# What became ubiquitous then went away in your lifetime? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [April 10, 2026, 10:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-became-ubiquitous-then-went-away-in-your-lifetime/1029180 "2026-04-10T22:01:18Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 19
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2026, 5:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-became-ubiquitous-then-went-away-in-your-lifetime/1029180/361 "2026-04-20T17:45:55Z")
> [@Horatio\_Hellpop](#): > > Cassette tapes had a pretty specific span, from 1970 to 1995. Their disappearance was gradual, but definite. Every other popular music format has risen, disappeared, and reappeared thanks to ironic hipsters (and whoever keeps buying 8-track tapes), but not cassettes. As a way if distributing music, I agree, but they were around before that. I recorded “The Trouble with Tribbles” on my cassette player in December 1967, for a girl who sat behind me in writing class who wasn’t able to see it. And I wasn’t breaking new ground. ---
**Author:** ![Horatio\_Hellpop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Horatio\_Hellpop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatio_Hellpop)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2026, 6:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-became-ubiquitous-then-went-away-in-your-lifetime/1029180/362 "2026-04-20T18:59:11Z")
Okay. 1970 was when my father–I was 9 at the time–transitioned from reel-to-reel to cassettes, and I thought we were early adapters. ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2026, 2:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-became-ubiquitous-then-went-away-in-your-lifetime/1029180/363 "2026-04-21T02:35:37Z")
You were. Cassette quality wasn’t very good back then, and I don’t think they had the cassette decks they had a few years later. I went from reel-to-reel to cassettes in 1979, and then digitized the cassettes I hadn’t gotten CDs for in 2000 or so. ---
**Author:** ![pirviii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pirviii/32/3233_2.png) [@pirviii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pirviii)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2026, 2:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-became-ubiquitous-then-went-away-in-your-lifetime/1029180/364 "2026-04-21T02:36:18Z")
My Dad transitioned from real-to-real to 8-track. He even had a player in his bitchin van and a big case full of dozens of tapes. It was KACHUNK interesting where the songs would break when switching tracks. ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2026, 4:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-became-ubiquitous-then-went-away-in-your-lifetime/1029180/365 "2026-04-21T04:07:42Z")
> [@Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](#): > > Huh? Not sure what you mean here. I think I can only remember one flight I’ve been on within the past 15 years that did not have in flight seatback entertainment screens. Most of my flying in the past five years has been on smaller “regional” jets (United Express, American Eagle). I’ve yet to see one of those planes which has seatback screens. ---
**Author:** ![TokyoBayer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tokyobayer/32/13989_2.png) [@TokyoBayer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TokyoBayer)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2026, 6:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-became-ubiquitous-then-went-away-in-your-lifetime/1029180/366 "2026-04-21T06:24:16Z")
I had a voice tape recorder in the late 70s and the sound wasn’t great. Then I went to Japan in 1981 and all the Japanese audio manufacturers were making “Walkman” type portable cassette players. The sound quality of the players was amazing. There were rental music stores at the time, so we all copied music, copyrights be damned. I came back from Japan with a ton of music. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2026, 10:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-became-ubiquitous-then-went-away-in-your-lifetime/1029180/367 "2026-04-21T10:51:29Z")
> [@Horatio\_Hellpop](#): > > Okay. 1970 was when my father–I was 9 at the time–transitioned from reel-to-reel to cassettes, and I thought we were early adapters. I bought my first cassette player and recorder in 1970 as a kid, and it wasn’t a difficult or expensive purchase. (I know the date because I used my new recorder to record the music from the PBS series _The Six Wives of Henry VIII_). So it couldn’t have been cutting-edge. According to Wikipedia, Compact Cassette was introduced in 1963, and pre-recorded music cassette tapes were introduced in the US in 1966. ---
**Author:** ![Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/son_of_a_rich/32/5439_2.png) [@Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Son_of_a_Rich)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2026, 11:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-became-ubiquitous-then-went-away-in-your-lifetime/1029180/368 "2026-04-21T11:13:42Z")
Car bras might have helped mitigate gravel damage but they didn’t help the paint: when dust got under the bra it acted just like sandpaper. ---
