http://www.stratoponjak.com/experiments/iphone-ringtones

“The old telephone ring is now classed as ‘classic’?”

…um… really? How the heck did I miss THAT memo? So who, um, exactly ‘classed’ it that? I guess no one, right? It’s obvious I suppose, because those insanely well-crafted and beautifully engineered Ford Mustangs and Gibson guitars are generally considered classics. So I guess if we polled people - and played them the loud metal bell sound that comes from an old telephone, people of all ages will get a wistful look in their eye and say - “Oh man, now THAT ring - is a classic!” And maybe they would ask how much it would cost to buy it. Or maybe I missed those in the bell sound auctions.

Um, nyeah I don’t know Bernie. Jury’s out on that one. More likely they will just think your cell phone is ringing.

Look, Bernie, you must realize that the bell sounds in those old phones were virtually defaulted. They were only vaguely aesthetically considered. There was no meaningful art or craftsmanship involved in the design of that sound. It was just loud, and metal bells have been around forever for that. That’s all. ‘Classic’ is a term to describe something having been judged over a period of time to be of the highest quality and outstanding of its kind; generally something painstakingly crafted with some degree of talent, precision and attention to detail, something that was great then, and is still great now. Something timeless.

That general family of bell sound was SO not ‘classic’, sir, unless you also think things like lead-pipe plumbing are classic. At which point I’d say your semantics are highly questionable.

So your comparison to my Mustang and - good lord - an amazingly, perfectly-crafted Gibson guitar is chokingly way off the mark.

What I think you meant was ‘antique’. And therein, we agree.

Don’t dismiss the digital native and immigrant split either. It’s quite real and it’s old news. You are right that most people will - eventually - adopt new technologies today, but the adaptation is immeasurably easier for kids that have spent their conscious life surrounded by these tools and interactive principles. They understand and use these tools immediately at face value. It’s a first language for them, sir. Whereas older immigrants (you and me) really do require more metaphors and translation upon approaching it - generally more so the older you get. The “slow-learner” argument doesn’t carry a bean compared to the impact of age in this case. Sorry. This has been repeatedly, dissected.

(btw, please learn how to spell ‘you’re’ - this variant means ‘you are’, and the other ‘your’ is the possessive your. After you’ve learned it yourself, please teach as many people as you can, it’s getting a tad annoying to read the wrong spelling of your and you’re all over the place now)

The old Telephone ring is now classed as ‘classic’. That’s right, just like that old Ford Mustang or an early Gibson guitar, or an early tv set, and now, I wouldn’t be too surprised, an early iPod will be languishing alongside an early cassette Sony Walkman in some museum somewhere. And so will our shiny iPhone 3GS one day be joining them.

I was in high school in the 70s, and at that time I remember getting my first Casio digital watch, my first digital calculator, our first home video recorder, we had stereo FM radio, colour tv and a whole bunch of other technologies I can’t remember. That was 35 years ago. There were still many dial Telephones around but the push button phone was being introduced. Oh and Jean Michelle Jarre, Tangerine Dream and Kraftwerk were pioneering synthesizer Techno. I’m glad that I was a teenager in the 70s, seeing all these amazing new technologies arrive, it was an amazing decade, much more exciting than the lauded 80s.

When you write for the web, and especially if your writing is NOT aimed at kids, you must consider that the reader demographic and the demographic of the iPhone and all technology user-base, is very wide now.

Your digital natives and immigrants is meaningless. People of all ages take to the new technoligies. The only thing that is true, is that there have always been people who are slow learners, or slow to take the plunge and learn something new. That’s nothing to do with technology. You will always find people, in any era, who are nervous about tasting a new food, or going to a new place, or wearing something different. To repeat myself, this has nothing to do with technology.

It’s my second iPhone. The first one was black. I like the white one better, partly because it doesn’t show dirt as easily (go figure, but it’s true with cars, too) and partly because I’ve had it up to here with black electronic gizmos. Before that, it was putty-colored electronic gizmos.

I needed a change, and pink or flames or tiger-stripes just wouldn’t do the trick.

So, thbpthbpthbp…