Junk is the new punk: Why we're falling back in love with retro tech
- Reference: 1756117746
- News link: https://www.theregister.co.uk/2025/08/25/straight_outta_1996_why_were/
- Source link:
But why?
Releases on cassette tape are becoming more common among some stars who are cashing in on a growing love of retro tech. We seem to clamor so much for old computers, consoles, cameras, and audio kit that companies are now issuing reboots of classic computers like the [1]Commodore 64 and [2]ZX Spectrum .
Vintage computing boffin releases expansive Intel 286 test suite [3]READ MORE
Last month, smart meter company Smart Energy GB [4]surveyed 2,000 people in the UK to see what tech they missed. One in four people still hoarded cassette tapes and old MP3 players, it found, with one in five still hanging on to VHS tapes. TVs with Teletext also topped the list. A third of people still even actually use this stuff once in a while.
Luke Malpass, owner of retro tech business [5]Retrosix , tapped into the retro zeitgeist by accident. A software engineer by trade, he got into fixing old computers as a hobby, and then began fixing up and respraying old Game Boy shells.
[6]
"I just chucked a shell on eBay, and they just went absolutely bonkers," he says. He went from shells to buttons to improving the screen and the audio, then the battery. "I just ended up making what we now call a prestige Game Boy. It's the original CPU and motherboard, but everything else is upgraded to be more modern."
[7]
[8]
Now he's building and modifying old systems and ships worldwide. He'll sell you an Amiga 1200 built from scratch, or a Game Boy printed with your custom design.
There's a sense of community about many of these mods, says Steve Vincent, who runs the [9]VintNerd channel on YouTube. He points to the [10]Fujinet , an open-source device that plugs into eight-bit systems and gives them modern capabilities, including a TCP/IP stack and Wi-Fi.
[11]
3D printing, online forums, and cheap single-board computers have enabled people to mod old tech in ways that were not possible before, he says. "If you're an enthusiast and you have an itch to make something happen, you can make it happen now. You just get parts and hook it up."
Malpass will relate. He runs a forum to advise anyone with a soldering iron how to mod old systems. Although he warns that he did it to create a safe space after seeing a lot of toxic gatekeeping in the community.
Why people love retro
Why bother breathing new life into old tech at all? For many, it's a nostalgic pursuit. "It's that call back to a more simple time and it's attached to core memories in your life," says Michele Diederich, a communications director who also runs a [12]Vintage Computer Festival in Orange County, California.
Diederich still recalls the fun times she had with her C64, but it isn't just older folks looking for the past that get involved in retro tech. Youngsters are also flocking to it. "We're talking about 18 to 25 year-olds who weren't there when Game Boys were about but who want everything to do with the game," Malpass says. "They get this fixation to relive something that they have no nostalgia for."
However, there's also a danger of hipster elitism in some retro tech, warns [13]Grafton Tanner , a US-based author who writes about nostalgia. The revival of vinyl records is a good example. "It wasn't very long ago that I was a broke college kid that was collecting vinyl," he says. "It often came with a digital download that was often as affordable, if not cheaper, than CDs at the time. Then it got really popular and really expensive and no longer accessible to younger people on a budget."
[14]
When a retro trend gets big enough to mass produce, it can quickly sour. Adam Fuerst, co-owner of [15]Retrospekt , a company that finds and refurbishes old instant film cameras, sees it in the retro camera business. "The [16]Y2K digital cameras are so fun and they're really enjoyable to use, but the prices are just skyrocketing, and it's no longer a counterculture thing to do," he says. "It's becoming slowly more of a privilege, like you have money, and it's a display, in some ways, of wealth and status."
Fuerst tries to keep his tech business grounded by making used retro gear affordable and usable. His 40 employees refurbish old instant film cameras and other tech, selling some premium items to help support the business but mostly trying to keep margins lower. The team will break down the old kit, harvesting good components to rebuild functional units.
The hardest part is creating new cases to house the components. Many of the used cases are beyond repair, and Fuerst wants them remade in their original style, with sharper edges rather than the softer, curvy edges of modern cameras. Injection molding these is tough.