**Author:** ![jnglmassiv](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f07891/32.png) [@jnglmassiv](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jnglmassiv)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2026, 5:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-became-ubiquitous-then-went-away-in-your-lifetime/1029180/369 "2026-04-21T17:51:39Z")
I had a 1989 Dodge Daytona that came with a bra from the previous owner (wrinkled up in a box, it had been on the car at one time), but I never got around to putting it on. Say, that teminds me: **Automotive headlights that extend and retract** up into the ‘slipstream.’ 80s Corvettes, Porsche 928, KITT, all awesome. Flip-over lights on the grill-plane were older/before my time, 1966 Chargers had those. Little wiper blades for the headlamps were never popular but are good & gone now. Some cars have sprayers, maybe cameras/lidar will need them one day again. ---
**Author:** ![Railer13](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/railer13/32/9742_2.png) [@Railer13](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Railer13)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2026, 6:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-became-ubiquitous-then-went-away-in-your-lifetime/1029180/370 "2026-04-21T18:20:48Z")
The first issue of _TV Guide_ was released on April 3, 1953, when I was six weeks old, so it (barely) qualifies. In the 60s, it was the most read magazine in the country. Now, I believe it only exists in digital form, and the print magazine has completely disappeared. ---
**Author:** ![Procrustus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/procrustus/32/2994_2.png) [@Procrustus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Procrustus)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2026, 6:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-became-ubiquitous-then-went-away-in-your-lifetime/1029180/371 "2026-04-21T18:32:10Z")
> [@jnglmassiv](#): > > Little wiper blades for the headlamps were never popular but are good & gone now. Some cars have sprayers, maybe cameras/lidar will need them one day again. My car’s rear view camera has a sprayer. I don’t recall if it has a wiper. I’ll look next time I’m in the vacinity of my car. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2026, 6:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-became-ubiquitous-then-went-away-in-your-lifetime/1029180/372 "2026-04-21T18:38:11Z")
> [@kenobi\_65](#): > > And, for that matter, stand-alone driving navigation devices, like TomTom and Garmin. Really popular for a few years in the early 2000s, then were quickly lapped by built-in dashboard screens with navigation systems and smartphone apps. The stand alone gps’s aren’t entirely gone yet. I’ve found that my phone gps doesn’t work in Canada so when I visit there, I dig up my old TomTom and put in on top of my dashboard once again. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2026, 6:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-became-ubiquitous-then-went-away-in-your-lifetime/1029180/373 "2026-04-21T18:58:49Z")
> [@Railer13](#): > > The first issue of _TV Guide_ was released on April 3, 1953, when I was six weeks old, so it (barely) qualifies. In the 60s, it was the most read magazine in the country. Now, I believe it only exists in digital form, and the print magazine has completely disappeared. Noit true. You can still get a subscription to the hard-copy dead tree edition of TV Guide. I know, because my wife subscribed for a while > **[TV Guide Magazine Customer Service Error Page](https://subscribe.tvguidemagazine.com/pubs/TV/TVM/Error.jsp?cds_mag_code=TVM&id=1776797866155)** ---
**Author:** ![Railer13](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/railer13/32/9742_2.png) [@Railer13](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Railer13)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2026, 10:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-became-ubiquitous-then-went-away-in-your-lifetime/1029180/374 "2026-04-21T22:03:43Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > You can still get a subscription to the hard-copy dead tree edition of TV Guide Ignorance fought, once again. Thanks! ---
**Author:** ![Great\_Antibob](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e47c2d/32.png) [@Great\_Antibob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Great_Antibob)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2026, 10:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-became-ubiquitous-then-went-away-in-your-lifetime/1029180/375 "2026-04-21T22:07:28Z")
That actually makes sense once I think about it. The type of person to use a TV Guide is probably also more likely the type to still watch over the air or cable TV, i.e. older, and there’s probably at least enough thousands of them to support a small monthly (weekly? we never had TV Guide) print run. ---
