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Poll: Are you a tech hoarder?

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  1. Member yoda313's Avatar
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    SO do you keep all of your old out of date electronics?

    Do you still have your first generation mp3 player?

    Do you still have your old single layer dvd player that won't play -r or +r discs?

    Do you still have a cassette player? How about 8 track or vinyl?

    I admit to keeping SOME older technology even after upgrading. My philosophy is if it still works and has some flexibility I try to keep it. I usually limit it to the most recent generation. That way if something happens to the new device I have a fall back device.

    How about you?
    Donatello - The Shredder? Michelangelo - Maybe all that hardware is for making coleslaw?
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  2. Member p_l's Avatar
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    Sitting in my living room, I have an RCA Victor Combination Super-heterodyne radio/gramophone, model D-22-1, circa 1935. It weighs more than any other piece of furniture I've ever moved or any guitar/bass/PA amp I ever lugged around back in my band days.

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  3. I'm a MEGA Super Moderator Baldrick's Avatar
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    Nope - out with the old in with the new!

    I either give away/sell or trash old crap electronics as soon I get new stuff. I just don't like to keep stuff.

    Or well I have still my first dvd player...using it as a footrest. .
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  4. I still have my First Computer. Two wind up record players, Original Palm, 10" RCA B&W with the round picture tube, Seagate St-225 20Mb MFM hard drives, 5.25" flopie drives and discs and so on.
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  5. Member edDV's Avatar
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    I'm still hoping all the tech stuff in the basement will become collector's items. Imagine an "Antique Roadshow" for classic tech toys 8)

    The moment of truth comes when you must move. Until then my collection keeps growing.
    Recommends: Kiva.org - Loans that change lives.
    http://www.kiva.org/about
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  6. Unwanted toys get to live in the crawlspace for a few years, then out they go. I have packrat genes which take some effort to overcome.
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  7. If it still works, I still have it.
    If it kinda works and I think I might be able to fix it "when I get around to it", I still have it.
    If it doesn't work but I think I can fix it "when I get around to it", I still have it.
    If it doesn't work, but I think I can use parts from it to make something else work "when I get around to it", I still have it.
    If I've already stripped everything I think I can use from it and it's just an empty husk. It's gone!
    "Shut up Wesley!" -- Captain Jean-Luc Picard
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  8. Member Number Six's Avatar
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    Originally Posted by gadgetguy
    If it still works, I still have it.
    If it kinda works and I think I might be able to fix it "when I get around to it", I still have it.
    If it doesn't work but I think I can fix it "when I get around to it", I still have it.
    If it doesn't work, but I think I can use parts from it to make something else work "when I get around to it", I still have it.
    If I've already stripped everything I think I can use from it and it's just an empty husk. It's gone!
    Ditto!
    "I will not be pushed, filed, stamped, indexed, briefed, debriefed, or numbered! My life is my own" - the Prisoner
    (NO MAN IS JUST A NUMBER)
    be seeing you ( RIP Patrick McGoohan )
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  9. Member Epicurus8a's Avatar
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    Sort of... I keep some antique stuff for fun, like an Edison Cylinder Player (pictured).
    I also have a couple of 4:3 SD TVs.

    I no loner have any reel-to-reel audio tapes or Beta tapes, but I do have some audio cassettes and VHS tapes I hope to convert some day. Just as soon as I convert them, however, someone is bound to come out with a new and better format, and the process could begin all over again. So, it rarely seems worth the effort to keep up with conversions...

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  10. Member Marvingj's Avatar
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    I always kept the old but also the new..................
    http://www.absolutevisionvideo.com

    BLUE SKY, BLACK DEATH!!
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  11. Member Nitemare's Avatar
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    I am basically like gadgetguy. There comes a point though, when I will eventually throw something away. About two years ago, I pitched about a dozen 30mb HDDs... a year ago my collection of <3gig HDDs went into recycling.

    I still have a functioning windows 95 PC (P233) that I'm thinking of tossing. I don't want to because it still works and it was a good machine in its day... but when I can drop $350 on something far superior there's really no reason... but for now it'll stay in my closet.

    ...until I have enough machines to make my Blender renderfarm.....
    Even a broken clock is right twice a day.
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  12. I'm a packrat and keep a moderate amount of old electronics(and other junk).There is one benefit to using an old corded phone,if the power goes out you still have phone service.
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  13. Member Conquest10's Avatar
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    Originally Posted by Number Six
    Originally Posted by gadgetguy
    If it still works, I still have it.
    If it kinda works and I think I might be able to fix it "when I get around to it", I still have it.
    If it doesn't work but I think I can fix it "when I get around to it", I still have it.
    If it doesn't work, but I think I can use parts from it to make something else work "when I get around to it", I still have it.
    If I've already stripped everything I think I can use from it and it's just an empty husk. It's gone!
    Ditto!
    Pretty much same for me.

