes when I'm just writing an essay, though I have to say I write more often on the computer than the typewriter.

Did everyone really get rid of all those things? How many of you still use those kinds of things? For us, it feels like the new technology occupies a new niche, but it didn't replace the old technology.

iris lily

4-5-13, 2:01pm

While I'm indifferent to new phones and music playback technology, I NEED a digital camera. I just waste too much film. I love now being able to take bezillion images and pare them down to a few good ones. See, one of my tasks is to take a series of good photos of rescue dogs going through here and because they are dogs they do not always pose nicely. :) So, I get a fair number that are blurred. We load the best one to the rescue website, that's necessary to be in digital format.

KayLR

4-5-13, 2:48pm

I like the new stuff---but I still own my SLR and turntable. Unfortunately, they are both gathering cobwebs. I yearn to use them again, but don't know how to hook up my turntable anymore, and not sure where I can get film. I haven't looked too hard tho, either.

On the cameras, even though my digital is pretty simple to use (and I'm sure I have only touched the surface of what it can accomplish for me) I am still more familiar with my SLR and miss the manual adjustments and manipulations.

I REALLY want to use my turntable....but at this point, I'm confounded by it. I still have tons of vinyl.

catherine

4-5-13, 2:50pm

I still have a....

1970s harvest gold oven.

This is NOT my kitchen, but it's far too similar to it! Someone sent a very similar picture around on Facebook and asked people to use one word to describe it and the words convinced me that I'm actually going to go ahead and finally redo my kitchen.

http://t0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcQtYOJFYsEM0eVhJA3LJ-_IUSvSA0SCQrp4n1IfVDXVWsK1bvOx

bae

4-5-13, 3:25pm

https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-B90CFo7lqwI/UV8k1Un77HI/AAAAAAAAHjY/OZAsWewHgQo/s640/Awesomized.jpg

treehugger

4-5-13, 3:48pm

catherine, is your ceiling wallpapered like in that photo?!

Kara

JaneV2.0

4-5-13, 4:17pm

I have a newish stereo with a turntable I bought with the idea of digitizing some vinyl albums (unlikely), and I've been eyeing restored dial desk phones lately because I've always wanted a nice sturdy red one.

I don't miss anything about big, bulky film cameras: expiration dates, exposed and ruined film, film slipping off the winding spool, trips back and forth to drop off film and pick up prints only to find that there were only one or two good shots on the roll--expensive, frustrating, time-consuming business. Digital cameras were a giant leap forward.

Rosemary

4-5-13, 4:25pm

OK, I am embarrassed to admit how many 35mm cameras are still in our house but not being used because we've switched to digital. Hard for me to declutter these items. Let's see: my dad's old 35mm SLR, which has a timing problem that a camera shop was unable to repair. My 2 Canon SLRs that accompanied me on hiking trips across the southwest and northwest U.S. - both acquired from pawn shops in AZ. DH's semi-electronic 35mm SLR that he bought on a trip to China in the early 90s (complete with menus in languages that are unintelligible to me). And lastly, my wide-angle point-and-shoot zoom that I bought in 1998 for a business trip to Asia, so I'd have a more portable camera. It replaced the camera I had received for my 16th birthday which must have simply died around that time. 5 cameras, 4 of them in perfectly functional condition, but of no value whatsoever aside from sentimental. DD did use the old point & shoot when she was learning to take pictures, but once I was confident she could handle a camera we got her a small digital one for Christmas, because it was cheaper in the long run and creates a lot less clutter.

And let me not forget the many antique tube radios that are around our house, reminders of DH's grad-school hobby when we lived in Tucson. One cabinet-style with a 78rpm turntable and a few 78s to play on it. One functional and very warm-sounding AM/FM tabletop radio, not as beautiful as the older wooden radio my grandparents had. Several random radios for parts, and an old tube tester as well.

catherine

4-5-13, 4:27pm

catherine, is your ceiling wallpapered like in that photo?!

Kara

haha no, but I still have the original ceiling fixtures--and every time DH changes the bulb I'm afraid he's going to get electrocuted because the socket is hanging funny now.

http://img1.etsystatic.com/001/0/5898384/il_fullxfull.366510049_97zy.jpg

The Storyteller

4-5-13, 4:36pm

Kodak Carrousel slide projector.

8mm film projector, like they used to have in schools. No films, but I'm keeping it anyway.

