Not a month passes without some new digital device hitting the market. Even before we can get our hands on Apple’s iPad, the company is already announcing the arrival of the iPhone 4. In the meantime, new models of Android-powered smart phones are being launched in succession. Thinking of buying that super-slim LED TV? Think again, because 3D TV is the new thing.

Digital gadgets are pretty much obsolete the moment you buy them—or rather the moment they’re made.

That’s Moore’s Law loosely defined.

This explains the endless cycle of buyer’s remorse and gadget envy we experience. Unless, of course, you’re one of the few who insist on the analog past.

Yes, there was a time before digital formats like MPEG, JPEG and MP3. It’s called analog. Simply put, it’s reality recorded in uncompressed format. Relics like film and records (LPs) are samples of analog and I keep on wondering why we dumped these for today’s MP3 players and megapixel cameras. Surely, CDs sound cleaner and you never have to get up to search for favorite tracks or to flip sides. It’s the same with digital cameras. Today’s point and shoots can produce images sharper than even the best professional film cameras could—and you can also print photos immediately.

Only the sentimental or the pretentious insist on analog, but that’s a pity because in the rush to purchase the latest, we lose out on the natural warmth and life-like qualities of analog. Maybe the demise of analog is partly responsible for our inability to enjoy entertainment that isn’t served (or streamed) instantaneously. In a way, the current appetite for all things vintage and retro is less a hipster fad and more a longing for a time when the pace of life was less frantic; where the experience of creation and consumption was more purposeful.

We can no longer reverse the digital future and neither should we want to. I would never replace my mobile phone for that in a phone booth or my laptop for a filofax. But for meaningful experiences like listening to music, taking photographs, or composing letters, well, maybe digital isn’t all it’s made out to be.

Hard To Let Go

The first thing I find most difficult to part with is my collection of 35 mm film cameras. Unlike digital cameras, you can’t view what you just shot and you can’t shoot as much as you want. But precisely for these reasons, setting up a shot is so much more deliberate—and should I say, special. Analog provides few options in post-production to make up for deficiencies in exposure, sharpness and composition. Every shot needs to be perfect and it’s this concentration on the scene that creates a connection with the subject that’s often lost in digital photography. Anyone who’s used a Leica film rangefinder will tell you just how meaningful photography can be.

The other analog machine I still find myself dusting off a lot is my record player. CD players are more convenient and the audiophile grade versions are really impressive. Still, nothing quite beats the warmth, natural and life-like quality of a vinyl recording on a good record player.

Admittedly, you’ll need expensive equipment to enjoy the experience as cheaper and poorly set up record players merely amplify the ticks, pops and scratches of the vinyl.

Unfortunately, money matters, and a high-end player and cartridge hooked up to audiophile quality amplifiers and loudspeakers are needed to achieve the ultimate sound. But even a moderately priced set up can manage to reproduce vocals and instruments far more realistic and enjoyable than many high priced digital players on the market.

Good, old fashioned writing is the one last analog experience I can never replace—not even with the latest voice recognition software.

E-mail is fine for quick messages and business correspondence, but nothing quite expresses your personality and individuality better than a handwritten note using ink
on handmade and monogrammed stationery paper.

Analog may be slow, inconvenient and often messy and that’s why it’s so naturally human and so enjoyably real.

For more of David's top picks, visit executive-class.blogspot.com. You can also catch more of his picks on ANC, Saturdays at 10 p.m. and Sundays at 8 p.m.