New and Improved??

As we progress thru life,
(not exactly the best of
wording, for lack of better
ones) we seem to lose a
lot.

Back in the 70's the 8
track tape was the best.
Or at least we thought so.
Then along came the cassette.
And records were still holding
in there. Even the manufactures
kept producing machines that
could play the combo of the 3.
Remember the record player on
top, the cassette and 8 track
side by side and if you had a great
model there was the AM-FM radio.

Now people look at you as if you
are from the dark ages if you mention
any of these. As CD's are the product
of choice. And to make it worse, it
is hard to get, and then only at yard
sales.... a player for any of the top 3.

Movies have gone the same way.
VCR are going, going, going. Some
machines have it so you can still
play both. One of the good things
is you can still record on Video's. And
while cameras record, but cd's don't
record show on TV, But there is
another gadget that does that. TiVo,
and etc.

It is rare to see anyone recording
life on a camera now that isn't a
digital. Some do 10 seconds to a
little more on their digital still camera.
It zaps the battery, so it isn't long.

Now television comes in HD and
Blue Ray? What ever that is. I have
looked in the stores that sell those
and they don't seem that much different
from the televisions of 5 years ago, pictures
wise. But if you don't by HD television soon,
you won't be able to see television as
well, they say, as the networks are
going to stop sending out the signal
for those, and go to HD and etc. only.
So what do we do with the 2 televisions
we have, say nothing of the one we have
in reserve, in case one of the other two
die?

And then we come to computers.
Having just changed everything
over from my old computer to the
new one. Coming from XP to Vista.
Being the old computer was trying
to die on my each time I ran it, it
was a hurry thing. The CD/DVD decided
not to work anymore. So it was a
slow process of emailing myself folders,
and hoping the machine would not
freeze while sending. Plus the slowness
of dial up.

After finally getting 99% of the folders
save, the old computer gave up the ghost
to be put in permanent freeze.

As I was taking things out of the email
area, and placing them in folders of choice
on the new machine. and then backing up
on cd....it dawns on me. The new computer
does not have a floppy disk player. What the
heck am I going to do with the 40 to 60 different
floppies of pictures I have and documents
that I have on them? As far as I know there is
no such thing as a strictly floppy disk player
that you can plug into your computer.

So I try to convince myself that, I have not
looked at these floppies in several years, so
like boxes in your garage, you don't need it.
But the pictures, legal documents that I copied
to floppies many years ago... to keep forever...
Are forever gone... hopefully my memory in my
head doesn't remember any that were needed.

Progress....not such a happy place to be some
times.