Digital Goes Analog, Analog Goes Digital

For the longest time, everyone has been trying to create the smallest music players, digital cameras with the highest number of megapixels and the fastest & most affordable laptops. But, what’s happening now? There seems to be a newfound appreciation for retro things ( and yup, I’m guilty of it ).

Example No. 1: The Camera 

Back when I was in Grade School or High School (and no, I’m still not divulging my age) film was still the best media to capture photos but digital was already slowly inching its way into the market. (Told ya I am not that old).  Everyone would complain about how they can’t instantly see the photos they took from their trips or parties. Back then, digicams have images with dimensions of 640×480–and yes that is less than a mega pixel! Today, there’s still a megapixel war but the film cameras are definitely coming back.  People are raving more about what they find in their father’s or even grandfather’s chest of forgotten relics!  Since my dad wasn’t a photo buff back then, all I found in our attic was an old point and shoot.  *Boingk*  Because I so wanted to capture nice photos with film, I got myself a really mint 70’s era SLR cam in 35mm, an 80’s era medium format camera that shoots 120 film and a somehow modern 90’s camera.  All of them still use film! (Note: This is Tipsy editing Ponggo’s blog post & I totally got lost while reading all the numbers!)

Now, why go with analog cameras?  Well, there’s a softness in the image that makes it more pleasing to look at than digital outputs.  There’s also a certain sense of excitement after you finish one roll of film not knowing whether what you took is going to turn out right 🙂 Oh yes! I messed up a couple of rolls of film but I’m learning! Hahahaha! Try it! It’s fun! To read more about the film camera that I got, click this this link and it will magically transport you there.

Example 2: Music Players

How many songs can you fit into a small Ipod?  A lot! Thousands maybe. 🙂  So what’s this trend of going back to vinyl?  I can’t exactly explain why I’m fascinated with my new Crosley Vinyl Player!  There is no easy way to fast forward nor jump to certain tracks or even change sides! There are around 4 tracks per side so an album will most likely have 2 discs or so. It is definitely not a space saver: imagine all those discs stacked beside each other.  But, despite all those it’s fun to have and listen to and it’s a nice conversation piece and functional home accessory too 🙂   It’s definitely gentle to the ears & it does not in any way threatening to destroy your eardrums.

It’s not that easy to find vinyl players nowadays and if you ever find one, it costs an arm and a leg (or maybe arms and legs with your head as well). 🙂 But, thanks to online shopping made easy by Gcash Amex Virtual Pay and I found a nice and simple vinyl player! Not only are the players cheaper, vinyl records are also a lot cheaper online than purchasing them in some retail stores 🙂

Normally, the brand that I got retails for around Php10,000.00 or approximately US$230 so I was so happy to be able to purchase it close to $87.15 or Php3,911 and shipped it straight to my door for an additional $23.20 or Php1,046! Not bad! Imagine the savings! Oh, but it didn’t turn out to be savings since I bought a couple of vinyl records as well! Hahahaha!

Another huge saving comes from the records themselves! Not only are the records not readily available here, they are really expensive too.

­­Adele’s 21 album is an example, got it for around US$16.88 only. I recently saw in one of the stores that I go to sells it at Php3,500 🙂 Oh the difference! So unless you are in a hurry which I don’t think is the case, just order them online and ship them all via sea! These things all bulky so might as well get the cheaper shipping option. Just activate your Gcash Amex Virtual Pay account and you are good to go! The vinyl albums from Amazon.com also come with free MP3 copies—you actually get to listen to the music already while you’re waiting for your shipment.

Prior to this, we were always scared of online shopping. For one, we didn’t want to input our credit card in all those sites—all those stories about credit card scams have made us paranoid. But, since the Gcash Amex offers a virtual credit card—it functions like a debit card where you can only spend the money that you loaded into your Gcash Account. Also, it ships directly to your home so no need to worry about additional charges or it getting held by the customs once it gets here!

But hey, we’ll let you in on a friendly tip: not all albums are cheaper online! Don’t forget to do your research first!   Then again, that’s the nice thing about online shopping: as consumers, we have the choice where to buy our stuff. Isn’t it ironic that we’ve been buying our digital stuff the analog way (i.e. offline) and now we can buy our analog stuff digitally (i.e. online)? 😉

Example 3: Typewriters
Who among you were able to use typewriters? Don’t be shy! Hahahaha! There is a certain cuteness of having to use one. There is also the challenge of not being given the chance to make a mistake: You have to pull the paper, apply some correction fluid, wait for it to dry and then that’s the time that you can start typing again! Oh so fun! Imagine writing a full term paper with that! Hahaha!

It’s something that is cute to have at home and at your office table as a decoration and… as a backup in case power goes out  Hahaha! Go grab your cute and colorful typewriters now! You never know when the power is gonna go out! 

So, have we awakened the old soul in you yet? We really hope so! Go analog & sign up for a Gcash Amex Virtual Pay account & thank us later! 🙂

More shopping tips & ideas on where to shop here:
Our Colorful Online Shopping Wish Lists
So, Who Shops More?
Good News for Bookworms!