"It's a challenge with our injection molders in the US to run these parts successfully time after time, especially in the low-volume high customization runs that we do," he says. "We're not doing it because it's easy. We're doing it because we love it."
Bringing cameras back to life with new cases that are just like the originals is where Retrospekt found its core niche.
Built to last, easy to repair
It's that call back to a more simple time and it's attached to core memories in your life
Aside from the emotions it conjured up, one of the biggest draws of this older tech is its tank-like durability.
"We've got consoles from 1978 that are still going, like the Atari 2600s and even going back before that," Malpass says. "You'd be amazed how long things last that were made in the 70s and 80s, versus a phone that you buy last year that's dead in another year's time."
While capacitors might come and go, many other internal components are seemingly immortal, he adds. "Most of the old technology just dumped all its excess voltage as heat, so it was running at 70-80 degrees inside all day long. It's done that for 30 years and not died," he adds.
Alongside its durability, repairability is another advantage. Fuerst says that modern PCBs are often made by robots and heavily layered, making it impractical to repair those boards. Older boards are simpler. "Tech pre-mid 90s is really the sweet spot in which you have a lot of through hole circuitry that you can go and find components for," he says.
[17]Commodore Amiga turns 40, headlines UK exhibition
[18]Long live the nub: ThinkPad designer David Hill spills secrets, designs that never made it
[19]Microsoft developer ported vector database coded in SAP's ABAP to the ZX Spectrum
[20]Still browsing like it's 1999: Fresh tools that keep vintage Macs online and weirdly alive
Does the past have a future? Modding guarantees that retro tech will always stay current and relevant, says Malpass.
Others worry that modern technology is so bland and corporate that it might not have the same pull in future years that yesterday's tech does today. When there are a thousand dull laptops to choose from, many made in the same factory and none with any real character, will people want to remember them in the same way they remember the Atari ST or the Apple II?
"I have an affinity for the current iPhone," Diederich muses. "I don't think I have an affinity for the one I had two years ago."
Get our [21]Tech Resources
[1] https://www.theregister.com/2017/10/03/commodore_64_mini_revival/
[2] https://www.theregister.com/2024/01/19/return_of_spectrum_next/
[3] https://www.theregister.com/2025/07/21/intel_286_test_suite/
[4] https://press.smartenergygb.org/press-releases/smart-facts-reliable-tech?docspage=1
[5] https://retrosix.co.uk/
[6] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/personaltech&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=2&c=2aKyImFKwEP6FaQtMSQRUnQAAAJM&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D2%26raptor%3Dcondor%26pos%3Dtop%26test%3D0
[7] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/personaltech&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44aKyImFKwEP6FaQtMSQRUnQAAAJM&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[8] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/personaltech&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=3&c=33aKyImFKwEP6FaQtMSQRUnQAAAJM&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[9] https://www.youtube.com/@TheVintNerd
[10] https://fujinet.online/
[11] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/personaltech&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44aKyImFKwEP6FaQtMSQRUnQAAAJM&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[12] https://www.vcfsocal.com/
[13] https://graftontanner.com/books/
[14] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/personaltech&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=3&c=33aKyImFKwEP6FaQtMSQRUnQAAAJM&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[15] https://retrospekt.com/
[16] https://amateurphotographer.com/latest/opinion/what-is-a-y2k-camera-and-should-you-buy-one/
[17] https://www.theregister.com/2025/08/19/getting_handson_with_the_commodore/
[18] https://www.theregister.com/2025/08/02/thinkpad_david_hill_interview/
[19] https://www.theregister.com/2025/07/08/sap_abap_db_spectrum_port/
[20] https://www.theregister.com/2025/04/15/classic_mac_os_apps/
[21] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/
Re: Why ? Surely no one can't work it out ?
I've just had the opposite experience.
I wanted to get a copy of an album from the early 90s called Toy Matinee. Without paying a small fortune I was unable to obtain a physical copy; however a DRM free download from Apple Music set me back a fairly standard 9 quid.
