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5:43:00 PM
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If you remember what a modem sounds like, chances are you're old.
And that's not the only tech sound that's being quickly forgotten. Our
friends at LaptopMag have complied a list of noises that may soon disappear from the collective nerd consciousness.
As we move toward an age of quiet gadgets that do everything possible
not to get in our way, we're losing our appreciation for all the magic
under the hood. Not long ago, the sounds our devices made reminded us
that they were doing something truly important, whether that task was
connecting us to the Internet or bringing us back to the beginning of
our favorite VHS movies.
A child born today has a greater chance of hearing a real cloned
dinosaur roar than a busy signal. But for those of us who lived through
the beginning of the PC revolution, these 13 tech sounds will always be
hardcoded into our memories.
The Mac OS "Uh-Oh" Sound
Getting error messages is bad enough, but having your computer
literally yell at you every time you hit the wrong key is real torture.
Nevertheless, many Mac users were amused by the sound of a demonic
chipmunk screaming "uh-oh" when they experienced an error. It was cute
maybe the first 300 times. [LISTEN]
VHS Rewind
Long before the age of Netflix, we rented tapes from the video store
and lived in constant fear that, if we forgot to be kind and rewind
them, we'd get charged a penalty. So before we could grab that nearly
overdue copy of "Sorority Babes at the Slimeball Bowl-a-Rama," jump in
the car, and run three red lights to get to Blockbuster in time to avoid
a late fee, we had to sit through five minutes of tape whirring as we
waited for the VCR to bring our tape back to the beginning. The most
satisfying part of the rewind sound was how the whirring noises seemed
to get louder as the gears sped up in their race back to the beginning
of the tape. [LISTEN]
The Whir of a Floppy Disk Drive
One thing that's missing from today's high-speed computing experience
is the sense of anticipation. Back in the '80s and even the '90s, we
waited with bated breath as our PCs tried to read our data off of floppy
disks. As the loud drive head whirred, we crossed our fingers and hoped
that a scratch or magnetic exposure hadn't trashed our term paper. A
scraping noise could spell impending doom. [LISTEN]
Dial-up Modem Handshake
In the age of 4G and fiber optics, it's hard to remember a time when
we had to use copper phone lines to dial up to our Internet services.
But back in the days of CompuServe and Prodigy, we had to enter a local
number into our computer's dialer and then listen as our 2,400 baud
modem dialed the phone, the phone rang, and then the two modems made a
long dance of beeps and boings that sounded more like Ricochet Rabbit
getting into a gunfight or Fred Flintstone foot-driving his car than two
finely tuned computers connecting. [LISTEN]
Dial Tone
Back in the old days of copper phone wire and real live phone
operators, you'd hear a dial tone every time you picked up the phone,
just to let you know that you had an active connection. If you didn't
act quickly and dial, the phone would get angry at you and start making
louder beeps to get your attention. Today, some VoIP phones still give
you a dial tone as a way of emulating that past, but in reality, the
need for this noise disappeared the minute people started using digital
methods of communication. Still, it was always wonderful to pick up your
phone and hear the comforting dial tone that let you know that, yes,
you still had service, even when the power in your house was out. [LISTEN]
Busy Signal
Remember the days when you had to call a number over and over again
just to get through? With services like voicemail and call waiting
coming standard today, you never hit a dead end when you dial a friend.
But not too long ago, you could be dialing your mom to tell her that you
just got engaged and be blocked by the busy signal - that shrill-voiced
virtual bouncer - over and over again, because she was on the phone
with your aunt. [LISTEN]
Rotary Phone Winding
Today, our cellphones make tones when we hit the numbers just for our
own edification, because in reality, the dialing is all digital.
However, back in the days before buttons, we had the pleasant, but
time-consuming task of turning a rotary dial to make calls. It's hard
not to miss the hypnotic whirring noise that the dial made as it slowly
returned to position after you moved it down to a high number like 8 or
9. [LISTEN]
Boot-up Beeps
Because the time you spend waiting for your computer to start is
wasted time, many computer-makers don't want to make the boot process
any more conspicuous than it has to be. But back in the day, every
computer made a satisfying beep noise as soon as you hit the power
button. A single beep noise was music to the ears because it meant the
computer is "good to go." Double beeps or triple beeps meant there was
something wrong
"You've Got Mail!"
Remember when you actually wanted to receive email? Today, our
inboxes are an unholy mixture of Viagra spam and Nigerian banking scams,
with a sprinkle of legitimate correspondence thrown in. But back when
the Web was new and AOL was the most popular ISP, users couldn't wait to
hear the sound of a man's voice saying "you've got mail" each and every
time a new message arrived. [LISTEN]
Windows 95 Shutdown Sound
Before Windows 95 launched, PC users always knew exactly when their
computers were powered down. With earlier versions of Windows and DOS,
you'd simply exit your program to a command prompt, hit the power button
and watch as your computer turned off immediately. Starting with
Windows 95, users had to actually hit a shutdown button and wait
anywhere from seconds to more than a minute for the computer to shut
off. The musical shutdown sound let you know that, even if you were
across the room, your PC was successfully turning off, rather than
getting stuck. [LISTEN]
Dot Matrix Printout
Long before the days of color laser printers that churn out 30 pages a
minute, we had dot matrix printing. There was something hypnotically
relaxing about the sound of the chirpy print head moving from left to
right as reams of paper slowly pulled past it. We could meditate to that
sound. {LISTEN]
CRT TV On and Off Sound
Today, our flat-panel TVs and monitors turn on and off in silence.
Unless they have very conspicuous status lights, we often can't tell
whether our screens are on or off. With tube TVs, there was the
wonderful pop of the tube powering up and the crack of it powering down.
Clicky Keyboard
While some gamers and typing traditionalists still use mechanical
keyboards, all notebooks and most desktops today come with loathsomely
laconic letters. When IBM ruled the desktop, PC keyboards produced a
terrific tactile sound for every key you hit. To serious typists, this
symphony of springs is more beautiful than Beethoven's Ninth, because it
gives them audible feedback that their strokes have registered. [LISTEN]
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