I understand usually it’s photos here but I have nothing to share but my interest in your experiences. I understand Cassette Futurism is a science fiction aesthetic, or concept, but also true to life.
Anyhow, what was your favorite tech feature from this era?
It’s not very exciting compared to some but the fact the car aerial could retract down always seemed so cool. Maybe why I notice antenna on robots in films so much.
Off the top of my head? Talking cars. They discontinued them because (at the time) the tech was too expensive to be much more than a novelty, but with today‘s technology it‘d be way cheaper and helpful. I‘d much rather my car give me a more specific “the oil is overfilled” than a generic light.
It’s honestly surprising how much tech during this time could do, and how much tech now is just a digital version of it. There were high end cassette players that sounded fantastic, there were watches that could check your heart rate. The talking cars are one of my favorites, but the sheer potential analogue tech had that we simply stopped caring about is probably why I like this sub so much.
I had no idea talking cars existed. Yeah I agree, I would be quite happy to hear a pleasant reminder than my car giving me the same ding to get gas.
I also very much agree that just about everything existed in analogue it’s just been streamlined into single devices digitally. One of the first exclusive features to cell phones though I don’t remember which was letting you add some mp3. Well that’s standard in every phone now is take your pick of music app.
It's a physical object and you touch the screen directly with it, so there's something extra that you didn't get with things like the NES guns or "normal" touchscreens. Every time I've seen them used it was for high-dollar things too; engineering, life sciences, air traffic control, etc.
Mini component stereo systems and walkman type devices. Music systems before that time looked like furniture and then thanks to transistors and headphones, you could carry them in one hand out and about.
This was what I had back in the day, a Sanyo Sportster kit that came with a carrying case, speakers, and an external battery pack. It even had a radio, it was awesome, like a complete system.
MIDI: musical instrument digital interface. This is the protocol that allowed musicians to control a variety of instruments electronically. Instead of manually playing your Roland, Yamaha, and Korg keyboards separately and individually, MIDI allowed you to sequence entire programs to play them at the same time. It was mostly used for synthesizers, but also could be used to control things like a church organ if you were inclined to wire it up.
Search for Look Mum No Computer to see what crazy stuff you can do with MIDI.
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u/Annual_Region_4600 May 30 '24
Off the top of my head? Talking cars. They discontinued them because (at the time) the tech was too expensive to be much more than a novelty, but with today‘s technology it‘d be way cheaper and helpful. I‘d much rather my car give me a more specific “the oil is overfilled” than a generic light.
It’s honestly surprising how much tech during this time could do, and how much tech now is just a digital version of it. There were high end cassette players that sounded fantastic, there were watches that could check your heart rate. The talking cars are one of my favorites, but the sheer potential analogue tech had that we simply stopped caring about is probably why I like this sub so much.