Record player. The type with the built in speakers that fold over it and lock down for convenient carrying.

A set of hand operated drills.

treehugger

4-5-13, 4:37pm

catherine

4-5-13, 4:55pm

Well, at least your kitchen has that going for it (a wallpaper-free ceiling). :)

Everything in our house is 1971 original except for the toilets which we put in last year (immeasurable improvement) and gas stove top that we installed (was electric before) 7 or 8 years ago. The worst part are the old windows. So drafty, we may as well leave them open. But I actually kind of like our gold-glitter flecked popcorn ceilings throughout the house. At least they have flair!

I agree with those who feel that digital cameras are a vast improvement over film. And my DH does have a few film cameras and uses them occasionally. I hate the expense of film and processing though.

Kara

Well, you made me feel better because your house is vintage 70s, too. It's funny because I used to make fun of my MIL because she never changed her kitchen (hers was circa 1940). But one day about 4 years ago, my DD brought a friend home and he was sitting in the kitchen and said, "Wow, that's a really old stove." Do you know that I NEVER thought of the stove as being that old? His comment really threw me.

I suppose I shouldn't redo it just because other people think 70s is yucky. Today's 70s yuck may be the next decade's awesome (I doubt it). But one of the reasons I'm going to redo it is because it's really an investment. Having tried to sell dear MIL's house for the past 5 years, and having such a difficult time because people don't want to have to spend money updating it, I really think that I'd recoup the money if I ever sold my house, with the bonus that I get to enjoy it in the meantime.

SteveinMN

4-5-13, 5:01pm

We don't own a landline phone; I switched to cell-only about 8-9 years ago and DW switched a couple of years after that. Neither one of us likes to use the phone much anyway. So why pay for a landline we wouldn't use?

As my .sig points out, I still have a turntable, and it is in active use. I have a couple hundred records. Someday, I should winnow some duplicates and LPs I never listen to (at a buck apiece from Goodwill and even less at garage sales, it's not much of an investment to try something unfamiliar and either like it or "recycle" it). But right now they all sit in the same cabinet, so it's not a critical task until I run out of space in it.

For what it's worth, though some people may be happy listening to an iPod in one of those docks with the built-in speakers, the turntable is part of a hi-fi that includes an amplifier, a tuner, a CD player, and a cassette deck. The deck will be gone in a couple of months after I finish digitizing some cassettes I cannot replace in another format but the other pieces will remain.

The cameras? I do have one rangefinder film camera left that I kept thinking it would be nice to shoot a roll or two once in a while. There also is some (outdated) film in the freezer. But I sold off my other film cameras when I realized they'd been sitting on the shelf more than a year after I got my first digital SLR. And I haven't taken the rangefinder out in at least a year; I'm sure of it. I'm all-digital now and, frankly, I love it. My DSLRs take better pictures than my film cameras did. They're simply bigger and at the mercy of some obsolescense (though I do use many of my film-SLR lenses on the DSLRs).

So I guess I fall in the middle of the continuum here. I have some old stuff I love. I even have some old computers (like TI-99s) that I like because they have a personality that today's beige and silver gear does not. But I have no problem keeping up with newer technologies and formats when they provide a clear improvement to me over what was.

Miss Cellane

4-5-13, 6:13pm

Let's see. I have a turntable and albums. Also a cassette deck with two tape players. I run the sound from the lovely HD flat screen tv through the 30 year old stereo system. No surround sound for me!

I have a manual typewriter, but I'll admit it's my grandmother's from 1931. My own manual from my college days is long gone.

I have a dumb cell phone. And an SLR camera, although I also have a digital one.

I have the small transistor radio I bought with my birthday money back in 1973. It still works fine and is good for emergencies like black outs.

Rogar

4-5-13, 6:36pm

I used to think I was pretty much a cave man when it came to modern conveniences, but over the years have gone over to the George Jetson side on many things. I take a lot of photos and good digital cameras are relatively cheap and possibly better on the environment than developing solutions. Plus they are easy to use. I am a bit of a audiophile and still have a state of the art 1980's home sound system and many CD's but the records are long gone. My father owned a funeral home and about half of my furniture is "early mortuary" from the early/mid 1900's and I have one of the oldest functioning dishwashers I've ever seen but no longer do dishes by hand. Most of my harvest gold and avocado green appliances have been updated to more energy efficient versions.