That was a bit of an eye opener as someone who always tries to buy the physical CD so it can be ripped.
Re: Why ? Surely no one can't work it out ?
But Apple download isn't lossless or is it? If it is then you bought just an approximation of the album. If you can't hear it, power to you.
Re: Why ? Surely no one can't work it out ?
[1]It is .
[1] https://support.apple.com/en-us/118295
Re: Why ? Surely no one can't work it out ?
If you can't have the artist performing in your living room it's always an approximation. CDs, DVDAs and SACDs are all but lossless, vinyl is closer but fragile, and even the original masters are just the best approximation they could get in the studio.
Re: Why ? Surely no one can't work it out ?
Bullshit vinyl is closer *laughs at audiophool*
Re: Why ? Surely no one can't work it out ?
Let’s assume for a moment that your vinyl is in perfect condition, and that you have the finest audio setup that money can buy. Even then, there’s a limit to the resolution of the analogue waveform that can be represented by the groove on a record. There’s also a limit to how quickly the stylus can change direction horizontal and vertically (assuming a stereo record). And this resolution is lower than the sampling of a CD. Furthermore, if you look at the record sleeve, you will often see three letters - indicating the recording and mastering process. If one of those letters is a D then all bets are off - it’s been through a digital process anyway.
Don’t get me wrong. I love vinyl. I love the tactility of it. I have a very nice stereo and speakers (connected via copper cable, at about thirty quid for a reel). I listen to vinyl (and yes, heavyweight early pressing does make a difference) but I don’t kid myself that the quality is better than CD or a lossless download. Actually, the quality isn’t even better (at least to my old ears) than a high bitrate MP3. But I do like the rigmarole of vinyl.
I also like my old PC, old Mac, Beeb, Atari ST, Speccy…
Re: Why ? Surely no one can't work it out ?
> I was unable to obtain a physical copy; however a DRM free download from Apple Music set me back a fairly standard 9 quid.
I think the point is that for those who do obtain physical copies, which for most things is not difficult; they own it for life.
But the 9 quid purchase you made was effectively an unspecified time limited demo. A rental from the great "Blockbusters" in the sky.
Why?
Because cassettes does not contains DRM, you can hence digitize them and be done with it. Duh!
Re: Why?
"Home Taping Is Killing Music"
Re: Why?
Said Sony records, while Sony electronics churned out machines by the million - for what?
Re: Why?
[1]C30 C60 C90 Go !
[1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y61Zt0gWTxM
Re: Why?
My home recorded cassettes from the late 70s and 80s are still going strong! Says it all.
Re: Why?
Did you know you used your password as your name?
You'll have to add an exclamation mark to make it secure now.
We seem to clamor so much for old computers, consoles, cameras, and audio kit that companies are now issuing reboots of classic computers like the Commodore 64 and ZX Spectrum.
I get this was an averticle, but to not mention the new [1]C64 seems a bit remiss. ;)
On a more serious note, for me the joy of retro these days is you can pair it with the modern. So you can have a record and all the joy of staring at the gatefold, but when you scratch it, or your stylus breaks you open Spotify. Same with cassette tapes. You can find a nice retro tape player that will make a good job of playing these back, but when you're on the go you can switch to a phone with better fidelity, not a small crappy portable player.
This works with computers too. I've been getting back into the 8 bit stuff of my youth recently. Having and tinkering with the hardware is great, but also having a modern PC that I can write code on in an IDE and test in an emulator in seconds just adds to it for me. You get the simplicity of the early years of PCs, with the utility that more power has brought.
[1] https://www.commodore.net/
but to not mention the new C64 seems a bit remiss
Or the YouTuber who's [1]somehow managed to get enough investment to buy everything to do with 8-bit Commodore and now seems to now want to bring the different Amiga bits under the same roof too.
Also, the time to mention the ZX Spectrum [2]was about a month ago ...
[1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uR5oW7YFqfQ
[2] https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/spectrumnext/zx-spectrum-next-issue-3-0
One of the biggest draws of this older tech...
