Searching For Old Technology

It's kinda crazy how hard it was for me to find a working CD player.

The main system I have works for the most part.  The speakers stopped connecting pretty quickly, so I had to hook up unused, although better speakers.  Problem fixed.  But that system always had a problem playing CD's.  Just problems skipping and this clicking sound.

So I ordered a CD player Discman off of Amazon.  It was $20 something.  The reviews looked good, but it didn't work!  Skipped and just didn't play.  And since it's Amazon I didn't want to make a fuss and try sending it back.  Probably should have, because it's a lot of money to waste.

But I want an affordable system that can play my CD's.

I went to Walmart a month ago and found a bunch of Record players.  Record players!  Heh.  I know vinyl is coming back, but it was a little crazy how many options there were.  I did see a couple simple CD systems, but decided not to get them.  Then last weekend while at Target I had to ask where the CD players were, because after wandering up and down aisles of speakers and whatnot's I couldn't find them.  When I was shown their location, they were hidden off to the side, 3 simple little machines.  I bought one, $24 with tax, and so far so good.  No skipping.  But I'm keeping the receipt just in case.

One of the reasons I wanted the CD player is because I bought a few of the Pimsleur French and Japanese CD's, and I just didn't want to take the time to rip them all.  Listen to a lesson a few times, move on.

The nostalgic part of me comes out with this move towards digital and streaming.  When I buy music I still get CD's, just because I like having a physical copy.  The only problem is keeping them all together, and that they take up room.  Before writing this I realized that a set of CD's I had is misplaced, so now I need to find them.  And scattered about are CD folders here and there.  There's a disadvantage to having the physical copies.

There are disadvantages to owning digital as well.  What if you lose the file or the file become corrupt?  If you buy a digital movie on Amazon and stream it, you don't own it, because once the license expires or moves you lose access.  If you buy music and the company goes out of business or changes focus you lose access to being able to download a file if the original is lost or accidentally deleted. What if you can't afford the monthly fees to stream music or media? 

I saw a meme a while back that essentially stated that we once went online to escape the World, now we escape to the World to be free from the internet.  Paraphrased, but the essential meaning.

I'm the type of person who lives in my head.  It seems I'm in my head more than I'm in the real World.  And lately I've been focusing on the real World to find balance.  Technology is leading us away from the physical, and there are many reasons why this is a tragedy.  But there are conveniences with digital, so I just loop in my mind the pros and cons.

Still, it's crazy how hard it was to find a simple CD player.  They're phasing out.  Laptops no longer have an eternal CD/DVD/ETC slot, an outside system must be purchased.  How long until we can't find Blu-ray machines?  While cleaning the garage my Mom found a tub of old family VHS tapes.  We can't even watch them.  As technology propels us forward, a part of us is getting left behind.