techmoan

Proof Of Life

Still kicking

I’m still alive. I think I’m on that bit of the sickness slope just before officially “starting to feel a bit better”.

While I’ve been dead on the couch, the garden studio has been installed. They finished lunchtime today. I haven’t had a good look at it yet. There’s still plenty to do, most notably electricity hook up.

It’s going to be quite a few days before I c...

Apologies - no new video this week

I’ve been horrendously ill all week and I still am - this is the worst thing I can remember having - it’s a fever but it just keeps on going. This is all I can type right now.

The B&Oombox (UPDATED)

As soon as I found out that Bang & Olufsen (the high-end Danish audio company) had once sold a lowly portable stereo radio cassette recorder, I just had to try it out. I’d feel much the same way If Rolex had made a plastic calculator watch. Of course the B&O name meant that their take on this common device wasn’t cheap, but is it worth a premium now?

Here’s the video 2025-02-05 16:39:23 +0000 UTC View Post

MP3 Cassette - Mixxed Feelings

Remember being a child and thinking that a flying car would be cool. Sharing that thought with an adult immediately brought it crashing down to earth.

What about the pilots licence? Flying a plane isn’t something anyone can do. Who’s doing all the extra air traffic control? You wouldn’t be allowed  to land a flying car on a residential street or in a city cent...

Is the Patreon video player rubbish?

It seems that there isn't much love for the Patreon video player. The only way to find out for sure though was to post a video using it and see how well it was received.
So I've just done that and I'd appreciate your feedback on this survey.

New Studio Digs - UPDATE: Added a Youtube link

I could benefit from having more studio space so here’s what I’m doing about it.

A short (yet still verbose) video exclusive just for Patrons.

For anyone who wasn’t able to view this impromptu short extra video on Patreon but wanted to - here’s a new Youtube link. https://youtu.be/obuLG80tQzA 2025-01-25 16:17:39 +0000 UTC View Post

Cantata 700 - Techmoan Nil

In this video I revisit the 3M Cantata 700 BGM tape system in an attempt to resolve some unfinished business.

https://youtu.be/fgwIs1QaJms

Behind the scenes I’m experiencing a bit of disruption at home while I get some work done. It’ll mean that eventually I should have more room available for working on proj...

The smallest ‘Walkman’?

Which was the smallest personal stereo Compact Cassette player?

https://youtu.be/nTwbpHp0TFI

I’m snowed in today, or to be more accurate, iced in. I’d have to be a nutter to try driving down the steep road from my house, especially when I have no need to.  Instead I got to stay in and fi...

DTS 5.1 CD - I missed this one

Here’s a format that I either missed or I forgot about - I suspect it’s the former, but I can’t remember.

I might be twenty five years too late but I’m finally up to speed on this now, so let me share everything I now know about the DTS 5.1 Music Disc before this all goes out of my head.

https://youtu.be/ECp8c...

2025-01-02 18:20:11 +0000 UTC View Post

December mini update

Due to enforced downtime around Christmas I took the opportunity to make a short extra video just for Patrons.

https://youtu.be/tLWVed9nKPM

Many thanks for all your support in 2024 and here's to a new and improved 2025.

Below are the links to other YouTube videos mentioned at the end.

New Oscilloscope Music

I’m really happy to be able to show you something new today. It’s been eight years since I last featured oscilloscope music on the channel but a new EP has finally given me an opportunity to revisit it.

https://youtu.be/VqM84RJzGq4

You’ll probably have noticed that I’ve released fewer videos in December. If...

Two twin tapes - UPDATED

The Twin-Tape, Personal Stereo is a product category that only has two members. That's probably two more than make sense.

In this video I look at one of these that you’re most likely already aware of and one that you are far less likely to have encountered.

https://youtu.be/8D91uIirQ9Q

Unfo...

Travelogue Xmas Special

You may have seen me mention that there would be a slight gap between my regular video uploads, this video shows what I’ve been getting up to.

https://youtu.be/X_W6Cmequ9Y

Since I don’t have any other video to put out this week, I’ve left this one open to the possibility of being released on YouTube as a regu...

Big Bad? Bose

This is the last of an unplanned three part series looking at relatively recently discontinued Bose Products.

I liked the Bose Wave Sound Touch IV, so surely its big brother will be even better…

https://youtu.be/wd2dLg7D92U

I’d just like to give advance warning that there will be no video on Patreon next ...

A stereo with a twist

Here’s a compact video about a neat little portable stereo radio cassette recorder from the mid eighties. It’s unlikely you’ll have encountered this model before, I certainly hadn’t, which is why I thought it deserved a video.

https://youtu.be/aqc9akDIE_g

I really wish that ‘Portable Stereo Radio Cassette...

