To keep myself sane in busy times, I got into older formats!

[BasilABST]

Life, as always, is very busy. But I've worked my butt off lately and as a result I managed to save some money and get into old formats! Specifically MiniDisc and Cassettes, with CDs also being there somewhere since they're awesome.

So... I love MDs a ton, they are my favorite format ever. It's literally a CD in your pocket and I love it so much, it's such a shame it is all but forgotten nowadays. But luckily there's an enthusiast community and recording onto stuff is easy! I've made like 15 or so discs lol

And then, cassettes. I do have a proper cassette deck, and a pretty sweet one. But the thing is, there's something very important that was lost since: repairability. I've fixed my own deck, my old Walkman (though that is still a WIP it now works!), and it wasn't hard at all. And the most weirdly important of all--

So I also have a mp3, and that one is fun. But I feel like I cannot choose anything! When I pick up a cassette or like two or so MDs that is what I gotta stick to, and with cassettes I cannot even choose tracks most of the time, and I think that's good. Too much convenience can lead to bad stuff lol

Anyways this is just unedited rambling so I'm curious, did you all get into older formats lately? Got a collection? A favorite?

Also my word I want a DAT player so bad but they're expensive as heck

[nobo]

I abandoned older formats a long time ago but I'm old enough to remember using them. It is as you say, that it changes the way you listen. Different tracks become tied together. Over time you listen to an entire group of things and especially when the medium is all you have, the grouping becomes more of a staple of your life. It's not even just a grouping but an order.

As we've progressed further I've also thought back about what things have been lost because of what seemed newer and better.

I haven't gone back to CDs or cassettes or VHS yet but I have been reading physical books again. I find that it's easier to concentrate when the book doesn't have digital capabilities, Internet, endless options, etc.