Pre internet bliss you miss, things we dont do now because of the internet

[Hink]

For me the very first one is definitely music store trips, going out for a ride checking out all the stores. When I lived in Lowell Mass (almost 30 years) I was minutes from NH and tax free shopping, there were a lot of music stores (including the chain I worked at Daddy's Junky Music which had 4 or 5 stores within 3/4 hour of me, two very close). There was a ton of used gear out there, Daddy's had the most by far, never knowing what you will find. Once we went up a road I typically didnt do in Windham NH, suddenly I saw a place I never heard of called The Guitar Gallery which moved to Amherst NH (just a few minutes from JustStrings.com). GG is very expensive but I loved to go in there and see what he had but as I recall in 2009 when I went to juststrings last the store was by appointment only.

I also miss the same thing but looking for tunes, the difference was I liked to go to Boston for that. I knew a lot of used Vinyl places (Looneytunes Copley sq), they sold tapes and turned into a cd store, that feeling of finding something you couldnt find for a long time

This isnt a complaint, I mean it's great having so much at my finger tips now, but waxing nostalgic...

[Erisian]

My music and painting have petered out quite a bit. Thanks to the internet, I can find free software to help me with art and music but collecting this has become such a thing in itself, that along with posting on forums I have less time to produce stuff.

[jackoo]

I'm pondering whether I'm too young to answer this...

For me, the age before the Internet became mainstream where I live, there were nice magazines, with CDs full of demos.
The magazines were really enjoyable, thick and written by knowledgeable people. I used to do really a lot of tech reading on paper. Magazines today are total crap...

On another note, back then I didn't have a job, or really any difficult responsibility (just school...). So every memory about those times are good memories because I had so much time on my hands. Time itself felt like it was flowing slower. There was time for most of my needs. I felt like a free human being.

TV was a thing...
There were nice TV shows (oh yea, I actually watched TV back then). Less ads. Things were looking to be more stable, on a lot of fronts.

Didn't have any music gear back then, though... (except a Yamaha PSS-12)

[synthgeek]

For me the very first one is definitely music store trips, going out for a ride checking out all the stores.

I was just thinking about this the other day, but in relation to computer shops, not that music stores weren't fun too. I got into computers before I got into that side of music though, and I have fond memories of those kinda messy little places with floppy discs hanging in bags on pegs, chunky bits of tech I couldn't necessarily identify sitting on shelves, etc.

Record stores were fun too, but honestly I don't hold those same feelings for them. Hard to put my finger on why.

[Blaster]

My music and painting have petered out quite a bit. Thanks to the internet, I can find free software to help me with art and music but collecting this has become such a thing in itself, that along with posting on forums I have less time to produce stuff.

Indeed. Reading books for me. I used to be an avid reader, but haven't read a proper book in years. I have lots of ebooks these days, but always get distracted by the "internet".

[dark water]

Dunno if it fits the thread, but I'm massively thankful that I grew up as a teenager during the 1990s and not a few years later when internet / social media / instant phone photos had become a thing...

[Erisian]

My music and painting have petered out quite a bit. Thanks to the internet, I can find free software to help me with art and music but collecting this has become such a thing in itself, that along with posting on forums I have less time to produce stuff.

Indeed. Reading books for me. I used to be an avid reader, but haven't read a proper book in years. I have lots of ebooks these days, but always get distracted by the "internet".

My wife buys me books for Christmas and my birthday but it takes so long to read them now. I have a great collection of Neil Gaiman short stories that she gave me at Christmas and I have so-far read three.

[vurt]

well up until covid, i still occasionally did record hunts
we have a few decent record stores over in liverpool still, and a hmv
although, they are good for more mainstream stuff dirt cheap.

sadly most of what i want isnt so mainstream and cant be found so cheap

music toys, we never had a great deal, when i was younger there where a few guitar stores and i remember dawsons first getting a synth, and several of us just stood staring at it, thinking what the f**k is that?

just a box, with sliders and knobs no keys!
you cant play that? its full of holes...

and i do still read, paper books
but, this is the thing i miss, and it wasnt even really the internet, it was supermarkets that killed book shops
getting all the new release big books, harry potter for example, and selling them at prices indies couldnt compete with.
book shops were something completely different to music (toys or cds) shops, in that there was no strutting, showing off, there was peace, and knowledge!

librarys gave us power.

