Academic

AT AMAZON, a sale on typewriters. They still make those? As with VCRs, I?m tempted to buy a couple?

By Glenn Reynolds

AT AMAZON, a sale on typewriters. They still make those? As with VCRs, I’m tempted to buy a couple just to hoard against the day when they don’t . . . .

UPDATE: So I looked, and it’s hard to buy a VCR now that isn’t combined with a DVD player.

And speaking of obsolescent technologies, they’ve got magazine subscriptions for five bucks. Subscribe now, so your kids will remember what they were when they grow up . . . .

UPDATE: Several readers suggest I should get a manual typewriter and ribbons. They do still make ‘em.

ANOTHER UPDATE: Reader Ben Samuels doesn’t like that manual typewriter link: “Geebus, Glenn – did you read the reviews??? They say it’s a worthless piece of Chinese crap. You’d have been better off giving readers the link to a used Selectric.”

I replied: “I didn’t think anyone would actually buy one. I mean, good God. Maybe after an EMP attack you’d want a manual typewriter, except how much typing would you actually do?”

But if you want to buy a manual typewriter, you can probably get a good deal on a used one if you look. And for that matter, if you want an electric he’s right that you can probably still get a good used IBM Correcting Selectric II, which represented pretty much the peak of typewriter technology.

MORE: The inevitable followup email:

I know somebody who knows a guy who can get you a great deal on a sturdy 40 year old model that can handle superscripting.

Courage,
Dan Rather

Heh. (Via Brian Gates.)

Full post as published by Instapundit.com on March 04, 2011 (boomark / email).