I have entertained delusions of decorating in Adam's Family fashion, but I think I've gone too modern to turn back.

Gregg

4-6-13, 10:31am

catherine

4-6-13, 10:49am

I still have my turntable. The people who say digital recordings just don't have the richness of analog on vinyl are spot on. No matter how I configured speakers, amps, pre-amps, etc. it just didn't put the sound over the top the way playing an album does. I only play it when I'm home alone. No one else cares.

I'm sure the hip younguns on this forum will tell you that everything old is new again with regard to vinyls and turntables. All my kids have a turntable and for birthdays and Christmas they always ask for new vinyls. With all the piracy and cheap/free use of music on the internet, vinyls are a way for new artists to help brand their work, and to also to take advantage of the quality of the recordings that you speak of. Plus there's a healthy respect for some of the classic oldies.

goldensmom

4-6-13, 12:12pm

Audiophile purists (of which I am not one) only listen to vinyl on turntables. I still have a turntable and vinyl records. I saw some young people buying a lava lamp recently. I don't still have a lava lamp and will never have another one but I snickered when the young buyers thought it was so, 'new' and cool.

razz

4-6-13, 1:23pm

Got mix of both old and new gizmos. I am looking at what to discard and what to keep as I anticipate a probable downsize in 5 years. It will be tough to see good items going to landfill.

Spartana

4-6-13, 1:29pm

frugalone

4-7-13, 11:53am

Still have a turntable and use it. We have film cameras but have not used them in a couple of years, since going digital. I'm not a good photographer at all so I am actually grateful for the ability to take lots and lots of photos and be able to ditch the ones that are "meh."

Somewhere in the house is a push-button phone from the 1970s, although it is not hooked up. It belonged to my grandparents and it used to be our 2nd fl. phone before we got a cordless!

SteveinMN

4-7-13, 3:10pm

I'm not a good photographer at all so I am actually grateful for the ability to take lots and lots of photos and be able to ditch the ones that are "meh.
At the risk of being drummed out of the Professional Photographer's Guild, I can tell you that even the top pros take lots of pictures compared to the ones worth keeping. :|(

Tradd

4-7-13, 3:33pm

For those with film cameras, wondering about the availability of film/processing, I've seen 35mm film very recently at Walgreens. They still process rolls of film, too, not just making prints from digital shots.

SteveinMN

4-7-13, 9:48pm

There still are brick-and-mortar places that develop film, Tradd, though the types of film (126, 35mm, 110, etc.) are becoming more restricted all the time. Around here, Walgreen's handles standard sizes and National Camera Exchange, a small local chain, also still develops film. There are still a few independent photo shops left in town. And, of course, there's on-line. Almost everything but 126 (Instamatic) and 35mm often is shipped out to a centralized lab in larger cities. There just isn't the demand for it anymore.

Another reason labs are disappearing is that people aren't making many prints of digital photos, either. Many people leave the images on their computer to view. Some of the newer TVs and media servers can accept a flash card from the camera for viewing. And there is a surprising number of people using their cameras as their photo albums (pretty risky, IMHO). There just isn't enough printing to keep lots of labs in business.

Tradd

4-7-13, 10:39pm

Steve, your comment about people using their cameras as photo albums made me laugh. I can't tell you how many people I know who are totally clueless about how to get their pics off their camera. One non-techy older woman somehow figured to get the memory card out of her camera, into the card reader on her computer, and the pics onto her computer that way, but she's got about three years of pics on the one card. She's never deleted any.

She got the deer in the headlights look when I told her to just plug her camera into her computer. Most computers these days will automatically recognize the camera and transferring the pics is pretty easy from there.

pcooley

4-8-13, 9:02am

I get color film developed at Walgreens and black and white film developed at the local photo lab. I like having physical photos in an actual photo album. Those are the photos we look at. I've had digital cameras for a long time, ( starting with a HP camera in the mid-nineties?) I don't have most of those early pictures anymore from switching computers, throwing out old CD-ROMs without really thinking about what was on them - the only way I can get my decluttering done. So many photos of my children as very young children are now gone. Luckily, I have always used the film camera in parallel. This computer is jammed full of digital photos, and I almost never look at them. They're backed up on our backup disc, but I don't think of them as being the "family photos" in the same way as the photos in the photo albums. I have no expectation that the digital photographs will survive me the way the photo albums will.