It doesn't require an internet connection to function... it just works...
It doesn't require a subscription...
And you don't need to register the device on the internet or create an account with the manufacturer...
(Just finished building my XI8088 XT-clone...)
Re: One of the biggest draws of this older tech...
Absolutely.
Old tech works on its own. The besuited CEOs and MBAs cannot extract monthly revenue from it, and so cannot increase their bonuses.
So the resurgence of this tech is more than an annoyance, it's the barbarians at the gates.
Unfortunately for them, while preaching Sun-Tsu until breathless, they know only too well how Rome ended.
Re: One of the biggest draws of this older tech...
We are few brown envelopes away from having all the configuration bitstreams loaded to FPGA to be signed by government.
Re: One of the biggest draws of this older tech...
You should also mention immediacy. When you power up the machine, it is ready to work instantly and what is still unmatched by current comptuers is virtually zero latency for keyboard.
Having to deal with latency in IDEs and text editors is infuriating and never has been "fixed".
Re: One of the biggest draws of this older tech...
In the case of my gramophone, it doesn't even need power - just wind the handle periodically.
However, the downside of this old stuff is that it tends to take up a lot of space. I've reached the age when I've had to clear a fair few houses of deceased relatives and from that perspective there are advantages to your stuff evaporating on your demise.
Re: One of the biggest draws of this older tech...
If it makes you feel any better... I just finished designing a 128-byte ROM to bolt on to the side of my retro push button and seven segment LED 65C02 board. It's amazing what you can do with 128 bytes and a 65c02.
Why retro?
- Instant On. Why, oh, why does modern kit take so long to power on? Why can my 2MHz CPU power on in under a second yet my multi-core GHz system take almost a minute? Also, no need to wait an hour almost every other day just to download an update for a 50GB+ game. Retro bug fixes tended to be a few POKEs.
- Simpler to understand. Fully understood, right down to the silicon transistor.
- A 200-page book can detail all the low-level details allowing you* to do some really clever stuff in a very confined space. (have you seen the size of the Intel CPU developer's manual?!)
- No DRM or encrypted BIOS code telling you "Oh, you can't do that.". (There's a post from a Raspberry Pi engineer saying they'll never be able to 100% opensource all the code that drives a Pi)
- Easy to fix. All through hole components. No SMD components as small as a grain of sand.
- Easy to work on. You try bodging your own hardware interface to your USB-C port or PCI slot.
* - And by "you" I mean "Someone cleverer than me".
Re: Why retro?
There's a post from a Raspberry Pi engineer saying they'll never be able to 100% opensource all the code that drives a Pi
In my opinion that is just being lazy and penny pinching. They certainly would have the leverage needed to have every aspect of the product open. But why go to such lengths if most people don't care.
Re: Why retro?
I get the frustration but it's because your multi GHz CPU has to wait for your multi GB OS to load into your multi GB RAM instead of just being there in memory mapped ROM and read one byte at a time as required
If you had to fully load the Kernel, BASIC and Font ROMs on a C64 or other contemporary 8 bitter from disk to "boot" them every time you'd not be so upset.
Why can my 2MHz CPU power on in under a second
My TV takes longer to "warm up" than an old fashioned CRT one used to (kids, ask your grandparents).
Re: Why can my 2MHz CPU power on in under a second
And the OSD on my digibox is nearly as slow as Teletext.
Re: Why can my 2MHz CPU power on in under a second
Secret tracking code takes a while to load and link the tv back to the server data tracking profile you cannot access.
Re: Why can my 2MHz CPU power on in under a second
My dumbed down TV is not allowed to connect to the internet. Is that why it takes no time to turn on then?
Re: Why can my 2MHz CPU power on in under a second
My fully NERFed Samsung OLED has never had any connection to the outside world, and never will. It's up and running in about 5 seconds.
My older Samsung on the other hand was fine UNTIL I connected it to the Internet, then it started showing ads, then I disconnected it, and THEN it became slow as all fck.