**Author:** ![TokyoBayer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tokyobayer/32/13989_2.png) [@TokyoBayer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TokyoBayer)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2026, 10:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-became-ubiquitous-then-went-away-in-your-lifetime/1029180/376 "2026-04-21T22:24:44Z")
> [@Railer13](#): > > The first issue of _TV Guide_ was released on April 3, 1953, when I was six weeks old, so it (barely) qualifies. The OP. Is looking for things that weren’t there when you were a child rather than in your lifetime. The title does say “lifetime” but the OP itself lays out that I’m looking for things that weren’t there when you were a child. I’m more interested in things that had the experience of watching come into existence and become popular, and then largely went away. ---
**Author:** ![echoreply](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/echoreply/32/3641_2.png) [@echoreply](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/echoreply)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2026, 11:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-became-ubiquitous-then-went-away-in-your-lifetime/1029180/377 "2026-04-21T23:01:56Z")
> [@TokyoBayer](#): > > I’m more interested in things that had the experience of watching come into existence and become popular, and then largely went away. This gets me in the mind of technology that I watched rise up, and then fade (or crash) away. For certain values of ubiquitous, Unix workstations were very common in university computer labs, and probably some corporate settings, and then completely gone. I’m talking about dedicated Unix workstations like you’d get from Sun, SiliconGraphics, and DEC. Their disappearance is highly correlated with the disappearance of those companies, too. And yes, it would be technically right (the best kind of right!) to call Macs Unix workstations, but I’m not accepting that, because they’ve been so heavily wrapped in a very non-Unix UI. The same as Android is technically Linux, but also not what anyone means when they talk about “running Linux.” I’m not calling Linux computers Unix workstations, because they’re just general purpose PCs that happen to be running Linux, not computers like a SparcStation that were always designed with the intent of running the Solaris flavor of Unix. ---
**Author:** ![DesertDog](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/desertdog/32/11503_2.png) [@DesertDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DesertDog)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2026, 1:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-became-ubiquitous-then-went-away-in-your-lifetime/1029180/378 "2026-04-22T01:32:23Z")
> [@fedman1](#): > > are you thinking of the old machines where they laid your credit card down, then placed a carbon copy receipt on top, then ran a roller over them? Those were called knuckle-busters in the industry. Speaking of credit card verification, I remember seeing\* a credit card presented and the cashier hauling up what looked like a thin phone book and carefully checking to see whether the card’s number was in it. After that period, them picking up the phone, dialing a number, then the CC number, and waiting several moments for the okay. \*I was far too young to be presenting a card myself. ---
**Author:** ![Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eyebrows_0f_doom/32/3119_2.png) [@Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eyebrows_0f_Doom)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2026, 3:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-became-ubiquitous-then-went-away-in-your-lifetime/1029180/379 "2026-04-22T03:02:22Z")
> [@hogarth](#): > > When I was a kid, they had the “ka-chunk” machine that made a carbon copy of your credit card. I actually had to use those things from 2006 to **2011**. I can remember two instances where I actually _broke_ a card when it got stuck under the moving top part of the machine. And so many times the carbon would be so faint I’d have to write in the numbers anyway. Hated them so much!! I was so glad when we finally moved into the 21st century to use Square for swipes and now newer tap-to-pay devices. ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2026, 4:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-became-ubiquitous-then-went-away-in-your-lifetime/1029180/380 "2026-04-22T04:48:22Z")
> [@DesertDog](#): > > Speaking of credit card verification, I remember seeing\* a credit card presented and the cashier hauling up what looked like a thin phone book and carefully checking to see whether the card’s number was in it. When I worked in my parents’ hardware store, in the late '70s and early '80s, we had those books, which were lists of invalid numbers. We accepted credit cards, but we rarely had credit-card transactions – maybe one a day. We actually offered credit lines to regular customers, and that was much more common; one of my mother’s jobs for the store was to send out the monthly billing statements for those customers. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-became-ubiquitous-then-went-away-in-your-lifetime/1029180.md?page=18) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-became-ubiquitous-then-went-away-in-your-lifetime/1029180.md?page=20)