New Find

[countryford]

I went to the local Habitat for Humanity store today and left with this little Sears cassette player/recorder. It has a model number of 564.21692250. Normally its a bit new for me, but it comes with the original box, manual, headphones, as well as the original canceled check dated 2/15/1984.

 

[countryford]

It does work, but needs a bit of cleaning.

 

[countryford]

back side of it

 

[frigilux]

Cool! From the era when Sony revolutionized portable music with the Walkman.

For those of us in the AW family who are a bit longer in the tooth--I'm 53--it doesn't seem possible that such technology is already considered vintage.[this post was last edited: 12/12/2012-05:44]

 

[polkanut]

Eugene,

I completely know what you mean.  We have a vintage Lloyd's flip-type clock radio in our guest bedroom, and the other day my sister asked if I couldn't have found something older(snarky).

  When I told her that the flip-type was the first type of digital clock on the market, she couldn't/wouldn't believe me.  My wife came to my rescue, and told her that she got her first digital clock for Christmas circa 1973, and that was what she received.  My wife's GE is still going strong all these years later, keeps perfect time, and gets great radio reception.

 

I also have a GE Telechron alarm clock on my desk from circa 1950-53 (their "Decor" model) which after all these years keeps perfect time as well.

[this post was last edited: 12/12/2012-05:59]

 

[applianceguy47]

"it doesn't seem possible that such technology is already considered vintage."

 

I know.  I remember my friend getting one for christmas.  She was so excited, she could go jogging with it.

 

[lordkenmore]

"it doesn't seem possible that such technology is already considered vintage."

Actually, it seems a little depressing. Although one way to console oneself is to think that the technology world moves so fast now. Even 5 years old can be OLD now.

I remember the Walkman and various clones when I was in high school. (Although, technically, they were banned in school, I'd see them about. I wonder now if the ban wasn't more to protect the school: "Well, Mrs. Jones, it's sad your son's Walkman got flushed down a toilet, but it shouldn't have been here in the first place. See the rule book, page 47, rule 397, subsection 7.) I never had one myself, and I never recall having had any desire to own one. Possibly I saw no real value for me. Possibly it was to be contrary, and go against what the herd was doing.

I got a Kenwood Walkman-style cassette player that appears to work, but have not actually tried. One of these days.... I seldom use cassette these days.

 

[whirlaway]

Scarey isnt!

How age creeps up on you I will be 60 on the 23rd of Jan.My old Admiral clock radio is still working its a 54,but it wakes me up now for dental and doctors appointments,I still wake to Patti Page and Jo Stafford lucky to have an old am station that plays old songs,my moms music and some I remember as a kid.

 

[Ultramatic]

Hey thats a great find Justin!

 

 

<span style="font-size: medium;"><a name="start_43926.645928">"it doesn't seem possible that such technology is already considered vintage." </a></span>

 

<span style="font-size: medium;">Hey don't feel bad guys, my Motorola cell phone was state of the art a year ago, now it's a museum piece to many.</span>

 

[danemodsandy]

Could We Possibly.....

....Dispense with the Jumbotron-sized smileys?

I'd appreciate it.

 

[twintubdexter]

technology seems to be in the fast lane

I have a big ""junk drawer" of electronic stuff that I refuse to get rid of. All of it goes under the heading of "who'd want that thing?" but I plan on keeping it, partly because I remember how much it all originally cost. Probably the most expensive antique in there is a Sony Video Walkman...8mm Recorder/Player. I think this was about $1,600 when new. The never really used JVC Micro Video Recorder still in the box ($1,300), the boxed Palm V, the Panasonic 1 1/2" screen Travelvision B&W TV...they're all in there along wih lots of other stuff. What an electronics junkie I was. But you can't complain about technology moving so fast. I just bought myself as a "Merry Chritmas to me" gift an inexpensive tablet and I am amazed at all the fun things it does, especially how accurate the voice recognition is right out of the box. I wonder how long it will be before it goes in my "junk drawer."

Does anyone remember the Sony Video Walkman?

 

[petek]

The other thing you see a lot of hanging in bags on the Value Village walls now are the discmans or whatever you call the portable CD players that replaced all the walkman clones . Seems like they were only out yesterday. Some pretty high end ones too that when new were selling for a sum, not just the cheapie ones.

 

[kb0nes]

Watchman

We were playing with a Sony Watchman just a couple months back. If you look closely at the photo you can actually see an image! There is still an analog NTSC transmitter on Channel 13 for the time being here in the Twin Cities.

 

[lordkenmore]

Portable CD players are common in most thrift shops here. I can remember a time when they were rare, at best. Now any Goodwill has a selection. I've never seen any that strike me as being potentially great, however. Most of what I see is, at best, probably from the lower end of Panasonic or Sony. And there are plenty of models from companies that I've never heard of before, and may never hear of again.

I have acquired a few of the "better" low end portables that I can use if I go out of town or something.

I cannot be 100% certain on this, but I suspect that older CD portables might be better than more recent models. There is always that tendency of technology to get cheapened. And one huge problem: pushing battery life to the maximum became more and more of a priority. While this is theory a good idea for the convenience of the user, sound quality could suffer, particularly with driving headphones. My 1989 Sony DiscMan can probably only run a few hours on fresh batteries, but it can probably drive headphones that would kill a 2009 DiscMan.

 

[lordkenmore]

I just remembered another portable audio device I have: a portable MiniDisc player. MiniDisc was a format intended to replace cassette, but was pretty much a niche format in most of the world. I have no idea if my player works--it was cheap, and I got it as a fun piece of history. Maybe one day I'll find a cheap home deck capable of recording.

Link to Wikipedia MiniDisc article talking about the format:

MiniDisc - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

 

[whirlaway]

Those 8 Track players!!!!!!!!

In 1972 for Christmas I received a very nice 8track player with 2 speakers that worked on house current and 12 volts,I bought a 6to 12 volt converter to use it in my Desoto.When I moved to Calif in 78 to work for Pacific bell,I used it the complete drive out.Going across the desert one day I was so tired of hearing Manilow sing Daybreak one more time I almost threw the whole thing out of the window.I still have it and it works even now! 40 years to this Christmas! I pulled it down from the closet shelf,what a surprise! Now sometimes when Im out thrifting I find new tapes with the cellophane still on them! Bobby

 

[applianceguy47]

1982

Pioneer SK-31

My first stereo. Cassette player with auto reverse, plays both sides, plays selected segments. sigh.

I remember paying like $300 for this new from Kohl's.