November 2024 AUDIO Oddcast

An unflashy (as well as wheezy) Patreon update this time, looking back at the last few videos and assorted irrelevance.

LINKS:

My disappointing video about the Kanto Syd speaker: https://youtu.be/w7SpLrATpUE

A playlist of previously unseen lunchtime food reviews:

2024-11-10 16:26:13 +0000 UTC View Post

November 2024 VIDEO Oddcast

An unflashy (as well as wheezy) Patreon update this time, looking back at the last few videos and assorted irrelevance.

https://youtu.be/VAdqIeLvjyg

LINKS:

My disappointing video about the Kanto Syd speaker: https://youtu.be/w7SpLrATp...

DVD = RetroTech

DVD was launched a day over twenty eight years ago on the 1st November 1996 in Japan.

There have been hundreds of different DVD players launched since then, but in order to show you the one that I feel has the most Techmoan-esque aesthetic we need to travel back to 2001 and take a look at the unique Sony D-VM1 DVD Walkman.

2024-11-02 17:21:49 +0000 UTC View Post

The story of the 4-Track cart

I’ve wanted to tell the story of the Muntz 4-track cart for years, but I needed to find sufficient time to spend on it, to do the topic justice.

I think this might be the video that’s taken me the longest time to research, assemble, shoot and edit. I’ve been concentrating on nothing else for the last couple of weeks and as a result I’ve been seeing 4-track carts in my sleep. This ...

The fetid Pong of nostalgia

Some people here will be old enough to remember a Christmas Day at the end of the 1970s when you opened up ‘the big present’ - and found your first games console inside.

For most of us outside the US it wasn’t an Atari - it was one of the many cheaper alternatives with names like Binatone, Grandstand and Radofin.

After sending the smallest member of the family crawling behind ...

Update - Bose 500 UK stock.

Just a quick message for anyone in the UK who is looking to buy a Bose Smart Speaker 500 after my last video. Bose UK has just restocked these online in their refurbished store at £260 in both colours. I suspect these will be the last of them.

The Bose Smart Speaker 500

I think I might be getting worse at making videos that appeal to a wide audience. Spending a week on a video about a discontinued, unpopular, expensive, smart-speaker is probably not the way to fame and fortune. Nevertheless, that’s what I’ve been doing. I don’t dislike the video, but I just feel I might have been making it for an audience of one.

2024-10-09 17:27:13 +0000 UTC View Post

The self-erasing 2View Video Tape (UPDATED)

Today I’m able to share with you an almost mythical failed format, the 2View, the pre-recorded videotape that erased itself after, you guessed it, two views.

https://youtu.be/iH4UFUdlmSo

I was aware of these but due to its limited release I’d never seen one in person and thought it unlikely that I ever would. T...

Oddcast September 2024 AUDIO

Here’s the audio track from the September 2024 patron exclusive video - provided for those who prefer listening rather than watching.

The video version is available in a separate post.

Oddcast September 2024 VIDEO

Here’s a Patreon exclusive video for September 2024. Join me as I run some errands while reminiscing over the vagaries of the past few weeks.

An audio only version of this is available in a separate post.

2D Holiday snaps in 3D - with the Looking Glass Go

My new video is finally ready to share.

Remember digital picture frames? Well they're back and can now show your 2D photos in 3D.

This is just a temporary thumbnail (not any more). I thought it better to share this video now, rather than have you wait while I twiddle my thumbs.

h...

The next video is running late (and doesn’t yet exist) 

Just a quick note to say that this last week has been a productivity write off so I’ll only be startling work on the next video in the morning.

I was sick for a few days, then I needed to visit someone in hospital and finally I had to build a shed. You’ll appreciate that none of this involved pressing record on a camera, therefore I’m starting from scratch tomorrow.

I’m aimi...

A classic mistake?

I’ve been spending a lot of time trying to fix up an old Sharp GF-9191 portable stereo radio cassette - here’s the video.

https://youtu.be/2qvTFYMlXY0

This took quite a while to record and almost as long to edit. Just out of interest I pulled all the footage I’d shot into one timeline and it ran over six hour...

The Tuneshine

A short video where I’m taking a look at the Tuneshine, an album-art display device for digital music. This one came about following a suggestion received under the ITIC2 video back in July. After looking at the website it intrigued me, so I put in an order and it turned up early this week.

A few more people have since recommended the Tuneshine to me, so I suspect this one has been doin...