[vurt]

Dunno if it fits the thread, but I'm massively thankful that I grew up as a teenager during the 1990s and not a few years later when internet / social media / instant phone photos had become a thing...

when i think of some of the shit i did
thank god theres no video proof

[Bombadil]

If you ever manage to get to Galway, go to Charlie Byrnes' Book Store. It is amazing, best independent book shop I've been in in decades. I could spend the whole day wondering around in there, and spending far more money than I had intended. My wife knew Charlie when she lived there. Got a 1st ed. Silmarillion there for €13 a few years ago.

P1140797.jpeg

[Bombadil]

It has been on my mind a lot over the last couple of years, and one of the reasons (of which there were many) why I closed my FB acc't. Reclaiming my life to pre-internet levels. Not realistic right now, but when it feels right, I'll just do it. Like, if 'normal' ever returns to my life, I'd likely kill our streaming subs. Well, I'd likely give it very serious consideration.

[vurt]

If you ever manage to get to Galway, go to Charlie Byrnes' Book Store. It is amazing, best independent book shop I've been in in decades. My wife knew Charlie when she lived there. Got a 1st ed. Silmarillion there for €13 a few years ago.

P1140797.jpeg

ooh lovely!
i do hope its something rosie gets to experience.
she does so far love her books, pretends to read, following the lines with her fingers and making it up in her head
but if she continues loving books! her life will be so much better!!! all those places we get to visit

[Bombadil]

It's a great space, vurt. And has that 'old book' smell. A true fecking gem. And it has little detours and nooks to sit and read. This is what a book store should be, not a couple of clicks on Amazon.

[vurt]

It's a great space, vurt. And has that 'old book' smell. A true fecking gem. And it has little detours and nooks to sit and read. This is what a book store should be, not a couple of clicks on Amazon.

totally!
i always went in for one book, either never found that or if i did also found a few others id never have known of.
and if its somewhere you are regular, the staff get to know your reading habits, and it becomes like a little community, "oh you should meet such and such, they enjoy magick and crochet too!"

[raiderpdog]

Always loved going to all these mom and pop type stores:

Record stores---so many great shops gone. Made many friends, some great discussions over music. For my group of friends, it was literally a daylong event, going to several during the day. Hunting for hidden gems.

Book shops---same thing. There were so many that had off the beaten path books, and hard to find stuff. We had several like that here, and we also had a couple that combined books, records, cd, comics, dvds, video tapes, flea market cool junk stuff, musical instruments, etc. You could go there with a plan, but it always was derailed by what you found instead.

Old Video Tape shops---used to love browsing at the clam-shell box art for movies, especially 70s type horror and sci-fi.

Music stores---my buddies and I were always hunting for used gear, and hit every shop in site over and over. Still remember being a total new guy into synths, wanting to test stuff out and hear weird sounds, and the music shop guys always showing me regular organ sounds instead

Comic shops before comics became so big: Many used to be kinda junky, even a little scary inside, gloomy, poor lighting, messy. But I found so much excellent stuff in those shops. I even found a guy at a small comic convention that also was selling old comics out of a Semi Truck Trailer in a truck storage lot. I really was nervous when I got there, it was desolate and had a terrible lake near the trucks. I figured I was probably going to end up dead in the lake and no one would ever know what happened to me, But the dude couldn't have been cooler, and just left me alone to go through as much of the trailer of old comics as I wanted. Made possibly my best ever haul of comics that day. Still unbelievable what he had in that trailer.

So, basically I miss the element of chance that a lot of these pre-internet type small shops offered. So much now seems to be same inventory, same blandness, just drained of surprise to me. I miss meeting the weird folks who owned these type of places, hanging out, etc.

There just seems to be a creeping corporate-ness to so much to me now. But, on the other hand though, now the internet has also saved most of the stuff I miss finding, but you miss out on the meeting other characters which I enjoyed.