We consume media in a variety of ways, so I thought it would be interesting to take a peak at some of our main media sources and examine some of the different ways we consume it today versus fifteen years ago.
RADIO:
As a child, I remember tuning in to the radio in my mom's old car, or listening to it on my AM/FM radio cassette player while on the go, or even in my bedroom I could tune in by turning my ghetto-blaster on. Today, of course we can still access the radio while driving in the car, but there are many other outlets that allow us to tune in to our favourite stations. We can listen online through the station's website, or on a smart phone. We now have access to iPods where radio access is available as well.
TELEVISION:
TV has come a long way as well! I remember thinking it was sweet to have cable; then at one point you could add on a few extra channels which allowed my family access to channels in the 50's. The quality of television has changed a lot too. I recall loving Saturday morning cartoons such as Tom and Jerry, Gem, and The Flinstones. Plus, the TV itself was nothing special. Today, consumers can purchase 54" plasma/flat screen. We have 100's of channels to choose from, with a wide selection of high definition channels. The difference in quality is huge. Also, people can now access television from their computer on the Internet, phone, tablets and so on.
MUSIC:
As mentioned earlier, cassette players, Walkmans and ghetto blasters!! I remember owning the Ace of Base cassette tape, and many of the Dance Mix tapes as well. We would grab our favourite cassette's, pop them in, and voila- a not so smooth sound, but nonetheless, we had music! I also remember when
discman's came out and c.d. players. So cool walking around with my little discman. We would download music to our computers and then constantly burn c.d.'s with our fave songs, and share with friends. Today, sure c.d. players are still around. Downloading music is still common and so is purchasing c.d.'s, but today the rage is using an iPod to listen on both large sound systems and stereos, as well as on the go with a set of headphone's for a walk or at the gym.
NEWSPAPERS:
I think that it has always been pretty standard that most people got newspapers delivered, or they'd walk down the block to a news stand and grab a paper for 75 cents. Newspapers today are still accessed through delivery and are still printed on paper. However, there is one massive change in the way we are able to access the news, and it is through the world wide web. Today we have access to countless number of online newspapers. We can access links to news stories from various web page's such as Twitter. In addition to computers, we can access the news from our smart phones, and tablets.
VIDEO GAMES:
Does anyone recall using Atari, Sega and the old school Nintendo? Amazing! I used to place those massive old cartridges in hoping it would work, often I'd have to remove it multiple times, blowing in it, desperately hoping that would do the trick. Today, we have access to online gaming, where we can interact with virtually anyone in the world. We are also spoiled with systems such as Nintendo Wii, xbox, and PlayStation. The old cartridges are now replaced with slim discs. These games are far more interactive and the picture is incredible. Others can access games from phones, iPads, tablets and such as well.
INTERNET:
I don't even recall having the Internet until I was in my teens. At that time I believe the connection was a lot slower. My family may have had dial-up too. I only accessed the Internet from home computer, or from my friends, and I vaguely recall only having a certain amount minutes online. Today, we pay for a simple plan, and access the web through wireless Internet as much as we like. The net is at our finger tips, as many pay extra to have access to it at all time through their smart phone's.
MOVIES:
VHS baby! I still have tons of VHS movies at home. We'd go down to Jumbo Video, Movie Village, and later, Roger's Video to rent a few VHS tapes at a time. Same thing with the video games, at times we'd have to blow in the machine to ensure no dust was in the way of movie night. I also remember the standard slow speed of fast forward and rewind. The quality has improved considerably as well, Disney movies are still some of my all time favourites; but we cannot help but recognize the amazing things being done in cartoons today. Hello Pixar? Or how about the 3D flicks that are all the rage. Today we can access movies that still cost a fee to rent but can be accessed from a convenient click from our home TV remote's. DVD players are also common, along with the more advanced Blu Ray player. The old school feel of making an event out of renting movies can still be accomplished with a trip to your local video store. We can download movies to our home computers and burn them to discs as well.
I hope you enjoy some of my comments on the way media is and was consumed both past and present! Feel free to share some of your own experiences and comments!
On that note, I am about to watch my PVR'd version of the Chainsaw Massacre.
Ciao peeps,
Tamara