So I think it's a case of - once it's connected to the mothership, it expects that connection from then on. And when it doesn't get it, it waits until it times out.
Re: Why can my 2MHz CPU power on in under a second
Perhaps it upbloated to the latest version but the CPU is woefully underpowered to run it.
so who fixes old tape players?
Have some old tapes, stored in cool dark places.Have tape players and fairly new drive bands but the tension levels on cassette capstans are either weak or excessive. Ideas ? Worn motor commutators probably best fixed by replacement
the attraction of the vintage gear is its pure simplicity, you can tinker with it, you can mod it, build stuff for it and it's possible for mere mortals to understand at a component level.
Also, yes DRM is bad, cloud stuff that can't be played offline with temporary licences and vanishing servers, also, so many games seem to be full on theatrical productions with fantastic visuals, gigabytes of magnificent video, photorealism but nowhere near the sheer enjoyment of the vintage stuff where graphics and sound were utterly shite in comparison but gameplay was where it was at.
More importantly it's designed to work.
Still use my 30 gb ipod. Not always on, no stats tracking, no ads, no distraction. Just my locally stored music and podcasts.
Makes for a more tranquil existence away from the online world.
Gatekeeping
he did it to create a safe space after seeing a lot of toxic gatekeeping in the community.
...
When a retro trend gets big enough to mass produce, it can quickly sour
Kind of easy to see the connection between the two, isn't it?
"Does the past have a future?"
Currently looking a bit doubtful.
I imagine it's a fairly deep question in the philosophy of time. (Does the future already exist or does have to be brought into being? ;)
For me seeing old tech working after three or four decades the fascination is in the fact that it is still working not that I would actually want to own or use it again.
When I first heard an early demo CD (Pachelbel's Canon, I think) I knew vinyl was doomed although at the time a CD player was around AUD1000.00 so it was a few years before the price dropped and I could afford one.
Vinyls had become pretty much a curiosity by the late 1990s - early noughties.
I was flabbergasted years later when seeing, on walking into a city record store after a few years in the country, aisles of LPs and new scratch-o-matic turntables. The middle aged shop assistant agreed saying "I know but it keeps me in a job." (I had purchased a CD of one of Górecki's symphonies.)
I might concede the direct to disc brigade have a point and even stretch that to (thermionic) valve amplifier brethren but there is absolutely no way I would concede the compact cassette has anything going for it. (Ranks below oxygen free speaker cables.)
Seems to be a general principle in the 21st century that the basic technology really does improve sometimes by leaps and bounds but then the MBAs, marketing zombies and narcissistic billionaires get hold of the technology and comprehensively defecate all over it.
Future historians might justly name this period "the age of enshittification."
requires a login to try: bye.
"AI powered": bye.
It Never Went Away For Me
I still have a large vinyl collection, although I did stop buying it 30yrs ago, I still have a large CD collection, although I did stop buying it 10yrs ago... occasionally pick up an older release from before the CD loudness wars of the 2000's. I have a very large movie and tv show collection on DVD & Bluray.
I run a mediaserver in my home, I have ripped everything to that for streaming in and around the home. Whilst I do use a couple of streaming services, I only actually pay for Netflix as Disney+ was free for 12 months with my bank account. I dropped Prime almost 2yrs ago because fuck amazon.
I grew up in a time when you actually owned what you bought and I'll be fucked if I change that opinion... you can't steal what you aren't allowed to own.
I'm currently in the process of setting up a little music nook in a bay window of my home... Nice recliner armchair, unit for my vinyl... an amp, CD player, turntable and some decent headphones. Offline enjoyment of what I own and can do with as I please... fuck greedy corpo scum.... they'd charge me a subscription fee to breathe if they could.
Why ? Surely no one can't work it out ?
It's because all this cloud streaming shite is either too easy to vanish (thought you had a lifetime license ? Think again).
Or - even worse - what you think you purchased can be "improved", "updated", "corrected" until it loses all any any context.
Try and watch "The Dambusters" on streaming and hear what I mean.
With "retro" media once you buy it, you own it FOREVER.