Friday, October 21, 2005

R.I.P. VCR 1972-2005

We all knew this day was coming soon, but the people at TiVo made it official this past weekend during the NYC Digital Life technology show. The VCR is dead.

It had a good run, but with the popularity of DVRs soaring as well as DVD-Rs, there just really isn't much use left for VHS. But yeah, I just found the e-mail that TiVo sent about it amusing. Check out some of the pics from the "funeral" on the link above.

Oh and here's what they had on the obiturary:

Here Lies the VCR
Born in 1972 in England, the VCR had a decent life, all right. But it's now time to make way for digital video recording for all. If you know someone who is still stuck in the video stone age, here are a few fun facts to help get him/her back on the (digital) record:
-Word is that many consumer electronics manufacturers are starting to halt production and sales of the VCR altogether!
-Turns out 2006 will be the last year for VHS releases.
-In 2001, VHS tapes accounted for 90 percent of all video rentals nationally. By 2003, VHS rentals had fallen to just below 50 percent, with DVD rentals grabbing almost 60 percent of the market share.

-And while I'll prob still use tapes until I decide to splurge on a DVD recorder (at least for recording stuff to hold onto, since I ain't gonna save it on my DVR forever) , it's still just kinda weird to see the end of an era (probably the only such ending my generation has seen since CDs took out audio cassettes- b/c we were all a bit too young to really remember/appreciate when records become obsolete).

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