January 05, 2010

How Much Would YOU Pay? Well, DON'T!

I noticed this SmartMoney article about ten supposedly obsolete or near-obsolete consumer products that the, er, smart money says we shouldn't be bothering with any more. Here's the list, together with my thoughts:

1. DVD's - Well, I'm pretty much a Netflix junkie already. However, I do maintain a small library of my own consisting of movies I love to watch over and over again, rarities and oddities, and bargain stuff that I stumble on at random.

2. Home Telephone Service - They say the landline is dying out. I say they'll make me carry a cell when they staple it to my cold, dead hand.

3. External Hard Drives - I don't know what this means.

4. Smartphone Also-Rans - Sigh. While I am a telephone Luddite, the rest of the occupants of Orgle Manor do not share my views, with Mrs. Robbo and the elder Llama-ettes having already turned into Blackberry zombies. By the way, can I just say here how much I hate the word "app"? I put it in the same category of linguistic barbarism as "carb".

5. Compact Digital Cameras - Well, we have one but I rarely see it myself.

6. Newspaper Subscriptions - Orgle Manor is ahead of the curve on this one, as we gave Pravda On The Potomac the boot a number of years ago.

7. CD's - Says the article, "When was the last time you bought a CD or even walked into a record store?" Wull...I buy CD's all the time. Nobody has yet shown me how iTunes can come even close to duplicating the variety of classickal musick available on them. Besides, we hates iPods.

8. New College Textbooks - This makes sense. Indeed, I bought all my law school texts used. On the other hand, if like me you buy a book on the assumption you're going to keep it forever, you don't want to pick up something that's falling apart. Also, beware buying a textbook that has been previously owned and annotated by a moron. It'll get you in trouble.

The article also suggests online downloads. Do you know that at the Orgle Manor New Year's Open House, one of our guests, looking around my library, had the nerve to suggest that I ought to buy a Kindle (or whatever those digital book thingies are called)? Feh. Again, you can pry the dead-tree version out of my cold, dead hands while you're busy stapling the cell phone in.

9. Gas-Guzzling Cars - I don't even know what the standard is anymore. To me a "gas-guzzler" still means our old '72 Ford Country Squire station-wagon (with fake wood paneling), that got about 13 gallons to the mile. All I know is that I think of all Prius and Civic hybrid drivers as self-satisfied prigs.

10. Energy-Inefficient Homes and Appliances - Heck, I'd be perfectly happy to replace the forty-year-old windows and storms on Orgle Manor with something less drafty. On the other hand, I'll betcher that we have a smaller carbon foot print than ol' AlGore does.

Posted by Robert at January 5, 2010 10:02 AM | TrackBack
Comments

Husband would LOVE it if I switched to a Kindle, as our basement is literally full of books. But, like you, I will not switch, even if it means numerous trips to the library and back.

And as for the house, it's six years old but I'm at this minute freezing. There again Husband teases me because I huddle under three blankets, wear heavy sweatshirts in layers and what not, and I tell him it's a heck of a lot cheaper than turning up the (electric) heat!

And...I have yet to see a Prius around here that doesn't have several dents in it.

Posted by: GroovyVic at January 5, 2010 10:35 AM

That list is a bunch of pretentious twaddle.

Netflix does not work when you have children. We have a dvd player in the van and it is a blessing for our long slog north. We let them bring as many movies that will fill the bag (At least a dozen, usually far more than that)and let them watch them to their hearts' content.

For the adults, I score movies at the library. They are free and we get them for a week. They have an incredible selection, especially with the county wide inter-library loan.

Oh and bah to kindle- I heart my library and used bookstore.

Posted by: Sarah G. at January 5, 2010 10:43 AM

As far as I know, they don't make 12 passenger vans that aren't gas guzzlers.

And my 101 year old house may be energy inefficient as well as freezing cold and drafty all winter, but I consider it my right to freeze. That being said, eventually I'm going to nag enough to get some storm windows built around here.

Posted by: Jordana at January 5, 2010 03:51 PM

1) I still buy DVDs. Then again, I still have a non HD cathode ray tube TV, which means I don't get the broadcast channels very well. But about the only thing I watch there is The Simpsons and SNL. And a few hundred vinyl LPs.

2) Still have only a landline

3) Gee, I just upgraded to a 1 terabyte external HD.

5) I do have a flip video camera, my other camera is a film one.

6) I get the local paper because I want to peruse the sports pages and read the comics over breakfast.

7) I still by CDs, though I do have a Nano, usually for podcasts.

Now if you'll excuse me, the damn kids are on the lawn again.

Posted by: rbj at January 6, 2010 08:39 AM

Just had another look at your remarks: the Squire was a '62, duuumkopf, not '72. Maybe we still had it ten years later. We had something big.

Posted by: mothe at January 6, 2010 07:55 PM

And it got 13 to the gallon with the engine OFF.

Posted by: mothe at January 6, 2010 07:58 PM
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