Subverting Technology -- Golden Era style

[ThesFlishThngs]

Sounds like a fun project to try. For Christmas I got the turntable that converts records to mp3 files, so that's how I'd get all my scritchy scratchy big band tunes in the system.

 

[Stanley Doble]

There are electronic parts that tended toward failing. One key is the red on light, when you turn the tv off the light may begin to blink if you have a problem the number of blinks indicates what part / module is failling. However with mine the power module failed but it didn't blink at all so no code to point to the problem. They replace the power mod and sx months later and out of warranty it failed again nlo blinks. When a part fails so rapidly it usually points to another problem making that componant fail. The shop has no clue as to why Panasonic had no clue either and it is cost prohibitive to replace power mods every 6 months. When i had my problem I looked on line and there were Numerous complaints as to Panasonic -plasma problems. One guy swears that they used low quality capacitors that pop under regular usage. It is a Viera model.

A lot of Chinese made electronics use cheap filter capacitors with a limited life.If you open them up and look at them, the bad caps have a bulged out end. Replace the caps and you are good as new. I just did this on a monitor.

 

[vitanola]

Sounds like a fun project to try. For Christmas I got the turntable that converts records to mp3 files, so that's how I'd get all my scritchy scratchy big band tunes in the system.

"Scritchy scratchy big band tunes"?

Records as modern as these should have quiet surfaces indeed unless they re terribly worn, or unless they are being played
with a microgroove stylus. Did you order a 2.5 mil or 3 mil "78" stylus, or are you trying to use the .75 mil unit which was shipped with your machine?

Even RAGTIME records shouldn't be "Scritchy-scrachy" if they are in good condition and are played on the proper machine.

1912 Victor recording:

[video=youtube_share;z4UmqXtEy90]http://youtu.be/z4UmqXtEy90[/video]

A bit tinny, but not scrachy.

A 1910 disc played upon a machine of the day;

[video=youtube_share;vgUiNedFMB8]http://youtu.be/vgUiNedFMB8[/video]

Even on a period talking machine with a steel needle the reproduction is not exactly "scritchy-scrachy", is it?

1927, Columbia recording:

[video=youtube_share;h2N0LmbmtDA]http://youtu.be/h2N0LmbmtDA[/video]

the above electric process recording is much clearer and more modern sounding than 1912's "Alexander", and is almost entirely free from scratch (love those Columbia "New Process" pressings.

now for the swing era, or rather "proto-swing", 1931, Fletcher Henderson's Orchestra. "Hot and Anxious"

[video=youtube_share;nyfw8gGe33o]http://youtu.be/nyfw8gGe33o[/video]

If the song is familiar, perhaps you are thinking of this cheap budget disc from 1930, "Tar Paper Stomp":

[video=youtube_share;MK798RQKyCo]http://youtu.be/MK798RQKyCo[/video]

or just maybe THIS extremely obscure record (of which no one has ever heard, I'm sure):

[video=youtube_share;pZtomQS8JkE]http://youtu.be/pZtomQS8JkE[/video]

By the way, in some cases "In the Mood" might be considered a euphemism for "Hot and Anxious".



Now, see? Swing era music need not be "scrichy-scratchy", Time-Life Records' advertising for 1963's "The Swing Era" notwithstanding.

[video=youtube_share;DzWiXYLLnhM]http://youtu.be/DzWiXYLLnhM[/video]
Note: The Capitol engineers actually had to work pretty hard to get the old 78 records to
sound bad, using an LP stylus, and ADDING artificial scratch in the left channel.

 

[Undertow]

Don't mind me folks, just clicking my "Like" button for elk...

Bronze-Age 'Facebook' Stone Conveyed 'Likes'

Although unrelated, wouldn't it be a laugh to paint something, scan/photo it and then post it on Facebook as a "Like"? Well, maybe not a laugh - I guess there's a reason I don't use Facebook.

 

[LizzieMaine]

Got a lot of CDs lying around you're tired of looking at? A 78rpm collector of my acquaintance tells me they make excellent recording media for vintage Recordio home-recording machines --you have to fiddle up a spindle adapter to fit the center hole, but once you've done' that, the plastic is just soft enough to allow a nicely-cut groove, and they seem to play back quite well. It would be quite the elegant subversion of technology to find some with really distasteful music on them and use a Recordio to record the AM radio signal you're feeding from iTunes on their surfaces.

 

[William Stratford]

That's exactly it. The cosmetic stuff is nice -- most modern tech is eye-woundingly ugly, and I applaud anybody who can find a way around that -- but I want to go deeper than that.

I can very much understand this; the aesthetic of steampunk, for example, is a wonderous look that discards the hideously sterile modern obsession with plastic, but with the vast majority of SPers I've met it goes no further than cosmetic alteration with people who are playing at being "Victorian" ....scratch the surface and its just about appearances. They would rather have a mag-lev train that looks like a steam loco, whilst I would rather have the steam loco because its beauty is far more than just skin deep.

I want to *subvert* modern technology, not just repackage it. Apple wants me to buy all kinds of gizmos to use with iTunes, and wants me to buy thousands of music files at 99 cents a pop. I use iTunes to run an AM radio station, which I listen to with 80 year old radios -- and the music I play on it comes from 78s I encoded myself. Apple has gotten not a penny out of me, and I've put their product to a use that spits in the eye of the whole purpose it was designed for. That's subversion.

