Tape Recorders

I ran across an article on CNET's editorial column "MP3 Insider" this morning about the magic of introducing kids to hands-on, physical-mechanism-based recording tech. I myself grew up in a house that was never bereft of a television set, setting me apart from my forebears in that I considered such mass-mediation of reality standard. But, like my forebears, I was able to see the evolution of the the mediated world from one where color TV and new forms of celebrity struggled to become pervasive to today's world wherein all markets are niche markets and shopping, information, and entertainment are interchangeably and ubiquitously available- a world in which the the information stored on on any medium has completely abjured once and for all any formal marriage to to the form of its packaging. We are living in a world of virtualization, we've been taken off the gold standard of the physical restraints of form and storage, and now our access to music, movies, et al is only going to become more and more closely instant. Kids today simply assume Moore's Law as to make its observation redundant.

In the article mentioned above, the author recounts explaining to his toddler what a tape recorder is and does. I remember the hours I spent with my series of cheap tape recorders, all of which I ran into the ground, one after the other, recording a constant productive stream of radio programs, sounds, and songs. I suppose all I really wanted to do here is reminisce and wax a little nostalgic on those days 20 and more years ago when it took me no effort at all to extend my self and my mind out into the world of things that could be molded and created with a little piece of cheap, portable, and customisable recording equipment.

I wonder where those tapes are now.