'Do you have a tube tester?'

New year, new Strat:
2001 retro-tech

With Ed Curran, Technogadgets

(CNN) -- As you enter the new year, with a cell phone on your belt and a Palm V in your hand, remember that you could never have been this connected just five years ago. Would you ever go back?

My recent fascination with electric guitars (if you're stopping by for the first time I wrote that I wanted a Fender Stratocaster for Christmas) has opened my eyes to an interesting phenomenon in the music business.

QUICK VOTE
	Ed Curran here argues for "a little more room between cyberspace and their personal space." Do you think people are ready for a little slower pace on tech developments? No! Gonzo gadgetry, that's all we want. Ed must not be feeling well. Maybe we could just chill until all these handhelds come together a little, you know? Otherwise, I'm cool with the pace. Please. Stop. Enough. Cease. Desist. The march of progress is trampling me. View Results

My job is covering the world of technology. I look for the latest innovations, new technologies, amazing gadgets. No looking back, ever. But the music business is looking back, and I suppose that people in it have always done that.

Sure, there's all kinds of new music technology on the market, but old is in -- or the re-creation of old is in.

Along with the new Stratocaster guitars are new vintage Strat models. Along with the newest in amplifier technology is the reissue of old models of amps, amps that use tubes.

Musicians and audiophiles have found that tubes deliver a tone that some of today's electronics alone can't match. Some amps also incorporate sophisticated electronics to model the specific sounds of certain amplifiers.

Musical instruments are in a different type of category. People have always looked for a sound you can get only from a 1959 Stratocaster guitar or a 1699 Stradivarius violin.

But making new "old" equipment is something you'd never see in the business world. Imagine opening the newspaper to see that Best Buy is offering a great deal on a new reissue of the 1973 Wang Word Processor. Just what your office needs.

How about a CompUSA ad telling you to forget about Play Station 2? Your kids will love playing "Space Invaders" on a brand-new reissue of the 1981 Commodore VIC-20 computer -- 5k of RAM, expandable to 32k. (If you really want one, I believe I still have mine in the basement along with my 1987 Apple Macintosh with a 20mb hard drive.)

While we're at it, why not bring back the IBM Selectric typewriter along with good old carbon paper? How about trading in the Nokia on your belt for my 1986 Radio Shack Transportable Cellular Telephone? Weighs about 12 pounds. Cost me $1,500 dollars, 15 years ago.

It's 2001. My VIC-20 is turning 20. Wow, that really blows my mind.

My old guitar amplifier is also turning 20 years old, it uses tubes and it sounds great. It was giving me some trouble so I pulled out the tubes and went to Radio Shack. I approached the young counter guy, who was just a zygote when my amplifier was born.

"Do you have a tube tester?" I asked.

He looked at me, to quote Jean Shepherd, "as if I had lobsters crawling out of my ears." It put a lot of things in perspective.

Take a step back and look at where we are. Look at the technology we have and how we use it. It's just great, we live in a fantastic era.

I celebrate technology and I love the inventive mind but let's use these tools to enhance our lives and make us more efficient. Let's not be driven to a new level, where our e-mail pagers buzz our belts every four minutes, our cell phone use is impulsive and the Internet is in our faces every second of every day.

I predict that 2001 will see people seek a little more room between cyberspace and their personal space.

Use technology. But all these devices have a power button -- use it. Take a break every day and enjoy the new year.

Editor's note: Before we get too far into the new year, though, we should tell you that one reason Ed got that Fender Strat from Santa may be that he wrote a little song about it -- the lyrics of which you can read by clicking here. Oh, and Ed -- just for you -- we've got Joanne and Ben Batchelor's site for reconditioned IBM Selectrics listed below. Use one to write your next lyrics, OK?

Ed Curran has covered the world of high-tech for more than a dozen years and is the publisher of Technogadgets® -- www.technogadgets.com In addition to his weekly column here at CNN.com/career, watch for Curran's reports on CNN television.

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