Tuesday, September 4, 2007
By EVELYN SHIH
STAFF WRITER
Still, there are those among us who refuse to download the siren song of progress. People who say thanks, but no thanks to newfangled gizmos. People who are perfectly happy being low-tech. . They live among us as neighbors and relatives.
In our brave and daily new world, are they anachronistic -- or do they have a point?
Typewriter
"There are just as many things that we do on a computer that are simply better done by hand," said Joe Fontanazza of Wyckoff, owner of Ridgewood Typewriters.
For example: typing the address on an envelope, or filling out a multiple-part form.
"Give me a 12-year-old kid on a typewriter, and by the time you fill out this form, the kid'll beat you," said Fontanazza.
A second business of his, Trademark Office Products, sells computer products. But Fontanazza says the typewriter isn't going anywhere soon. Municipal offices and schools, veritable paperwork factories, are constant clients. Creative writers who have worked on typewriters for decades continue coming to Fontanazza for help with maintenance.
"I've been mentioned in bibliography of books because I kept their machines running," said Fontanazza proudly. "Believe it or not, there's a segment of people who work better with a typewriter than on the computer."
And just recently, Fontanazza serviced a 1940s upright Underwood typewriter to keep it up and running. "There are people who love their machines," he said.
Still, it was a bittersweet moment recently when a mother brought in her children to buy stationery, and the boy asked, looking at a displayed typewriter: "Mommy, what is that?"
Vinyl
Michael Fremer of Wyckoff has become the unofficial standard bearer of vinyl records in a world of CDs and MP3s. He started writing for Stereophile magazine in the 1980s as a columnist, turning out a feature titled "Analog Corner." Since then, he's become an editor at large.
"You used to buy a record, you sat and you listened," Fremer said. "You didn't read a book or talk to your friends -- you paid attention. Kids don't do that anymore. They play music while they're doing something else. It's become a secondary activity because it's no longer compelling."
A baby boomer at age 60, Fremer is excited about a vinyl comeback after a drought in the 1990s. "What saved the vinyl business was the DJ business," he said, "but this no longer has anything to do with DJs."
He points to the fact that even Circuit City, a mainstream electronics retail store, provides 10,000 vinyl selections. Virgin Megastore has recently begun offering a great variety. And young bands are pressing LPs in tandem with CD and iTunes releases.
Funny thing is, Fremer owns an iPod. He purchased the latest Arcade Fire album on iTunes before he bought it on vinyl. "I think the iPod is the greatest technology for bringing the access of music to people," he said.
Then he showed his true colors. "If you can get a kid with an iPod to plug it into a hi-fi system, it'll sound great."
Film cameras
Like most other hobby and freelance photographers, Bruce Albert of Ramsey owns both film and digital cameras. But "if I were given a doomsday scenario, I would grab my film cameras," he said. "As long as there's light, the photochemical process will always be there, and it only takes a spring to make the exposure."
Film, he explains, has become mostly relegated to fine art prints. Dark room work requires time and patience. Even if the finished product is more beautiful than a digital image, there are few clients who would wait for a photographer to do the work. Color film, in particular, has become more difficult to work with because companies that process the film into slides or prints have been going out of business.
A member of the Ridgewood Photography Club since 1975, Albert still uses a Hasselblad camera with 2¼-inch-square film for his fine art black and white exposures. The state-of-the-art camera company now manufactures digital versions of the same camera, but they go for a cool $12,000.
But today, even professionals who demand high quality are turning coat.
Michael Yamashita, a photographer for National Geographic who grew up in Montclair, switched over to a digital camera last year. "Two years ago, 90 percent of National Geographic photographers were shooting film, and 10 percent were shooting digital," he said. "Last year, it switched to 10 percent film, 90 percent digital."
Simple phone
The new iPhone made a splash this summer, widely advertising features like easy Web browsing, YouTube videos in your pocket, and touch-screen navigation. Critics pointed out that some of those functions were already covered by other smart phones and Blackberries. In fact, so many people can now stream video on their phones that media companies are investing in mobile content departments to fill those tiny screens.
But when Emmerson Johnson of Clifton gets a new phone, he won't be looking for bells and whistles.
"Even if I upgrade, I will ask for a basic phone," said the business owner. His current phone does not take pictures or video. Nor does it do Internet and e-mail; and don't even talk to him about text messaging.
"Basic telephones are usually smaller," explained Johnson. "If you have a camera, it's going to be bigger." Bulky antennas needed for Internet access, faster battery depletion, and fragility are more reasons he gives for his simple mobile style. "It's cheaper to have a basic phone."
That's not to say Johnson doesn't like the cellphone, which someday may also be consigned to the scrap heap as a technological relic. On the contrary, he thinks it a great improvement over a landline phone, which is itself a dying species, as growing numbers of consumers choose cellphones as their primary means of communication.
"The advantage is you always have a phone by you or beside you, whether or not you're at home," he explained. "I never turn it down."
Sometimes, a little technology can be a good thing.
E-mail: shih@northjersey.com
Copyright © 2007 North Jersey Media Group Inc.
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