A mindset firmly placed in both the analog and the digital seems to be the place to be. For the purposes of this post, analog will be used jointly with classic when it comes to computer technology. While obsessing with the Sinclair ZX81 computer of the early 1980’s, a parallel obsession with holographic computer interfaces is co-occurring. Clunky and slow classic computers hold as much interest as a computer that appears right before your eyes, floating in front of you and manipulated with the swipe of a hand in the air. Thinking of and finding fascination with old 5MB peripherals that were the size of a refrigerator and a fascination with petabytes of memory the size of a postage stamp are equally interesting. Seeing a barrier between the two simply does not occur. This coexistence makes each independent topic that much more interesting. This works the same with the feel of a 19th century book bound in calfskin and a new e-reader that holds thousands of books. Each has its own history and each has its own optimal uses. One does not have to live in the world of being a borderline Luddite and one does not have to live in a world where usable technology has not yet been invented.

An area where this dichotomy does not exist is in the world of music production. This is different than music recording practices. It is just fact that producing a high quality recording, even when the music is played on original instruments several hundred years old, requires the latest technology. What is being referred to hear is music that is produced solely by technology on a computer and through a piece of music technology. This holds no interest and it is in this area that holding true to the value of producing music on actual instruments will forever be superior to music produced directly from a circuit board.

A major benefit of owning a large music recording collection is the willingness to embrace analog technology for playback purposes. This especially holds true for cassette tapes and vinyl record. Vinyl is now hip and finding its second wind within society. Cassettes have not yet made this leap. Recently, listening to recordings on cassette tape has brought great joy. It is remarkable how well cassettes hold up over time. Placing a tape in the Sony CFD-S70 and having pristine sound coming out is really fun and somewhat exciting. A playback mechanism that has not yet been explored, but needs to happen because of the seventeen recordings waiting to be played, is the 8-track player. This will soon happen but the expectation of pristine playback that has come from using cassette tapes is not expected.. This pessimistic outlook is a good place to start as the only place to go is up. Seeing CD’s as old technology is not in the forefront of personal thinking at this time. The movement away from CD’s to only listening to music through streaming services or iTunes is a step that mentally cannot be grasped as of March 2021.