Most individuals would likely search online. This happens every day
across America as most of us are no longer letting our fingers do
the walking across the white pages of the local phone directory.

In fact, phone companies such as Verizon are now legally requesting
permission to end the practice of delivering these heavy volumes to
residential homes.

This is the way change happens. Slowly one day at a time.

Remember, it was only during year 2008 -2009 that cell phone usage
finally eclipsed that of the once dependable and necessary land line.

Cell phones are simply more convenient and private especially for
those who live in homes with multiple residents. No more can the
talkative teenage daughter tie up the phone in the evenings if both
mom and dad have their own phones, not to mention, her siblings.

About the only folks who might be sad to see the white pages perish
are those unlucky private contractor delivery drivers who earn a solid
day’s pay in a job that’s often a last resort.

Important in this busted up economy.

Well, at least the Yellow Pages are going as strong as ever. Many
small businesses simply don’t have a website or are even interested
in having a site.

What’s the local house painter or refuse hauler going to do with a
website? His income is often earned through word of mouth, not by
visitors online.

The commercial Yellow Pages are likely to last through the rest of
decade and maybe even longer. But the days of lazily browsing through
the old white pages and marveling at all the “Andersons, Smiths and
Taylors” in town is fast drawing to a close.

The venerable Sony Walkman® “walked” away from the game
last month for good. Officially retired by Sony Corporation and
out of production as a global consumer product although some
limited versions will apparently still be available in technology
backwaters, mostly in underdeveloped parts of Asia.

The Sony Walkman® has lingered around in a manner similar to
a whithered old athlete who has stayed around a bit too long and
couldn’t take the hint that the time has come to hang up the cleats.

Maybe not as bad a situation as Hall Of Fame baseball player
Willy Mays stumbling over his own feet in the outfield, but the
sentiment is quite the same.

Young people still drive the market for music as they always have,
and many of today’s most enthusiastic consumers parents were
not even born yet when Sony introduced their portable cassette
player back in 1979.

The Sony Walkman® was one of the first easily portable major
market consumer devices that played recorded music and was
also capable of real stereo sound although the weak and tinny-sounding
headphones of the era pale in comparison to the eardrum damaging
headsets of today.

Cassette tapes are not even an afterthought in the current fast-paced
world of digital media. Cassette tapes were long ago eclipsed by
the once-revolutionary shiny plastic CD discs which are themselves
on the way to the sidelines permanently.

Change comes too fast in many areas of the consumer marketplace
leading to flaky conspiracy theories about designed-in obsolescence.

Such ideas are bunk and worthy of the scorn they receive.

The new media types such as MP3s and the iPods that are their
companion are simply smaller, faster and exceedingly more efficient
than what was available in the era of the cassette tape player.

Sony Walkman®. We hardly knew ya.