There seems to be another place in this highly digitized world that makes classic analogies and systems a reality, and recently there are two interesting articles in The Wall Street Journal that discuss this topic.
As mentioned in the first article, 'A Global Shortage of Magnetic Tape Leaves Cassette Fans Reeling', since some orchestras want to share their music with important physical specifications Fans and thus bought or made (copied) old Analogy Cassette tapes as shown in Figure 1. Obviously, just a few vinyl records were built and costs were high, so they decided to use retro Cassette specifications.
It also describes in detail that one of several companies that copied cassette tapes attempted to rebuild and remake machines needed for high-end ferromagnetic tape because of out-of-stock tapes.Although it is easy to record audio cassettes, The actual production of audio tapes is a rather complex and highly labor intensive process that requires careful mixing of pure and unique ingredients and maybe a bit of 'magic'.
However, this article does not touch something that I think is important: for example, how fans are going to play audio tapes - after all, a new player was not made anymore long ago, even if you found it in your home closet or attic An old machine might not be able to play anymore; some of the tapes and pulleys inside should have deteriorated, and why these orchestras do not record music CDs directly, it's as easy as using cassette tapes, Play on any computer with a CD / DVD drive installed, but I think this is not the point of the essay, and the nostalgia for the analogy of the old days is only a small trend, how strong it is and how long it can last determine.
(I also recently wrote a report on how tapes have risen as a repository of data - 'A comeback of tape data storage'? 'But this is a technical decision based on storage density, cost, security and reliability. A few years ago, I read about the owner of a personal studio copying music to a reusable 8-track tape and selling it to nostalgic fans who like outdated music formats and vintage car conversions. However, due to copyright issues, This may be illegal ...)
Another article mentioned several small companies specializing in the sale and repair of land-line telephones, from the earliest days to the recent ones, see: "Entrepreneurship in the development of antique telemarketing services" (( An Entrepreneur Builds a Business Selling Old Phones). Many of these calls are for movie filmmakers to buy as movie props to set the epoch of the movie - for example, if you've seen the movie "Ghost Clash" Catch Me If You Can full of IBM Selectric typewriter offices, or the full mechanized computing machine in the recent Hidden Figures movie, and others, as well as some collectors Want to buy one, mainly for those who miss the youth and good times.
The analogy of fixed-line phones has some advantages: in general, the quality of the phone (and not the link quality) is excellent and consistent, and you seldom need to shout after the connection is established. Do you hear me? Because both parties are talking on private lines (at least until TDM links and other more advanced modes are used).
In addition, Western Electric's phones - designed for the Bell system and designed and built to last for decades - are very different from today's cellular phones / smartphones; their phone products often Was used as a ready-made hammer, leaving little to no dents and without compromising its performance. The classic Model 500 phone, introduced in 1949, may be the best example of a phone's microphone that is comfortable and can even be easily surrounded User's shoulders or neck (Figure 2), and of course there are many other examples (and even the adapter allows you to use a retro handset to answer the phone's call)
There are many reasons, from reason to indescribable, maybe people are eager to have that kind of time - the technology closest to them, 'buddies', do not have to support the operating system, keep updating, making mistakes when Machine or unnecessary functions, etc. I suspect that school professors and graduate students should all think about this problem or use it as a scholarly paper.
Of course, just like many trends, they do not usually last long, and people soon get bored and turn to other interests and hobbies. True, sales of vinyl records are growing rapidly, but Sales are a small part of the overall music market, with more than half of them being downloaded and streamed (CDs have seen their sales plunge over the past decade), but any trend - whether or not Such as the flash in the pan, respect and take into account the old analogy products are very important!
What do you think about tapes, landlines and even vinyl records, and why do you think this happened?
Compile: Susan Hong