Interesting question from my grand-daughter

[briankeith]

My 8 year old grand daughter, who loves to listen and play with my phonographs, asked me a rather serious question this past Sunday. She is very very smart for her age and knows a lot about gran-pops "hobbies". She asked me: how come when radio became the new thing to listen to why didn't people just put the old phonographs out on the curb for the garbage man to take away like you did with your old 8-track players and cassette decks ?? How come so many of these old phonographs are still around ?? Now I promised her I would ask all my buddies on this forum !! So tell her why guys

[A Ford 1]

They:
*Did not stop functioning (supplied listenable and still desirable music).
*were a part of the furnishings of the living room (would leave a void to be filled).
*were more attractive than plastic.

[FloridaClay]

It is an interesting question. Of course part of the answer is because many are examples of fine craftsmanship. Many were also hugely expensive at the time they were bought, giving pause to setting them by the curb. And many continue to embody fond memories of owners, passed down to children and grandchildren who cherish them for that reason.

On the other hand countless thousands of phonographs were set by the curb or put in sheds or barns or basements where they slowly rotted away, or were turned into storage cabinets. Significant number remain because millions were made.

And there are likely many 8-tracks, reel-to-real recorders, early transistor radios and the like squirreled away here and there that may someday emerge and be lovingly collected as symbols of a long gone age. It is already happening with some things.

Clay

[Curt A]

She asked me: how come when radio became the new thing to listen to why didn't people just put the old phonographs out on the curb for the garbage man to take away like you did with your old 8-track players and cassette decks ?? How come so many of these old phonographs are still around ??

Actually, many people did throw them out and many were donated to scrap metal drives in WWI and WWII. I can think of several people who have found great machines at the curb waiting to be picked up... Fortunately, these were so popular and well made that millions were made and appreciated thus the higher than normal survival rate. Just look at the cheapest Edison machine and realize that after 100+ years of use and abuse the things are still going strong for the most part and if not, they can be easily be brought back to working order... try that with an iPhone, iPad or computer that craps out. Most stuff made now, including houses have a planned useful life. What if Edison made millions of his first light bulbs? You would never have to replace them, unless you broke it... this is not a good business model for the modern age of disposable stuff... you would never get the chance to sell more, since families would pass them down, like the phonograph. In order to get people to let go of their phonographs which were not broken, companies had to compete by re-making recorded music technology - radios, tv, VCR's, mp3s, etc...

[Wolfe]

That an 8 year old knows what "old 8-track players and cassette decks" are shows she's been inculcated to the doctrine for some time now. Ask her how many million machines the Victor company made and how many she estimates are still left. May seem like a lot, but it's only a fraction (don't tell her that - might break her li'l heart.)

[briankeith]

Yeah she knows about 8-tracks and cassettes Wolfe (because of my scrap books haha)

[52089]

My 8 year old grand daughter, who loves to listen and play with my photographs, asked me a rather serious question this past Sunday. She is very very smart for her age and knows a lot about gran-pops "hobbies". She asked me: how come when radio became the new thing to listen to why didn't people just put the old phonographs out on the curb for the garbage man to take away like you did with your old 8-track players and cassette decks ?? How come so many of these old phonographs are still around ?? Now I promised her I would ask all my buddies on this forum !! So tell her why guys

Unlike radio (at the time), the phonograph will play whatever you want to hear whenever you want to hear it.

[alang]

I think that general standard of living (-> wealth) and the speed of change was different, that is the main reason. Before even the time of phonographs most people owned things that had a specific use and purpose and you would not get rid of something before the end of its useful life. If things broke you fixed them. If you could not fix them you re-purposed them. In the last hundred or so years the standard of living has gradually changed, most people now can afford to own things that are not essential for survival. Also with the growing speed of technical progress the definition of useful life has changed. It not only includes compatibility to other technical things, but also the fashion factor. For that reason a 25 year old computer is probably less useful today than a 100 year old phonograph.

I know that may be quite abstract for a 8 year old, but I'm constantly amazed how smart kids are nowadays. Congratulations to such an inquisitive and smart grand daughter

Andreas

[Schlick]

And electric service did not instantaneously make it to every address, it took decades and decades to build up that infrastructure... as said above the change was more gradual.

(Bright gal!)

[emerson]

What your grand-daughter says, tells alot. She is in "the throw-away era". Back then even if something was out of date---it still had value, both money and memory wise. I believe we all had jars of screws and other items kept for if they were needed to make or fix something. Plus, today everything is accessible and with such advancement in technologies---you can't keep everything---storage facilities are another "new thing" for those in need of room. Ha Ha, don't crank me up