    I grew up with parents that would throw all my things away and developed absolutely no sentimental value to anything. So now I've got an unnatural connection to everything and am afraid to throw anything away.
    His name was MackemX

    What kind of a man are you? The guy is unconscious in a coma and you don't have the guts to kiss his girlfriend?
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  14. Member p_l's Avatar
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    Originally Posted by MOVIEGEEK
    I'm a packrat and keep a moderate amount of old electronics(and other junk).There is one benefit to using an old corded phone,if the power goes out you still have phone service.
    Yup, ditto!

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    I got rid of the last of my useless electronics a few weeks ago. Any other old gadgets I have are still being used. I have a a clock radio from 1983, a tape recorder from 1984, a Walk-Man and a calculator from 1990, and a boom-box from 1992, for my cassette tapes. No turntable, but I still have some vinyl records, including 45s.

    I still have a box-o-semi-useless-parts though, containing among other things a serial port cable, a parallel port cable, a serial-to-parallel adaptor, and two small but still good hard drives for emergencies. I have a greater tendency to hoard old useless software.

    I agree that holding on to an old corded phone is a good idea, though mine from the late 1980's is plugged into the wall. When the power was out for three days, I could at least make a phone call.
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  16. Member wtsinnc's Avatar
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    Hey, great idea edDV; "Antique Roadshow" for classic tech toys. I'd watch it.

    I started a thread today in the "Off Topic" forum about selling on Ebay (or anywhere else) old audio, video, and computer gear. Sometimes, this stuff brings way more than you think it would. I tended to collect Audio-related magazines- I was a true junkie. A few years ago I decided to sell what I could of it on Ebay and was amazed that it not only got bids, but bids for really decent money. I would usually package a years worth of- say- Stereo Review or Audio magazine and they always sold. I also had a pretty extensive collection of manufacturer's literature. One of my prize possessions was a pretty rare 8 or 10 page full color brochure for the Sequerra Reference FM tuner. I sold it to a guy in Japan for $109.00 plus international shipping.

    I want to cry when I think about the stuff I threw away. It's been a couple of years since the last auction; I'm thinking i might try it again. Extra money right now is a luxury !
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  17. Member Xylob the Destroyer's Avatar
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    got a stack of VCRs and a sweet dual cassette deck!
    Tons of 'blank' VHS tapes (but no audio cassettes to go with my player)
    Hell, I'm still using my Technics 4.0 surround receiver...
    the TV in the bedroom is a Phillets-Magnetbox 19" with nothing on the back but a coax in.
    currently have a 4G hard drive installed in my 'office' PC used for back-up purposes.

    nah, I don't hoard stuff.
    "To steal ideas from one person is plagiarism; to steal from many is research." - Steven Wright
    "Megalomaniacal, and harder than the rest!"
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  18. Originally Posted by p_l
    Originally Posted by MOVIEGEEK
    I'm a packrat and keep a moderate amount of old electronics(and other junk).There is one benefit to using an old corded phone,if the power goes out you still have phone service.
    Yup, ditto!

    Ha!, I still have one of those hooked up on the workbbench. I should take it to work and plug it in there and see if anyone can use it.

    Cheers
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  19. Video Restorer lordsmurf's Avatar
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    No. I keep something if it works, and I use it. The exception is items saved for spare parts, which tends to be a single box in a closet. I don't upgrade just because something new came out. Anything unneeded is sold, recycled, donated, given away or trashed.
    Want my help? Ask here! (not via PM!)
    FAQs: Best Blank DiscsBest TBCsBest VCRs for captureRestore VHS
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  20. Member
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    Originally Posted by gadgetguy
    If it still works, I still have it.
    If it kinda works and I think I might be able to fix it "when I get around to it", I still have it.
    If it doesn't work but I think I can fix it "when I get around to it", I still have it.
    If it doesn't work, but I think I can use parts from it to make something else work "when I get around to it", I still have it.
    If I've already stripped everything I think I can use from it and it's just an empty husk. It's gone!
    But I keep thinking I might be able to use one of those husks..... so I save them too....
    I finally threw away my wire recorder and rolls of wire although it was working well. Just didn't use it any more. Now I find they are worth a lot. At least I still have my 8 tracks and vinyl.
    Anyone need 500 @ 60MB tapes and Maynard drives?
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  21. Originally Posted by gadgetguy
    If it still works, I still have it.
    If it kinda works and I think I might be able to fix it "when I get around to it", I still have it.
    If it doesn't work but I think I can fix it "when I get around to it", I still have it.
    If it doesn't work, but I think I can use parts from it to make something else work "when I get around to it", I still have it.
    If I've already stripped everything I think I can use from it and it's just an empty husk. It's gone!
    Couldn't have said it better myself . Anyone care to start betting how many of us will end up quoting gadgetguy as our response?

