I know that many of you remember this. When I was 11 years old I had a transistor radio like this one only mine was cooler because it had it's leather case and I could wrap the strap around my wrist.
This is how most of us used to listen to our favorite radio stations. The speakers were so tiny that we had to put the radio very close to our ears, but if you had to lay it down you could pump up the volume and listen to the squeaky voices sing. No stereo sound back then it was all mono, and if you wanted to be fancy you could plug the mono ear plug that also came in this little cubic looking leather case too.
Back then the sounds of The Carpenters, The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, The Credence & Creed Water Revival, The Doors, Chicago, The Bee Gees, and even Elton John was what I would listen to.Plenty of classics among those groups, we didn't care how they sounded, we just liked the music because of the lyrics.
Then in the late 80's and the 90's the mini stereos came out and they revolutionized the way compact radios played. Once you put on those headsets the sound was actually very good, you could hear the highs, the lows and lots of base. They then gave us the mini cassette player and finally the portable CD player. The sound that came out of most of these units was extremely good.
But...
Enter the new millennium, we now have mp3 players that are so stylish but that sound like crap, but they do store hundreds of songs in one memory chip, then people are buying these little contraptions with a tiny speaker so that they can listen to them at work instead of using the ear piece.
And finally, the cell phone. Now you can "enjoy" your music at full blast coming out of a speaker that is the size of a dime. I hear people listening to their little radios and I can't help but think of the days when I was eleven and used to listen to my portable transistor radio.
Life does recycle.
7 comments:
My father gave me a transistor radio when I was 10 or 11. It was red plastic with white lace within. It had a cool leather case with a strap. I took it to school and listened to the world series during lunch. Cool.
I've had just about all the fade items, but I do hate the way cellphones are going. It's bad enough to have to listen to someone talking, now you have to endure their favorite Rap song!
Good post...I could do without the musical cell phones myself.
ha! you make a good point. I'm too young to remember transister radios, but I remeber my tiny little single cassette player. I thought it was the coolest thing ever!
I never had a transistor radio, but I do love my Jukebox MP3 player. I never have to take my collection of CDs on trips anymore!!!
Well, you know what they say about those who don't study history....
I actually think quality gets taken away when you put too many gadgets together. But then again, like the transistor radio, they work to improve it.
MP3 players sound like crap? Man tio you really dont like technology do you? haha
Post a Comment