 

[Gin&Tonics]

I enjoy many aspects of genuine old tech too, the steam engine being a fine example, but I also quite like the function of new technology. I love my computer and m Kindle and such, I just wish they weren't so ugly! lol

I donno if that makes me someone "playing" at victorian or not.

 

[William Stratford]

I enjoy many aspects of genuine old tech too, the steam engine being a fine example, but I also quite like the function of new technology. I love my computer and m Kindle and such, I just wish they weren't so ugly! lol

I donno if that makes me someone "playing" at victorian or not.

I also am rather attached to my laptop (although Kindles are awful - give me a proper book please, not a £100 bit plastic that "lets you read books" ) but the point I was trying to make was that many just seem to be interested in changing the appearance; as if aesthetic matters more than ethic, when the aesthetic came from a much bigger picture and was not just superficially applied. There is no steam alternative to the laptop but there is a steam alternative to the train, and I would rather (if actually given the option) not simply want a modern train to look like a steam train but I would actively choose the steam over the modern. The beauty of the old is not just on the surface.

The modern lack of manners, for example, sprang (in no small part) from an increasingly high-speed world where people had less time for each other and lived increasingly alienated lives (despite the increase in communications technology - ironic isnt it). Trying to separate the two is an exercise in trying to swim upstream - heroic, but ultimately destructive because it is an exercise in denial. If all we do is capture the appearance, we are missing the point (imho). That doesnt mean we re-introduce diphtheria. But it does mean that we reach well beyond the superficial; I dont dress up an play make believe, I genuinely do love the vintage beyond just the surface.

 

[Fletch]

Orthopodic?

A creative guy in Portland made an acoustic "horn" amplifier for his .mp3 player out of a plastic beverage bottle and a scrap of foamcore.

This would be just the thing for me - my iPod contains virtually nothing recorded after 1945.

 

[Undertow]

A creative guy in Portland made an acoustic "horn" amplifier for his .mp3 player out of a plastic beverage bottle and a scrap of foamcore.

This would be just the thing for me - my iPod contains virtually nothing recorded after 1945.

Oh, that is just too neat!

 

[vitanola]

Bob Baumbach manufactures an interesting Iphone or Ipod accessory, the Gryphon Ampliphone:

a folded horn, modeled after the Orthophonic horn. It works exceedingly well.

[video=youtube_share;WQw4vswRmJo]http://youtu.be/WQw4vswRmJo[/video]

 

[Gin&Tonics]

I also am rather attached to my laptop (although Kindles are awful - give me a proper book please, not a £100 bit plastic that "lets you read books" ) but the point I was trying to make was that many just seem to be interested in changing the appearance; as if aesthetic matters more than ethic, when the aesthetic came from a much bigger picture and was not just superficially applied. There is no steam alternative to the laptop but there is a steam alternative to the train, and I would rather (if actually given the option) not simply want a modern train to look like a steam train but I would actively choose the steam over the modern. The beauty of the old is not just on the surface.

The modern lack of manners, for example, sprang (in no small part) from an increasingly high-speed world where people had less time for each other and lived increasingly alienated lives (despite the increase in communications technology - ironic isnt it). Trying to separate the two is an exercise in trying to swim upstream - heroic, but ultimately destructive because it is an exercise in denial. If all we do is capture the appearance, we are missing the point (imho). That doesnt mean we re-introduce diphtheria. But it does mean that we reach well beyond the superficial; I dont dress up an play make believe, I genuinely do love the vintage beyond just the surface.

I quite understand where you're coming from. I much prefer real books, for many reasons, all things being equal; however, being currently stuck in Ukraine for 6 weeks, I've come to appreciate the benefits of the kindle! You will not be surprised to learn, I'm sure, that mine contains the Complete Sherlock Holmes. I own the print version too, which was a very deeply cherished gift from my parents at Christmas in 1993, and which weighs about five pounds and is probably 3 inches thick and maybe 7x10 inches in cover size! That beloved tome would definitely not be travelling in my suitcase.

I agree with the sentiments regarding the steam train, and would add the early 1920's and 30's automobile to that category. Gorgeously beautiful machines with immense charm that, as you say, goes further than skin deep. Or sheet metal deep, as the case may be. Certain vintage machinery just has a kind of charm and beauty of function that is lost with modern tech.

Another great example is the lugged steel bicycle; I love vintage bikes, and honestly I couldn't ever see myself going back to riding anything other than a lugged steel frame again. For one thing they're absolutely beautiful, and for another they function so wonderfully and provide such an excellent, smooth ride that they really are ideal for the vast majority of riders. Unless you aspire to be Lance Armstrong and don't mind risking your bike disintegrating under you (okay, to be fair modern carbon has made vast strides in this department) you really don't need a super high tech featherweight all carbon bike that costs 10 grand. If such things are your forte, by all means, but give me my beautiful lugged steel frame any day.

 

[ThesFlishThngs]

The best I can offer is this genuine rotary telephone, still with the Mission exchange # on the paper tag, from my grandmother's house, atop the gossip bench my dad sat upon whilst making calls in the 40s and 50s. Our printer/fax machine and computer router are wired through this phone. (Oh yes, also, the old school telephone directories and card file with friends numbers written in real ink. )

On the aesthetic side, I've found a way to make my laptop and Kindle more visually appealing than when they left the factory.