{"id":3339,"date":"2021-02-26T14:30:15","date_gmt":"2021-02-26T14:30:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thenextweb.com\/?p=1340014"},"modified":"2021-02-26T14:30:15","modified_gmt":"2021-02-26T14:30:15","slug":"an-ode-to-portable-cd-players-you-were-ugly-in-a-beautiful-way","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.londonchiropracter.com\/?p=3339","title":{"rendered":"An ode to portable CD players \u2014 you were ugly in a beautiful way"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

This is adapted from Plugged In, TNW\u2019s bi-weekly newsletter on gear and gadgets. <\/span>Subscribe to it here<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n

Hey, <\/span>P<\/em>\u2014 Hey, <\/span>P<\/em>\u2014 Hey, <\/span>P<\/em>\u2014<\/span><\/p>\n

Fuck<\/em>. Let me stand still for a second\u2026 <\/span>Hey, <\/span>Plugged<\/span> <\/span>In<\/span><\/em> is back again, and this time we\u2019re talking about portable CD players. <\/span><\/p>\n

Longterm readers will know I\u2019m a man of many \u201cphases\u201d and, currently I\u2019m <\/span>in<\/span> what I\u2019d call my Compact Disc Renaissance\u2122. <\/span>I\u2019d like to talk about this further (and believe me, there\u2019s little more I want to do right now) \u2014 but that\u2019d ruin the exciting bit of \ud835\udd88\ud835\udd94\ud835\udd93\ud835\udd99\ud835\udd8a\ud835\udd93\ud835\udd99 we\u2019ve got lined up for you <\/span>in<\/span> the next edition of <\/span>Plugged <\/span>In<\/span> <\/span><\/em>(SIGN UP HERE<\/a>)<\/span>. <\/span>See what I did, Mom? That\u2019s a <\/span>teaser<\/em>. This is a professional operation. <\/span><\/p>\n

Before that though (AKA today), we have another mission: to bathe <\/span>in<\/span> the glory of the portable CD player, AKA the CD Walkman (or Discman).<\/span><\/p>\n

If you grew up <\/span>in<\/span> a certain period, those words will likely cause you to fall to your knees and scream \u201ctime is and unforgiving cruel mistress\u201d at that traitor sky. And if you\u2019re aren\u2019t a relic? Well, I would describe using a portable CD player as feeling unreal \u2014 an experience I\u2019m sure you\u2019ve had with a bit of tech before. You know, the sort of thing you look at it and say <\/span>\u201chow?\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

For me, the most mesmeric part was being able to <\/span>change tracks <\/span><\/em>while I was listening to a CD <\/span>outside<\/em>. These days, I simply try not to go outside.<\/span><\/p>\n

Now, I\u2019ve got no desire to endlessly wax lyrical about portable CD players. As fun as nostalgia is, that\u2019s all it is: fun. <\/span>Sitting here and being like\u2026<\/span><\/p>\n

\"technology<\/figure>\n

\u2026is a waste of my time, your time, and \u2014 most important of all \u2014 my time again.<\/span><\/p>\n

Portable CD players were great during their heyday, but they were also always a little shit. Case in point: I had to stand completely still for mine to work. <\/span>The hardware will forever hold a place <\/span>in<\/span> my heart, but let\u2019s be honest: Spotify is far more impressive<\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n

So, <\/span>in<\/span> honor of what\u2019s going to be known as the troubling part of <\/span>Plugged <\/span>In<\/span><\/span><\/em>\u2018s adolescence when it got weird with CDs, I asked other TNW writers to find pictures of the portable CD players they had back <\/span>in<\/span> the day.<\/span><\/p>\n

And \u2014 without further ado \u2014 here they all are:<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Sony
<\/i><\/a>Mmm<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Sony
<\/i><\/a>Mmmm<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Sony
<\/i><\/a>Mmmmm<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Philips
<\/i><\/a>Mmmmmm<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Sony
<\/i><\/a>Mmmmmmm<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Panasonic
<\/i><\/a>Mmmmmmmm<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Sony
<\/i><\/a>Mmmmmmmmm<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Sony
<\/i><\/a>Mmmmmmmmmm<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Kenwood
<\/i><\/a>Mmmmmmmmmmm<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Maybe one day far, far off into the future we\u2019ll get our talented writers to actually say something about those machines, but\u2026 today\u2019s not that day. Whether you basked <\/span>in<\/span> their old school and fiddly glory, or wondered who <\/span>in<\/span> their right mind walked around listening to CDs, I\u2019m happy we did it <\/span>together<\/em>.<\/span><\/p>\n

There is one thing these photos genuinely made me miss though: buttons. <\/span>BUTTONS FOREVER. I WILL STORM THE BASTILLE IN SUPPORT OF BUTTONS.<\/span><\/p>\n

Anyway, hope you enjoyed looking at some old-ass pictures. If you have a burning urge to share an image of your long dead portable CD player, you know where <\/span>my Twitter is<\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n

Finally, I\u2019m going to leave you with this: say hello (and goodbye) to Christopher Walkman.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Christopher<\/figure>\n<\/p>\n

Did you know we have a newsletter all about consumer tech? It\u2019s called Plugged In \u2013 and you can subscribe to it right here<\/a>. <\/i><\/p>\n

Published February 26, 2021 \u2014 14:30 UTC <\/p>\n

Source<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This is adapted from Plugged In, TNW\u2019s bi-weekly newsletter on gear and gadgets. Subscribe to it here. Hey, P\u2014 Hey, P\u2014 Hey, P\u2014 Fuck. Let me stand still for a second\u2026 Hey, Plugged In is back again, and this time we\u2019re talking…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3340,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.londonchiropracter.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3339"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.londonchiropracter.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.londonchiropracter.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.londonchiropracter.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.londonchiropracter.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3339"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.londonchiropracter.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3339\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.londonchiropracter.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/3340"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.londonchiropracter.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3339"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.londonchiropracter.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3339"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.londonchiropracter.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3339"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}