alt Hacker NewsAs soon as recordable CDs were affordable, I switched completely, and never looked back.
Cassette tapes were nice when we didn't have anything better, but they were always a big pain in the back. Noisy, wearing out, skipping took a long time, making compilations took hours. I don't miss those times.
Nowadays, I can play mp3's on a $3 microcontroller, at excellent quality, and I love it.
Do you still use a kerosene lamp when you go into your barn at night?
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I used to code at night with a kerosene lamp sitting on my desk. I love the light spectrum of a live fire.
"Portable" (they couldn't even fit in a pocket) CD players were the worst thing imho. Too sensitive to even small shocks, which was particularly annoying while taking longer walks, and draining batteries like crazy. I switched from cassette players to MP3 players, almost completely skipping the era of CD players. I've tried it once or twice because my sister had it, and never again.
While I agree with the overall sentiment, streaming services have also degraded our behaviours by prioritising instant rewards and locking us into a platform you cannot escape easily from, and that once you escape, you lose literally everything, for you never owned those songs. Then you have social media notifications interrupting your songs, no headphone jack, and no physical button feedback when playing music on your smartphone.
I also don't really see the appeal of cassette tapes, personally, and the quality of digital media like CDs and even MP3 files is arguably superior.
I guess a good middle ground is one of those modern audio players that don't have smartphone functionality and take an SD card or so. FiiO I think is quite popular. Might give it a try some day.
Yes, I actually do use my kerosene lamp when I go into my (shed) at night.
It also helps heat the shed in the winter, which is when it's mostly likely to be dark when I want to do some work in my shed.
Here's a nice resource where you can read more about kerosene lamps! https://www.sevarg.net/2022/10/09/keropunk-part-1-kerosene-l... (not my website, but great for learning about kerosene lamps)
> Do you still use a kerosene lamp when you go into your barn at night?
No, but people still use candles or LEDs that resemble candles, including the flickering.
People also read paperback books. It's not always about practicality.
Man I love tape saturation and the sound of high quality cassettes played with a nice tape deck. Sure, there are many bad ones.. Luckily, we have more possibilities then ever (given you have enough hipster money to spend). Tape is a little bit like slow food and very enjoyable to me. To each his own.
It's perfecly legitimate to do stuff simply because you want to. This is a site for tinkering people, so it's kind of expected people tinker with stuff. Quite often that includes old stuff. :)
Waiting for the writeup about the steel wire recorder resurgence now.
> Do you still use a kerosene lamp when you go into your barn at night?
To be fair, there really is nothing like the gentle hiss of a tilley lamp while there's a storm blowing outside.
> As soon as recordable CDs were affordable, I switched completely, and never looked back.
Cassettes were good for mix tapes, but once their were CDs and MP3s I never really looked back.
> Do you still use a kerosene lamp when you go into your barn at night?
It not quite the same comparison. Not sure about a kerosene lamp, however a kerosene/paraffin stove does have it uses.
You would be surprised what people are using. I spend a lot of time walking/cycling up canals and people are using wood hearths and similar to keep the boats warm in the winter. Wood is literally everywhere along the side of the canals and so it is literally free energy.
Some of the boats have solar panels, generators, full internet but quite a few of the boats only have relatively basic amenities by today's standards.