Tuesday 3 July 2018

Obsolescent Technology


The word ‘obsolescent’ isn’t used very often these days. I occasionally encounter it when reading military history, usually in reference to a tank or plane that has been superseded by greatly superior models, but that’s about it.

Essentially, obsolescent means ‘in the process of becoming obsolete’. Which is ironic, because it appears to me that the word obsolescent is itself obsolescent. I do wonder if this is because the word is just little known, and thus not often used, or if the cause lies deeper in Western society. Is our society such that nothing these days is obsolescent? Is everything either ‘modern’ or ‘obsolete’? Or, put another way, is the process of society’s adoption of a new, better technology (or idea?) now so fast, that the obsolescent step is skipped, and the given thing goes straight to obsolete?

Anyway, all of that is really just a preamble for the fact that I purchased a Walkman. Okay, it’s not actually a Walkman, it’s a cheap knock-off (or at least it was 20-30 years ago when it was likely produced). I bought it for $10 during my recent trip to America. I only bought it so I can listen to The Lord of the Rings audio I bought a few weeks ago.

I’ve had a quick test-listen, and there does seem to be a slight ‘wobble’ in the sound, but since I have no other way of checking, I don’t know if that wobble is because of the player, the tapes, or even the original recording. Oh well, I’m quite looking forward to trying it out.

There are 13 episodes in the box set. My plan is to listen to them one-at-a-time, painting a new The Lord of the Rings miniature with each episode and taking the time to blog about each one as I go. So something for readers to look forward to (or endure)!

10 comments:

  1. As long as they are the nice GW ones rather than the old Black Tree designs or 1980's GW figures !!!!

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    1. Mostly modern GW, with, perhaps a few unofficial models from here and there that fit well with the lines.

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  2. I'm glad you found a way to listen to this - it's an excellent adaptation!

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  3. What? I still have cassettes galore, as well as a Discman I use while painting miniatures. If it ain't broke, no need to fix/change it 8D.

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  4. Koolio - looking forward to your review now....

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  5. I remember I liked the old Mithril Miniatures LotR line but I haven’t seen them now...

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    1. It was a great line for its day. Mithril still exists, mostly as a high-cost, limited-edition collectors club.

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  6. Somewhat ironically, the word obsolescent is frequently used in internet communication protocol standards, when referring to a past standard which should still be supported for interoperability reasons but otherwise has been superseded by something better. The other useful word from the same context is “deprecated”.

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    1. Only had to read that 3 time to make sure I understood it! Still really interesting to know.

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