Tuesday, April 10, 2012

substantial penalty for early withdrawal

I have just been inducted into The Old Fogey Club.  And I do not mean the snout-in-the-trough AARP gang.

Not too long ago, I was the dream guy of American marketers.  What they call an early adopter.  If there was a new electronic gadget, I bought it.  Almost always at a premium price.  I was a superpower in the electronic wars.

A couple of years before I retired, I ran up the white flag.  As much as I enjoyed the toys, there was little joy in them.  And there was just a bit of snobbery, as well.

The first new technology I purposely did not purchase was MP3.  The players certainly were handy and portable.  But to cram that many little electronic bits into the player, the sound files had to be compressed enough that the resulting sound was -- well, let's just say "diminished."

So, I kept my CDs -- in their original form -- and toted them about from place to place.  Often leaving them in the seat pocket on airplanes.  (I was once rather insulted when I went to lost and found at the airport and discovered my player had not been turned in, but most of my CDs had.  Everybody is a music critic.)

Earlier this month I pulled out my decade-old CD player to take along on my trip to the Middle East.  To my surprise, it was dead.  Not to my surprise, the cause was corrosion.  Not from leaky batteries.  From our salty, humid air.  And it was corroded beyond repair.

No problem, thought I.  I had to go to Manzanillo this morning to pick up my FM3 (which I did).  I decided I would simply stop at one of the big box stores and buy a new one.

Much easier said than done.  Nothing was available at Soriana.  Or Office Max.  Or Comercial Mexicana.  So, I off I went to Walmart.  They all had CD players.  If I was interested in toting around something the size of a Buick Regal.  Otherwise, the choice appeared to be various MP3 players.

I asked a young lady in the Walmart electronics department if she had any portable CD players.  I knew I was using the correct words in Spanish because they were printed on the side of the boom boxes.  She eyed me warily and called over a guy pushing a broom.

He was about my age and spoke perfect English.  Better yet, he knew exactly what I was looking for.  The two of them had a rather animated exchange.  With the young lady repeatedly asking -- "what for?"

He told me they did not have anything like that in Walmart.  But suggested I try Radio Shack.

Now, why hadn't I thought of that?  Radio Shack is famous for carrying a wide range of products from the cutting edge to the discontinued.

The young man at Radio Shack was young enough to be my grandson.  When I told him what I needed, he started laughing and said: "Are you opening an antique shop?" 

Then and there, I knew I had completely lost my electronic mojo.  Not only had I fallen from the pedestal.  I was one of the Lost Geezers.

I am in the process of packing my suit case.  My CDs are going with me.  Only because I am operating under the impression that The States are less technologically advanced than Mexico.

Certainly I can find a portable CD player in New Orleans.

31 comments:

Cineguy said...

Not less technologically advanced--just more to offer than a "small fishing village by the sea".  As an electronics guru, I found your story amusing.  The wave of new-age extremely compressed music is sad.  Glad to hear the FM3 process went smoothly.  You'll be on your way to listening to much higher bitrate tunes than your comrads while watching the waves pass by in no time.  Enjoy the trip and better yet--write lots!

Steve Cotton said...

 I am packing enough electronic gear to run a small newspaper.  I just hope I can get enough internet access time to keep everyone updated.

abandou said...

Know I'm not alone in looking forward to this trip.  We too are hoping you find the access time to keep us up-to-date.  The portable cd player might just be an age thing --- it and us.  Believe from what you've written we are of the same month and year and just this morning while on the treadmill with Pimsleur Spanish playing on the saucer size portable player wondered what my options will be when it dies.  I wish you well in finding a new one.  If you do that may be my best option --- buy now and keep until needed.

Hope it'll be a trip enjoyed. 

Babsofsanmiguel said...

The last time I looked for a portable CD player in Houston, they told me at Target that they didn't carry them anymore!  Join my club..........Have fun on your trip........

NWexican said...

 A small newspaper could run from an iPhone.I have an endless plethora of music, video and literature in my pocket as I type. C'mon in to the 21st Century the water is fine.


sent from my teletype machine

Steve Cotton said...

Uncompress my music, and I will join.

Steve Cotton said...

I may as well have been shopping for a 45 RPM turntable.

Steve Cotton said...

I have some leads. But we shall see.

Andean said...

On this trip I found that my iPad performs multiple purposes from reading books, emailing, and playing songs or whole albums you download--can't imagine carrying so many gadgets. The Internet is easily accessible as is commenting on posts.

