Thread

1. jonplackett · 1790941854 · focus · HN ↗

   I just finished making a ‘physical’ music system for my daughter.

   The inverted commas are because it’s actually all MP3s that are stored on a phone.

   But the phone is in a box

   Connected to a speaker

   Running an app I made that plays playlists when she places an nfc card on the box

   Basically it’s a bootleg Yoto / Tonie box but completely free, and our own music.

   Also got a desktop app where I download stuff, make plays lists and it auto syncs to the phone.

   She actually really likes it. Having a physical sense of what you own feels good!

   I wish I could take all the credit but Codex helped, a bit…

   1. sixtyj · 1790942710 · focus · HN ↗

      I saw a new Walkman yesterday in one e-shop. I hadn’t dump audio tapes… so kids will be all right :)

      1. jonplackett · 1790949630 · focus · HN ↗

         I was in shop the other day with my daughter and the walls were covered in cassette tapes as decoration.

         I has to take SO MANY steps back to explain what they were.

         I realised she thought all music was just magically created when you ask Alexa for it - so we had to start there to explain someone has to make the music first, and go back though streaming services, digital downloads, to having to literally go to a shop to buy a single song for £4 - which is probably about £20 now adjusted for inflation.

         1. sixtyj · 1790958654 · focus · HN ↗

            Phone booths, landline phones, Atari or Commodore computers with modems… 25 years is history now.

            People born before WWI had to feel similarly when WWII started.

            1. jonplackett · 1790972001 · focus · HN ↗

               Funnily enough I have also set her and 3 friends up on a private landline network for them to call and chat old school.

               One thing I love most about old tech is that it is single purpose = no distrations!

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