The thing is, people are misusing the word retro. Over and over I see “Retro games shops” or “Retro Hifi” and “Retro Arcades” and so on and so forth. they’re not retro in any way, they stock original games or Hi-Fi from the 70’s, 80’s or 90’s. They’re not reproductions to look like the old stuff, they are the real thing.
The definition of retro is- “retro refers to a new item that imitates the style of the past” and that is all well and good. I have no quarrel with that. I play re-hashed versions of games on my Playstation for nostalgia reasons, sometimes because it is a pain in the bum to hook up an old console or arcade board to the TV to play the real thing.
Am I fooling myself into thinking that it is the original, no, not really, but it’s a lot more convenient if I just want to have a quick five minute blast on Space Invaders or whatever.
So, what’s the problem you ask, well, it’s the delineation when it comes to selling things online, It has now got to the point that repro items are being confused with genuine items because they themselves are now old in their own right.
Versions of tin plate toys are being sold as original “retro” items when they were made, say, 20 years ago instead of 70. Often for as much as the real thing, and people are being fooled into thinking the thing they just bought is an antique, when it is just a cheap knockoff.
This also goes the other way. The recent resurgence in vintage HiFi (yes, I used the word ‘vintage’ that’s almost as bad because it just means “of-age”, but I run Aston’s Vintage Technology Workshop, and I have a note from myself saying I can get away with it) 😛 Anyway, back on track, there is genuine “Retro” brand new Boomboxes and Personal stereo’s being made with a very nostalgic feel to them. They’re very bad quality, expensive, poorly built rubbish, using very cheap plastics and internal parts, and the thing is, people are buying it faster than it can be manufactured.
The problem there is, these same people now think everything is like that and it is tarnishing the past. “FiiO”, “Retrospeckt”, “We are rewind” and a bunch of others are all selling cheapo personal cassette players all at or around the £130 mark, which is expensive for what is a £10 to £20 cassette player, and what’s worse they all sound awful.
The first batch of non-Walkman cassette players I owned were all from jumble sales or car-boot sales and were a mixed bunch of average to semi ok sounding fayre. I mean, I was young and to be honest, I was just grateful to have anything at the time. Yet they all far outshone the dross being sold today.
And don’t get me started on the boomboxes… Long gone are the likes of which grace the album covers of such records like “LL Cool J’s 1985 debut Radio” a monster of a JVC battery powered monolith, or the copious amounts of Sharp models and the luscious Sony FH series powerhouses.
The new boombox offerings weigh nothing and have very weak speakers, the same miserable tape mech’s from china and lots of fake marketing.
What started as a mild rant about word usage has indeed blown out of all proportion and gone down a rabbit hole of annoyance and disappointment. If Sony, had got off of their ass and gone with the proposal to start making Walkman’s again (and I mean proper Walkman’s not those miserable iPod wannabe’s) they would have made out like bandits.
Think about it Sony. You started the revolution back in 1979 with the TCP-L2, the first Walkman. (even though it didn’t have Walkman branded on it, but let’s face it, it’s a Walkman). With all your manufacturing power and the history, and the desperate need for quality Walkman’s, you know what you need to do.
Make “Retro” Walkmans. (That’s right, there was a reason for all this rant after all).
Just make new versions of the classics. A nice new TCP-L2, some of the WM-DD range, even the lauded WM-DD9. All with a few mod cons like bluetooth or replaceable lithium rechargeables. Go nuts, make the best Walkman’s out there, you once did, you can again.
I for one would be the first in the cue to get a brand new WM-DD9 with all the bells and whistles.
Thank you, if you got this far, dear reader and fingers crossed. Aston…