This is Clay Aiken News Network.  Our goal has and will always be to keep you updated on all the Clay Aiken news as it happens.  We have also tried to keep up on topics that are important in Clay’s professional life.

Recently, I have found it more of a challenge to present new and different topics so today we are going off track a bit.  I hope you don’t mind.  Tomorrow we will be back to Clay Aiken…I would like to think that Clay might chuckle at some of the obsolete gadgets, but he’s probably too young to remember some of them

I was on the Internet yesterday, looking for information about the changing field of music.  I was trying to find different opinions about the CD and why many people see it as obsolete. But…somehow I got off on another tangent.

It seemed that with each entry, I would come across many different gadgets, technologies, and habits that are now either obsolete or well on their way.

Because of the many advancements and gadgets introduced in the last few years, the whole world has changed.  We now have entirely different ways to do business, look for information, and connect with others.

We can reach anywhere in the world in just seconds, we have touch-screens and we share our thoughts with friends all over the world.

So…I am sharing some of the obsolete gadgets with you.  How is your memory?  Do you remember using any of these “older” devices?  Do you still use some of these inventions?

17 Things That Became Obsolete!

PDAs

Remember that trusty stylus? The once-awesome Palm Pilot had no chance when the touch-screen smartphone became the norm.

Dial-up

Static… dial tone… repeat a few times… ah, Internet!  30 minutes later…a download of a 3 minute Clay moment! I definitely won’t miss dial-up!

Getting film developed

Just think of all the pictures of Clay Aiken that we can take with a digital camera. Does anyone actually use film anymore?

Movie Rental Stores

Digital cable TV has given us Video-on-Demand and Netflix.  We no longer need to go to Blockbuster and hope the movie we want to see is available.  Are there any rental stores around anymore?

Maps

We used to have a folder with fold-up maps in our car.  Nowadays, we just punch in our destination into our GPS or smartphone. We’re good to go. Besides cutting down on the arguments about the quickest way, I no longer have to struggle to fold up the map correctly.

Newspaper classifieds

The Internet has become the place to go to find a job or a house or even sell your old couch. We can thank Craig Newmark from Craig’s List for this shortcut.

The Landline

89% of the U.S. can use wireless phones.  Every day, more and more people choose their cell phone over their landline at home.  It is not obsolete yet, but it is on its way out!

Long-Distance Charges

Because of cell phones, it no longer costs extra to make call to the other side of the U.S.  And, if you need to make international calls, there is Skype and various other free Internet chat services make international calls totally free (at least for now).

Public pay phones

I don’t think I can remember the last time I saw a public pay phone, let alone used one.

VCRs

DVD players outsold VCR’s in 2002 for the first time.  Today we have digital movie watching so “bye-bye” to the VCR.

Fax machines

Today, most people use e-fax.  The annoying fax machine is now passe.

Phone books, dictionaries, encyclopedias

What do you do with the many phone books that get dropped in your driveway?  I can get what I want on the Internet.  And, one of my “Bookmarked” spots is a dictionary.

CDs

It is the age of digital music and the iPod.  And, is there a store by you that still carries CD’s?  Album sales dropped by another 13% in 2010.  It is only a matter of time until the CD becomes just a relic of times gone by. (Maybe we should add the Walkman to this topic.)

Backing up your data on floppies or CDs

Now we have external hard drives and even thumb drives.  What am I going to do with all those DVD’s with all my Clay files on them?

Boundaries

With Facebook, MySpace and Twitter, boundaries went out the window.  I am not convinced that this is good.

Paper

Since most communication is now conducted on-line, fewer people continue having a newspaper delivered to their home.  You can get the news quicker on the Internet…and you can get many different points of view.  Some people feel that paper is the biggest casualty of the decade

Record Stores

Records have long been obsolete, except as nostalgia. But the record store, as in a store that sells music, has now been replaced by the Internet and iTunes.

Did we forget anything?

What else is toast? I would love to hear in the comments.