8 technology revolutions that are now relics: Ditto machine
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That it did not use electricity was NOT the big appeal.....remember the fresh off the press sheets? What was the first thing you did the second it got in your hot little hand? It was like catnip for gradeschool kids! Kinder Crack!

Someone said radio stations are still using 8 tracks for commercials. Close, sorta, but no. These units (lovingly known as "Carts") are 2 track (stereo) sometimes 1 track (mono) that typically have only 30 to 360 seconds worth of tape. Neither will play in the other kind of player, the size is actually not the same, but they do look similar...


I beg to differ with the notion that vinyl LPs sound better than CDs or MP3's. First, that's largely a matter of opinion. Vinyl LPs wear out quickly and get scratched, and when they do, they sound awful--and again it doesn't take long for that to happen! I much prefer the clear, clean sound of a CD to vinyl or cassettes, or even 8tracks. Those dinosaurs I do not miss, and with digital audio files online now, that's even better than CDs. I really think we have better now than before.





Did anybody like the smell of ditto paper ?because i did , always brings me back to grade school..

I kind of liked the smell. Can't remember if I ever caught a buzz or not.



I'm not sure how your comment showed up in my email box but I'm not Brad and my comment had to do with digital audio formats, nothing about ditto.




The author is not trying to write an autobiography here. All this is about is just an FYI

Some stuff is really never gone. Eight track tape is still used in some small radio stations for playing comercials. LP records are coming back because they sound better than a MP3 or CD. You can still get a DVD player with a built in VCR tape deck. Reel to reel tape is still used in both video and audio production and of course Kodak "film" is still used to make movies. So are things gone forever from the world? No, they are just gone from the consumer market.

mimeogragh machines, Ibm selectric typewiters you changed the ball to change fonts, dul cassette dubing decks, lp turntables, ( which I still have) blenders, salad shooters, and pug in drip coffe percolatoers. c7 christmas bulbs and zipppo or ronson lighters. wow.

all these things were used by me also I remember the Christmas we girls got a 8 track player and our dad took us out to buy tapes. A realy good memory. I find myself telling my grand daughter about some of the stuff we used She was fasinated when visiting my great aunt who is in her 90's and looking at all the old stuff she still used and had along with the new. A great history lesson for her.

The peculiar sweet smell of the fresh blue ink on a ditto-machine-produced worksheet handed out in an elementary school class in the mid 60s is as strong a memory as the smell of Crayola crayons, Play-Doh, or newly-cut grass on the playground to bring back memories of childhood.

Wow you hit the nail on the head with that one. I can smell it right now, brings back memories of slightly blurred purple-blue "hand-outs"... I'd add the smell of white paste glue ("paste") to your list, and the peculiar smell of a school gymnasium. Oh, and the smell of drying woolen mittens on top of the steam radiator that would burn you if you touched it.

The Ditto is way out of place in this group and doesn't belong. It belongs with techology like punchcards. An Atari 2600 would have been a better addition.

The Risograph machine is the technological heir to the duplicator throne.

I have plenty of this stuff at www.FreeRecyclingQuotes.com if you need it

















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