Inferior technology that did well

[Jody]

MP3 files gave worse quality sound than CD yet people still adopted it for convenience. (Some will argue that CD quality was worse than vinyl).

MP3 is far superior in terms of ease and use. A carrier bags worth of CD's fit on something the size of my fingernail and lose very little (if any) audio quality depending on compression. You would be hard pushed to listen to two side by side with a decent set of cans and say which was which.

 

[winjim]

[QUOTE 5015878, member: 259"]Joy Division and New Order.[/QUOTE]
I don't think either of those are inferior, they're just different bands.

 

[raleighnut]

Transistor Amplifiers,

 

[MontyVeda]

my old mobile vs my more recent 'smart' phone... OK, i can't use my old mobile as a remote control for various media players on my PC, but at least when i look through the contacts list on my old mobile it displays the name and number... on my 'smart' phone, it only displays the name and i have to touch each one to see the number... not great when i'm trying to find out who called my landline.

 

[winjim]

The Roland TB-303. Utter dogshit at what it was designed to do so they halted production at 10,000 units. Cheap on the second hand market, became the sound of acid house and the forerunner of all modern dance music, as well as countless synths attempting to emulate it. Now very much sought after and worth a pretty penny. More fun than a barrel of monkeys.

 

[Drago]

Internal combustion. In the early years of motoring electric had made some headway. Imagine where we would be now with q century of concerted development?

 

[MichaelW2]

FM radio vs DAB.
Experts tell us that DAB just "sounds" worse.

Low energy bulbs that blow within months and need disposal and replacement.

Modern cars that take up more space on the outside but have less usable space on the inside. And the MK II version of anything which is fatter, heavier and uglier.

 

[Beebo]

Internal combustion. In the early years of motoring electric had made some headway. Imagine where we would be now with q century of concerted development?

I was looking at that recently. The landspeed record in 1899 was held by an electric car at a speed of 65 mph.
That is quite staggering.

 

[swee'pea99]

 

[presta]

The tin openers that take the rim off the top of the can. The effin' things are so popular it's now almost impossible to get a proper one.

The wheel. Better than sliced bread.

Not if you're making a sandwich.

Digital TV when analog TV was perfectly OK

The compression artefacts drove me up the wall when I first got digital, but I don't notice them as much now.

 

[User6179]

No mention of iTunes yet ?

 

[cosmicbike]

When we had our new kitchen put in, my missus was pressing for an induction hob. I said no, I like gas. She went on at some length about the delights of induction hobs - they look great, they react instantly, they're easy to clean, de blah de blah de blah. I said no, I like gas. Since I do almost all the cooking, she grudgingly conceded.

Moving on, we're at her sister's place, and I find myself cooking dinner for 10. Her sis has an induction hob. Her sis doesn't cook much, and has probably never had all four rings going at the same time. Or not going. Because maybe it's the full-on factor that makes the damn thing keep turning itself off, with all the indicators flashing E...E....E... I had to turn it off at the wall and on again at least a dozen times. Every now and again a passing munchkin would say helpfully 'That means 'Error', which helped a lot.

I like gas.

I hate gas. And a properly wired induction will run all 4 rings flat out. Unfortunately people go the cheap route and try and run them off a 13A plugtop, rather than pulling a separate 40A supply.

 

[swee'pea99]

I hate gas. And a properly wired induction will run all 4 rings flat out. Unfortunately people go the cheap route and try and run them off a 13A plugtop, rather than pulling a separate 40A supply.

Ok, I'll bite....why do you hate gas?

 

[Ming the Merciless]

MP3 is far superior in terms of ease and use. A carrier bags worth of CD's fit on something the size of my fingernail and lose very little (if any) audio quality depending on compression. You would be hard pushed to listen to two side by side with a decent set of cans and say which was which.

A carrier bag of CD content would fit on something the size of your fingernail as well. Just your standard portable player will not play them.

 

[jefmcg]

Not if you're making a sandwich.

Good luck with that