Technology

Call me old fashioned, but this is what I record interviews on. Sure, I could invest in some new fancy schmancy digital recorder, like this one, but I already had the (free!) Radio Shack Cassette recorder, and it worked for telephone interviews too! 

And I like the tapes. Sure, I converted them all to digital for backup, which wouldn't have been necessary with a digital recorder, but there is something nice and substantial about old cassette tapes. The interview has become an object with weight and not just a digital file. They are shiny and click together in their box and when someone asks me what I've been up to I can point to a big pile of tapes and say "see? I have been interviewing! There is substance! I am working!"

Still, looking back at that digital recorder, I can't help but think how much easier this all could have been. Sigh.