NWexican said...

With typical WAV file at roughly 40 MB you are looking at 250ish uncompressed songs per 10 gig player. I bought a 20 gig iPod for 50 bucks. 500 songs is a lot of CD's to haul around.

Steve Cotton said...

I may try some experiments with my Galaxy. Are you saying I can load CD quality files without losing any fidelity on an iPod? If so, I am willing to give it a shot.

Steve Cotton said...

I tried an iPad for reading down here, but the glare was too harsh for reading. I can't even read my telephone screen in the light around town. At night, the Galaxy is great. As is my laptop. Thus the best advantage of the Kindle.

tancho said...

Since you are going to be in the Big Easy, go to a Walgreens or Walmart, or if you know someone in NO, order it on Amazon for delivery to NO,
I did a search on goggle and they listed the stores that sell the Sony units for about 35 bucks./
Have fun, old geezer, with old technology...you can borrow my Sony Walkman cassette player if you like......

John Calypso said...

Your Kindle plays music. You can store CD's on your computer
in several uncompressed formats - checkout FLAC for example.I would ditch the cd's soon. 

I do not have a
cell phone - so pretty dark ages over here. Dinosaurs still roam the earth - we
are them.

NWexican said...

Sorry I did say iPod, I meant a Zen Sleek by Creative; got it on Craigslist. I believe your Galaxy uses the Android OS? If so, there is an Android ready WAVplayer, look here -- http://home.comcast.net/~dkro/

Rick said...

Gentlemen, a famous guy once said "adapt or die"
 The processing of music on iTunes is quite ingenious and sometimes sounds BETTER than the original especially if listening through their earphones. They now do an icloud system where virtually all your music is accessible anywhere, anytime and on any device (Apple).  I gave up the fight a few years ago and now go with the flow.

Steve Cotton said...

 I will flow to a degree.  But I now understand why the general public finds some quality acceptable that they shouldn't.  But I guess that is an issue in more than music.

Steve Cotton said...

I am going to do a bit of experimenting.

Steve Cotton said...

Android it is. When I have more time, I will start a bit of fiddling. Too late for this trip.

Steve Cotton said...

 Do you have an 8-track I can borrow?

Andean said...

I don't use ipad at home much but WhEN traveling about it performs multipurpose. Don't understand the reason to bring CDs and readers another device for email and Internet when it can be all in one...

John Calypso said...

 Like Steve - I have to draw the line when the sound quality really gets denigrated. I do not find MP3 compression to my liking - spent too many years making good music to acquiesce to mediocre sound quality for the sake of 'high tech'. 

By the way there is no such thing as "...BETTER than the original..." Consider the source as they say ;-)

tancho said...

 Yep, got a Muntz 8 track player somewhere in a box, you will have to find the cassettes though. Or maybe it was a LearJet player.....

Steve Cotton said...

I just realized my laptop could do all of this. If I am not too concerned about the quality of my music -- which I am.

Steve Cotton said...

 I think our family has some old 8 track tapes at my Mom's house.  And maybe a player.

Steve Cotton said...

 I hear some current digital sound equipment can fill in the warmth of analog that digital has traditionally removed.

Gary Denness said...

Steve, rip your CD collection, stick it in a convenient format, load it onto your wonderful Samsung and enjoy the sheer convenience of listening to your computer, at the swipe of a screen, anywhere in the world.

I'm not really suggesting sacrifice. Keep your CD's at home for when you have the time to load them into a CD player and lie back and listen. I'm sure you'll appreciate the quality all the more!

Just think of it as being the same as buying the Panasonic TZ30 camera. Sure, there are better cameras. But the joy of having something so pocketable....

Oh, and go buy a pair of Bose headphones. I try them on everytime I go in a shop. Absolutely wonderful creations, they are.

Steve Cotton said...

 One of the real issues, of course, is that I cannot demand studio monitor quality from a small player and headphones (no matter the brand).  I guess that is why we settle for second best now and then.

I am going to bite the bullet when I get back to Mexico and start the ripping experience.

norm said...

On buying a CD player: Flea Markets still have them as will Goodwill and other resale shops. No shiny new boxes but cheap and they may even work...

Steve Cotton said...

Thanks, Norm. When I get back to Mexico, I will check the tianguis.

Gary Denness said...

I bumped into this yesterday,,,

http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/askjack/2012/apr/12/ask-jack-digital-audio