Favorite obsolete formats.....

wturkey,

FYI, Reel to Reel is very much alive. R2R is making a comeback, new units being reproduced but on limited basis.

I do miss cassette tapes and hopefully one day going to buy a nice R2R machine once there are enough titles.

Whenever I think of 8 track I remember the rolls of tape used to splice them back together. But it was the first tape format to be in cars and I love driving with music playing.

As far as tin can and string, that may be an upgrade in communication today, since no one under 40 can talk on a phone today but text instead. You know, kinda like the ancients who scrawled messages  on cave walls.. 

Smoke signals have been modified today. No blankets necessary. Just set a city block on fire if you don't like things and don't get your way. Or if you win a league championship you set a building on fire.  You tell the difference between joy and sadness by the size of the smoke. Little means fun. Big means run

+1 @artemus_5

78 rpm.  Much of America's best music can be found in this format.  Not obsolete for me!

R2R, cassette and (FM) radio still very much alive here.