Cowabunga!

SanDisk USB 2.0 surfboard flash drive

For a while, I've been discussing with friends the tragedy of those graveyards of music we all have, lost on obsolete delivery devices like reel-to-reel tape and cassette.  Granted, some were wise enough to keep those machines, but I gave away all mine and the extremely nice Sony cassette deck broke a spring a few years ago and the holder/door just blew out on the living room floor, so that was the end.  The last of the reel tapes went at a yard sale about ten years ago, but the hundreds of cassettes still fill a drawer.

I got one of those Chinese-made digital turntables that can transfer vinyl records via Audacity software to computer, but I haven't because our computer is overfull and slow enough already.  So I just use it to play records using the CD input on a secondary amplifier.  Well, I did until the whole set-up was buried behind a big ugly chair.  Our furniture and decorating failures are a whole other subject.

Imagine my delight when, a few days ago, my brother Ron sent the above very cool flash drive loaded with about 10,000 songs and instrumentals.  The best part was that he'd saved those old tapes and so I finally have, in a device that weighs as much as a green bean, little treasures like the first Moby Grape album once again after decades of absence.  And Country Joe, Quicksilver, the Byrds...oh, wait.  If you didn't know I'm an old fart, you do now.

This wonderful part of the vast chip-based technological spectrum is no longer made, but you can find a new one in the original package on eBay (of course).  It doesn't have a light to indicate it's on, like some, but does boast 8GB, which is all anyone should need.  One reviewer said it would be a good "gift for a teen/young adult."  Or maybe someone, on the surface at least, a little older!

There's a wide variety of other novelty drives:  Iron Man, Batman, a USB bracelet, BMW key, Star Wars figures, even Lady Gaga on a motorcycle.  One of the rarest is Jack Skellington, and as you would guess, you remove his head to plug him in.  Elvira would make a good one, too.