I like old stuff

I decided this morning to convert old 8mm video cassettes to digital with my old confuser whilst I worked on Da Book with my new(er) confuser. So I got out the cables and the old video recorder and some tapes, hooked everything up and got to multi-tasking.
Or actually, not.

Couldn’t get the conversion program to work. Probably too old. Me or the program or both. But Daughters One and also Two gifted the converter to me and it’s not their fault I took my own sweet time getting around to trying to use it, so I’m not giving up on it yet.

Mary will try loading it on her confuser and if that doesn’t work, we’ll have Two take a look when she comes home for the summer. I hate discarding a product simply because I let its shelf life run out. And it may well be that I’m just not competent at using the durn thing and Two will figger it out right sprightly. We’ll see.

Meanwhile, it was a trip pulling out the old camcorder. I had forgotten what a joy it was to use. Well, except maybe for the fact that rewinding seems to take forever in the context of today’s point-and-click world. On this old relic, every button is clearly labelled, indicating what it does in terms even I can understand. And there is a discreet button for – wait for it! – each and every function! I can actually operate the thing without accidentally deleting or corrupting anything because I didn’t understand where I was in multi-function land!

I know tape is old speak and I admit that my intent is to produce a non-tape copy of our entire photo / video family history for each Daughter and another for Mary and me. I will create them on Terrabyte drives that fit in one’s pocket. So I’m not entirely bent on stepping back into Old Techville.

The camcorder will end up donated and probably sooner rather than later. But I have to admit I’ll miss its straightforward utility. Lots of things seem to be going that way.

Sad. And inevitable.