Technology Trends Driven by DRM Giants, Planned Obsolescence, Not the Needs of the Buyers
The "pushers" think of customers as "users"; and they encourage passivity, Stockholm Syndrome
23 years ago my Discman got stolen (not Sony or "Discman" proper, just Discman-like or 'compatible'). It was actually also capable of playing CD-ROMs with MP3s on them. I had used it a lot and it still worked. What are the benefits? Lots. For one thing, CDs work easily across devices (large and small!) and a CD-ROM (even DVD) can last long. They have error-correcting mechanisms, more so if they are not compressed (e.g. uncompressed audio tracks), which means that jitters and mild surface damage can be mostly overcome.
So I bought a functional Discman today (they cost one pound now), surprised that it still worked OK. I see no issues with it (still), so 30-year 'old tech' is still functional, which seems like an emergent or reinforced pattern. This one device can also charge batteries, but I already have my batteries charger, which I inherited from my grandfather when he died in the 1990s.
Why can't they still make things that last long? They still make things that merely look like the old stuff, but they simply don't last long (barely a year) and they're not simple to repair. Nobody wants to bother, either. Some days ago I carried around and used my PDA, which is older than this site and still works fine.
Something can be learned from all this. If people still favour an old Discman over today's "Streaming" and "DRM Nonsense" (renting, not owning anything!), then clearly it's not the so-called 'consumer' that commands trends by demand and supply. This device has many features and it even charges its 'own' (generic AA) batteries, which are of course removable unlike "modern" nonsense. This thing is made to last and it has already lasted several decades.
Today's so-called 'tech giants' try to shovel slop and sell us worse things than ever produced before... as if they're the Holy Grail. Newer isn't always better. █
Image source: CD Walkman D-E330 (2002), with Walkman logo
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