I figured I'd take a moment to reflect back about the decade that's about to end...let's look at how a few things have changed:
Music Distribution: In 2000 we had two things going on 1. a move towards higher definition media made possible by better lasers (SACD and DVD Audio) and mp3 audio (Napster was in full swing). I think we know the story here, high def lost out (so did Napster) and we are not in the age of iTunes and iPods (or in my case iPhone). This is a somewhat unfortunate situation. I have a DVD player that can play the now dead formats and I even have a few high def format discs for 'critical listening' and showing off to people who have no idea what they are listening to. The compressed formats for digital files were necessary due to restrictions on storage and bandwidth. Hopefully these formats will improve in definition as those restrictions continue to be eased. Personally, I converted in 2008 when I got an iPhone. While I had put all my CD on computer around the end of 2005, it wasn't until I got an all in one device (phone, pda, camera, gps, mini computer, and oh yea, digital music player) that I stopped using CDs in the truck and started to use my MP3 jack (which I had fortunately added).
Computers: At the beginning of the decade I built a computer...cheaper than buying one. It had a Pentium chip in it. At the end of the decade I just bought two computers. I'm only vaguely familiar with the specs. They seem to do everything I want then to. Back then I bought a 20" CRT...it took up half my desk. Today I use two 22" wide screen LCDs. Together they take up 1/3 of my desk.
Memory: Early in the decade I was amazed at how a little CF card could hold so much (.5 gig) of data. Early in the decade I paid $65 for a 256K jump drive. Recently I saw an 8 gig mini SD card for $15 and just bought an 8 gig jump drive for the same price. I threw the 256K drive away.
Wi-FI - Early on it was non-existent, then we got it, we had to use cards and antennas. Today, I expect it everywhere I go (hotels, restaurants, down towns, other people's houses, etc.) and I still really really like it when it's free. It revolutionized the way we work and live. Everything can be done 'real time'. Information is shared instantaneously wherever we are.
Cell - at the beginning of the decade I had a plan where I paid $25 a month for like 20 minutes of calls...basically enough in case of an emergency. Today I no longer have a land line. My wife and I share a plan for $70 and get 550 minutes. We pay an additional $60 for unlimited data. We use the data more than we use the minutes. At the turn of the decade I had a flip phone. It could make calls and it had an internal phonebook. Today I have a device that does just about everything...it can even make a call although not all that well.
Email or should we say electronic communication - sure everyone had email in 2000. I think it was almost like a joke for adults. Today business is conducted via email, instant messages, and texts. People are far more accessible and things happen at a much quicker pace. When buying a house at the beginning of the decade there was very little emailing going on. At the end of the decade, everyone freaked out when I suggested we might actually fax something.
Movie distribution: The beginning of the decade saw DVDs coming of age. They were way way better than VHS. We endured the Bluray HD-DVD format war (Bluray one that one) but now are still waiting to see if Bluray will take off. My fear is that it will go the way of SACD and DVD-Audio....higher quality will loose out to instantaneous and readily available distribution through digital downloads. Again, until the bandwidth catches up, we'll be forced to compress the heck out of the media....and again, most people don't know, don't care, or don't have the equipment to tell the difference between ok and awesome.
Lighting - LEDs are now everywhere, Christmas lights, flashlights, and all over pro-audio. They are different than halogen or incandescent but are still quite useful.
Pro-audio - lots more digital effects and boxes...I'm still waiting for a move to more wireless and digital signal transfer...still way too many wires!
Cars - sure they are safer and have lots more features....big new hear is that one spike in oil prices and all of a sudden everything is green....hybrids were a college student project at the turn of the century and now are a must have for every manufacturer
TVs - in 2000, a plasma (an amazingly thin and flat TV) ran like $20,000...today you can pickup a TV of the same size and probably better resolution for about $1,000...less if you'll take LCD or LED...I purchased 3 TVs this decade...CRT projection, DLP projection, then plasma...I know the first format is dead, I think the second one either is or is close to death. The CRT had wicked new component video connectors, the DLP the new DVI connector and the Plasma HDMI...hopefully that technology will stick around for awhile
Ok....you want my thoughts on any other tech trends leave a comment! I can't wait to see what we'll be chatting about in 2020.
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