End of An Era

My previous car was bought in 1996, and I didn't get the package with all the bells and whistles, so it had a tape deck and radio; no CD player.

Yes, they had been invented back then. No, I'm not that old. Yes, I do remember records. Yes, I owned a Donny Osmond record. Yes, many cars came with CD players in 1996, but mine didn't.

It also didn't have electric windows and locks, but I got 35 miles to the gallon on my last full tank.

So I taped a bunch of CDs to have music in the car for when NPR has their pledge drives or when I'm on the road and all they have is country. Or western. (Remember the bar in the Blues Brothers?)

Under the seats I had a couple of cases of tapes I've had since before I came to the US (yes, that's a while back). I have a handful of the albums on CD (The Clash, Brandenburg Concertos, Four Seasons, some Bowie), but I haven't listened to them in years.

What with the new car which most certainly does not have a cassette deck, I have no need of cassette tapes, so I threw away those which I'd taped from CDs I have. I don't think there's a working boom box in the house, so I can't listen to them even if I want to.

I put the old ones from the eighties in the back basement.

I'm not quite ready to throw them away just yet.

Perhaps I'll seek out the MP3s. I used to like those albums.