So long, old fellah …
Do you remember a time when you had to want something in order to get it? Something simple. An item, perhaps, but even more than that — to be entertained for a few hours. We couldn't just click a few buttons and have tens of thousands of movie titles at our disposal. We had to go to a store, peruse through available videos, take it home and then watch it, providing we didn't have to rewind it first, another 10 minutes tacked onto the struggle.
But as we grew, the VHS slowly faded into the nether regions of thrift store shelves and our parents' closets. There was no proper burial, or going away party. It was just … poof. A long, slow, uneventful … poof.
Surprisingly, however, there have been manufacturers still building VCRs out there, the bulky dust collectors that played our favorite childhood videos. Not for long, though. Recently it was announced by Japan's Funai Electric it would be cancelling its manufacturing of VCRs because of shotty demand and other completely obvious reasons.
The company stated that last year's demand was its lowest in history, yet still sold 750,000 units worldwide … which, seems like a lot?
Regardless, that's it. Funai Electric was the last place on earth making these things. The format is gone, that is of course until hobbyists and hipsters bring it back ten years from now.
So long old fellah.
Leave a Reply