Lower Decks: A Look at We'll Always Have Tom Paris

[Madner Kami]

Going on about "nostalgia" and rose tinted glasses often seems to be nothing more than attempting to defend current crap. If you dig deeper it's frequently a case of "and I thought that was bad..."

It's telling that there's not much nostalgia for, say, TNG season 1.

Cassettes were shit. They held about ten songs, they unravelled, they were expensive, the music quality was naff, they wore out. No one liked cassettes - we used them because we had no choice and were bloody glad when CDs came along.

Cassettes weren't great but they weren't terrible either.

Most of those "issues" are doing something that I strongly dislike - trying to say something newer is great by blowing the negatives of something older out of all proportion. Sometimes inaccurately too - cassettes were cheaper than CDs, and could hold more music than them.

MiniDiscs were better than either.

[Thebestoftherest]

Hey did they ever do a plot with Mariner where they are like, Star Fleet has an up or out policy, if they can't get and keep a promotion within a certain time of joining they get remove.

[Durandal_1707]

Going on about "nostalgia" and rose tinted glasses often seems to be nothing more than attempting to defend current crap. If you dig deeper it's frequently a case of "and I thought that was bad..."

It's telling that there's not much nostalgia for, say, TNG season 1.

Cassettes were shit. They held about ten songs, they unravelled, they were expensive, the music quality was naff, they wore out. No one liked cassettes - we used them because we had no choice and were bloody glad when CDs came along.

Cassettes weren't great but they weren't terrible either.

Most of those "issues" are doing something that I strongly dislike - trying to say something newer is great by blowing the negatives of something older out of all proportion. Sometimes inaccurately too - cassettes were cheaper than CDs, and could hold more music than them.

As an 80s kid myself, cassettes had one big advantage over other media, and that was the easy ability to record on them using the same ordinary equipment you were using to play them. That was something you couldn't do with LPs or CDs. The disadvantages were, well, pretty much everything else. Once CD-R drives became commonplace, any remaining nostalgia for the cassette more or less disappeared.

[Riedquat]

I don't have any nostalgia for cassettes (well, not enough to actually bother using them since my ancient cassette player started chewing every single one as the rubber on the rollers hardened), so that is an example of the newer technology being preferable, it's just that the advantages aren't anywhere near as significant as made out.

Vinyl, on the other hand, I can understand the appeal of. It's more than just the music there, it's the whole package - the sleeve artwork, holding the record, that all feels special, even placing the needle. Not that I've got any (or anything to play it on).

[J!!]

I've always thought that people who're nostalgic for cassettes must not have grown up in tropical climates.

[Riedquat]

On second thoughts perhaps I do have nostalgia for cassettes, but that's it - nostalgia. A reminder of my youth, that sort of thing, brings a bit of a smile to my face for just that reason but not something I'm particularly interested in actually using any more, other than occasionally for the "brings back memories" aspect.

[McAvoy]

I barely had cassettes as a kid before I went to CDs. There was nothing special about them that made them in any way superior to a CD. Now with CDs going the way of the dinosaur I am sure some hipster group will act like they are hidden forgotten gems too.

[Madner Kami]

Now with CDs going the way of the dinosaur

Going? Oh that ship has sailed about 15 to 20 years ago, with the advent of Steam, broadband internet and USB-Sticks.

And CDs had their nostalgia-phase begin in 2021, when, for the first time in almost 20 years, yearly CD sales actually increased (from 40.16 million units in 2020 to 40.59 million). Ironically at the same time vinyl-sales soared, increasing their sales amount to +50% compared to 2020. Though I really can not fathom why. Cassettes and vinyl do have a different experience in terms of the audio at least, due to their hardware's limitations. But comparing a CD's audio to digital (uncompressed) data on any electronic device is an exercise in futility, since there's just no distinguishing effect. Heck, distinguishing a 320kb MP3 to uncompressed audio is barely doable and I am one of those people whose hearing-spectrum is slightly wider than the averge person's, even compared to a young person (me being 42).

[clearspira]

Now with CDs going the way of the dinosaur

Going? Oh that ship has sailed about 15 to 20 years ago, with the advent of Steam, broadband internet and USB-Sticks.

And CDs had their nostalgia-phase begin in 2021, when, for the first time in almost 20 years, yearly CD sales actually increased (from 40.16 million units in 2020 to 40.59 million). Ironically at the same time vinyl-sales soared, increasing their sales amount to +50% compared to 2020. Though I really can not fathom why. Cassettes and vinyl do have a different experience in terms of the audio at least, due to their hardware's limitations. But comparing a CD's audio to digital (uncompressed) data on any electronic device is an exercise in futility, since there's just no distinguishing effect. Heck, distinguishing a 320kb MP3 to uncompressed audio is barely doable and I am one of those people whose hearing-spectrum is slightly wider than the averge person's, even compared to a young person (me being 42).

CDs were amazingly fragile things too. Even when kept in its case and wiped down lightly with a cloth you will still acquire scratches and that goes double if you have a cheap or faulty player. Suddenly halfway through your favourite track (of like two on the whole album that cost you twenty coin) will no longer work.

You can bash around pretty much anything other form of musical storage within reason and be fine.

[Riedquat]

I've still got a shelf full of CDs, I like to have something physical, although as has been pointed out sound-wise they're no different from any other uncompressed digital file so they hardly ever get played.

I've also encountered CDs cheaper than downloads from time to time, never figured that one out, but it may account for some CD sales.