Don’t Take My Pen Away!

Advances in technology often bring excitement, entertainment and engaging social connection into our daily lives. But there’s a dark side to dumping aging tech: the ever-higher consumer cost for new gadgets.

Surely you must have some of these dinosaurs: pre-recorded cassettes, CDs, vinyl albums, VHS tapes, computers running Windows XP (or earlier), “dumb cell phones” – the list goes to infinity and beyond (my apologies to Disney-Pixar's Buzz Lightyear).

Some of these things were thrown over the side simply because something newer, flashier and different came along. We may have grumbled while shelling out more dough for these “improvements,” but we did it anyway to stay ahead of the pack or keep up with neighbors, family and friends.

And what became of the old-tech items? Did we recycle them, or did they wind up taking valuable space inside our homes, where they were jammed into dark closets in hopes of one day re-emerging for use? Worse yet, they may have gone to the landfill.

Our options are narrowing by the day, and now cassettes have been officially consigned to the technology graveyard, where bulky analogue TVs were interred after sleek digital flat-screen TVs dazzled us.

The New York Times reports the 2010 Lexus SC 430 was the last model to offer a cassette deck as an option, writes Dick Eastman, who blogs on computers, technology and genealogy. (My last car with a cassette player was a 1996 Saturn).

For the 2011 model year, no manufacturer selling cars in the United States offers a tape player either as standard equipment or as an option on a new vehicle, according to the Times.

“Actually, CD players are also on the way out as they are being replaced with hard drives containing MP3 files as well as by MP3 players that connect via an external input jack,’’ Eastman says. “It is now cheaper and more practical to plug your iPod into the automobile's stereo system than to carry tapes or CDs.’’

I have tons of cassettes, CDs and vinyl records gathering dust in my house. As each was replaced by something else, I told myself I needed to keep up with the times and tech changes. But to whose benefit?

Putting aside durability, quality, and portability issues, there were practical considerations such as the cost of converting my favorite music from the earlier format to the new format.

Even if I found a cost-effective option for music transfer, how would I find enough time to sort through and “upgrade” vast collections?

Perhaps the greatest example of change for the sake of change is Microsoft’s Windows operating systems for PCs and laptops.

One can certainly say XP (three service packs later) is a much better system than the breakthrough Windows 95, but what about the crash-prone Millennium, dull as dishwater Vista, and now the non-compatible Windows 7?

We all understand the need for profits, but must we tolerate the greed that says you can sell consumers on the notion of tech improvements while offering only incremental advancements?

Let’s face it, most of us could continue on Windows XP if Microsoft chose to refine and improve the aging system still used by many homes and businesses.

But there’s no real incentive for the company; it can't make piles of money off previous technology. Microsoft, and its shareholders, would love it if we all dumped XP, like yesterday's newspaper (still read one?).

The sad fact of living in our tech-hungry consumer-based society is that new is not necessarily better, just more expensive and complicated. Like good writing, simplicity in tech is doable and desirable, just not always at the top of the product list.

Forgive me for cutting this post short: I have to look for a new ribbon cartridge for my electric typewriter – yes, I still have one, and it works!

Ken Cocuzzo