    I keep just about everything unless its absolutely, completely useless or I've reached the periodic point where I'm tripping over stuff that really has to go. eBay has been both a blessing and a curse in this regard: a blessing because you can almost always sell stuff you don't want rather than discard it, but a curse because I end up buying two items for every one that I get rid of. Particularly when it comes to older audio gear, I'm one of those wingnuts who thinks anything made after 1990 is junk. So I buy backup unit after backup unit on eBay as insurance for the components in my sound system: I have an 8 foot tall stack of spare audio gear in my basement (three Creek integrated amps, three Yamaha tuners, four Nakamichi OMS CD players, two HK receivers, two Denon cassette decks, and two pairs of Mission speakers). Add to that countless spare parts, every computer system I've ever had since 1983 (anyone need a Commodore 64?), and more partially-functional Pioneer DVD/HDD recorders than you'll find at a Pio service center (I fix em up for resale, it helps pay for the other crap). The day is rapidly approaching when we'll have to move and lose the storage space, that will not be a happy day.

    Then again, one of my buds lives alone in a huge two family house that is crammed floor to ceiling with every vintage of electronics gear, from tube testers to jukeboxes to radios (hundreds of radios) to wire recorders to Edison phonographs, even an enormous Ampex B/W Quad 2" VTR from the '60s. You walk thru his house and you think you're in the museum of broadcasting. Just an amazing jumble of stuff. There's no way in hell all of it could ever be moved out of there: the city will just have to seal it up as a shrine or something when this guy dies. Talk about your ultimate pack rat.
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  22. VH Wanderer Ai Haibara's Avatar
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    Wait - you mean you're actually supposed to throw things away? THAT'S what that square bucket's for! I've been wondering.



    Okay, lame attempts at humor aside, yeah, I'll quote gadgetguy as well.
    If cameras add ten pounds, why would people want to eat them?
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  23. Member ntscuser's Avatar
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    Originally Posted by Ai Haibara
    Wait - you mean you're actually supposed to throw things away? THAT'S what that square bucket's for! I've been wondering.



    Okay, lame attempts at humor aside, yeah, I'll quote gadgetguy as well.
    Generally speaking, if you do throw something away, how do you know for certain you won't need it at some point in the future?

    Having said that, I did bin my entire VHS and laserdsic collection once I was able to transfer everything to DVD.
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  24. Member lacywest's Avatar
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    Acoustic Research speakers ... I have a bunch of them ... all stacked up in center of my garage.

    I told my wife ... look I made more room ... "yeah ... you just stacked your speakers up higher .... you better hope we dont have a earthquake" !!

    3 pairs of AR 48S .... AR PS 428s ... a few PS 218s .... quite a few subwoofers ... two Design Acoustics Subwoofers.

    About 7 feet long ... 5 foot wide ... about 6 foot tall ... area ... stacked with AR speakers.
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  25. Member zoobie's Avatar
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    the harddrive mfg's actually recommend you save the box...oh bruther

    alexander graham bell was afraid to give the chinese telephones...there are so many wongs and so many wings, they might wing the wong number
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  26. Member yoda313's Avatar
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    Please keep politics out of the forum......

    YODA313(MODERATOR)
    Donatello - The Shredder? Michelangelo - Maybe all that hardware is for making coleslaw?
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  27. Member Conquest10's Avatar
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    Originally Posted by yoda313
    Please keep politics out of the forum......

    YODA313(MODERATOR)
    Easy there Yoda. No politics. It was a joke. Like saying you're so fat you have more chins than a Chinese phone book. Or the Polish joke about the submarine with a screen door.
    His name was MackemX

    What kind of a man are you? The guy is unconscious in a coma and you don't have the guts to kiss his girlfriend?
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  28. Member yoda313's Avatar
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    Ok conquest. Just posting the reminder to keep it civil never hurts (and remember these days some people can be overly sensitive about seemingly innocent comments ).
    Donatello - The Shredder? Michelangelo - Maybe all that hardware is for making coleslaw?
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