the buzz log

This just in: A kid traded in his iPod for a Sony Walkman for a week...and lived to blog about it.

The story is this: A plugged in teen had heard from his dad all about the low-tech granddaddy of MP3 players, the Sony Walkman. So "Generation Internet" agreed to take one small step backward and switch out his palm-sized digital player with the 1979 analog original for a week.

You can read the 13-year-old's entire blog post here, which details the taunts he endured on the school bus, the trauma of learning how to "fast forward" and "rewind," and his disappointment in the "bland grey" color and bulky size of the so-called portable player. The culture shock was huge. But perhaps a small technology divide was bridged between father and son.

Filed under: Technology

The upside of technology: the return of the zingy one-liner.

Lily Allen, the Brit singer whose boozy, woozy path was getting a lot of press until Amy Winehouse out-boozed and out-woozed her, is back. She's got a new album and she's luring lots of online attention (searches are up more than 600% in the past 7 days). But her Twitter-wars with online blogger Perez Hilton might just be the thing to restore her to her former catty glory.

Apparently the twosome have had cyberspace arguments before, but they were going at it fast and furious via Twitter on President's Day. Of course, since the microblogging blast only allows 140-character ripostes, the two had to be very succinct. To wit: Calling Hilton a "bitter lonely old queen" and a "little parasite." Youch. The (cleaned-up) response: If he were going to be a messed-up Brit, he'd "rather be Amy Winehouse — whose [sic] got talent." (Lightning-speed retorts don't allow for punctuation.)

Hilton says the sass was out of love (at least, from him). This hasn't been the only rant in techno-haiku: In January, Ashton Kutcher and Demi Moore fumed about neighbors doing construction work at 7 a.m.

Celebs have been on the Twitter-wagon for a while: The San Francisco Chronicle notes savvy and largely well-behaved luminaries include Erykah Badu (who "tweeted" about her labor), Shaquille O'Neal and, um, William Shatner.

But the chance to sign up and follow rancourous exchanges could give a new oomph to the microblogging site, which right now has 4.4 million users. (By the way, one study describes American Twitterites as "predominantly young [31], poor, blog-centric, social-network-happy urbanites.") Maybe feisty rivalries could encourage modern gems that could've dripped from the pen of Oscar Wilde or the lips of Groucho Marx.

Some people are already pursuing the idea of microblogs as a way to resuscitate literary wit, although maybe with a somewhat different approach than starlets vs. gossipmongers: a Twitter adaptation of "Taming of the Shrew." Oh, best beware the sting.

Filed under: Music, Social Networking, Gossip, Technology, Perez Hilton

Before MP3 players, DVR, and Blu-Ray. Before live streaming and downloads, there were cassette tapes, an analog magnetic tape system for recording, listening, and mixing together your favorite tracks to share and play in your Walkman or boombox.

Think of it as a tiny reel-to-reel. The iPod of the '80s was last spotted at your neighbor's garage sale, the back of your friend's closet, and the "for sale" table at indie band concerts. Wait, what? That's right, cassette tapes are so out, they're in.

According to Splice Today, for underground bands, cassettes are the new, cool vinyl: "They perfectly suit thrifty DIY labels and musicians trying to maintain a lo-fi aesthetic, as well as the more artistically inclined."

While audio went digital, the lowly cassette was down but not out. In fact, we checked to see the buzz on tapes and found a bump in searches in the last week for "music cassette tapes" (+110%), "blank cassette tapes" (+210%), "books on cassette tapes" (+900%), and the sad but definitely true "cassette tapes problems damage" (+400%).

Say what you will about digital recording, you haven't really proved your love for a good tune until you've spent hours re-spooling a cassette that was eaten by your tape player.

If you already have every version of the iPod that's made, maybe it's time to go back in audio time. Given that it's a very DIY holiday this year, a mixed tape could be the perfect retro gift. You can even decorate the jewel box cover yourself.

We look forward to the re-discovery of the 8 Track.

Filed under: Music, Technology