Float On

4-8-13, 9:24am

Still have:
super 8 film camera (and the huge light) along with a projector
kodak slide projector
turntable

I regret that I sold my 35mm camera - I miss it even though I love my digital cameras and use them daily.

creaker

4-8-13, 11:26am

Last weekend I took out a video camera I was holding on to. The kind that uses full size VHS tapes. Sadly the tape mechanism is no longer working so it's trash.

I still have my Canon AE-1, but I haven't shot film in years.

ToomuchStuff

4-10-13, 1:27am

A few years ago, my old (handed down) reel to reel player died. I was traded an all in one, record player, stereo, cassette player, by someone who wanted my old 8 track player/recorder (I didn't have any of those for a long time). I still have record players, although that one is my shop one, I need a phono preamp for my current receiver. I am not sure how to get rid of film camera's, that aren't antique (brownies, etc), since few want them anymore. (hard to get film and developing with all the digital access) None of the digital ones, will use my manual lenses.
Quality of things has changed, in some ways, good, and in others, bad. Tubes have been considered better by a lot of audiophiles, but DLL tuning has improved signal reception.

Gingerella72

4-10-13, 4:05pm

Pretty much everything in my 1950's house is original - including both baths and the kitchen. Mint green tiles in the kitchen, pink and baby blue tiles in the bath rooms. Original sinks, toilets, etc... Appliances and windows and doors have been upgraded though.

Whatever you do, DO NOT update! :) My house was built in 1935 and I wish it still had original fixtures and stuff.

http://savethepinkbathrooms.com/

There are lots of vintage lovers who want homes with the original stuff. Not everyone likes the "Lowes Look".

Florence

4-10-13, 8:32pm

I have my grandmother's Singer treadle sewing machine. I also have my mothers 1960's Singer. The treadle needs a new belt. But my mother's is still going strong.

sweetana3

4-10-13, 8:53pm

I gave my 25 year old Singer to our charity quilting group and hope they get a lot more service out of it. I inherited my Mom's 1953 Singer that I learned to sew on. It is simple and sturdy and sews a wonderful straight stitch.

SteveinMN

4-11-13, 10:07am

It is simple and sturdy and sews a wonderful straight stitch.
DW has one of those plastic Brother machines, but it's good enough for what she wants to do with it. Your statement, though, reminded me of my razor, a Gillette Adjustable that's around 50 years old (I'd have to check the date code; close enough). Every time I use it, I'm struck by the fact that it is as fit for service today as it was when the first owner picked it up 50-ish years ago. And even though King Gillette was the guy who popularized the marketing approach of giving away the razor and charging for the blades (updated to giving away the computer printer and charging for replacement ink and giving away the software and charging through ads), I wonder whatever happened to the America that could make well-built useful long-lasting products like my razor and your mom's Singer.

ToomuchStuff

4-11-13, 7:22pm

That America still exists (it could produce things as such), but we have gone to a CONSUME, instead of a CUSTOMER, society. (throw away equals more profit)

smellincoffee

4-16-13, 10:19am

Currently I don't use a phone, but if I did, I'd dig around in an antique job and try to find a working rotary. I don't like the cheap plasticness of modern phones, the constant energy use of their glowing displays, or -- and this is most important -- that shrill obnoxious whining they make when someone is calling.

Digital cameras see more conducive to simple living -- film holds what, 27 shots? That's a lot of material to go through. Perhaps the ease of taking photos with digital cameras encourages us to take too many of them, though.

Gregg

4-16-13, 10:46am

I wonder whatever happened to the America that could make well-built useful long-lasting products like my razor and your mom's Singer.

I've mentioned this example before, but to me it's striking. My Mom still has the same nozzle on the end of her hose that we used when I was a kid. Its at least 50 years old, made of solid brass. There is no reason it shouldn't last another 100 years. I, OTOH, seem to buy a new, cheap, plastic nozzle about twice a year. Maybe its time to scour the garage sales looking for an old one.

JaneV2.0

4-16-13, 1:53pm

I've mentioned this example before, but to me it's striking. My Mom still has the same nozzle on the end of her hose that we used when I was a kid. Its at least 50 years old, made of solid brass. There is no reason it shouldn't last another 100 years. I, OTOH, seem to buy a new, cheap, plastic nozzle about twice a year. Maybe its time to scour the garage sales looking for an old one.

They still make brass ones; I found one by Dramm at Amazon.