Everyone is working on their 10/25/50/100 best lists of the year or the decade, for categories like television, movies, music, games, books. I think looking back with the benefits of hindsight, some of the things that seemed "modern" back then now seem less so.
- Magazines and Newspapers
With the Internet, keeping up to date on the latest news has made Magazines and Newspapers obsolete. Best of all, the internet doesn't cluster up in boxes and take up space. - Build-your-own computers
I used to build my own computers. I selected my parts, and did the assembly myself, saving a couple hundred dollars. With the coming of Dell and Gateway and other discount build-to-order places, the home custom-built computer is now the domain of the enthusiast hobbyist. - Film cameras and film development
I used my first digital camera in 1996, and bought my first digital camera in 2001. I haven't looked back since. - Zip Disks
In 1999, the large re-writeable media storage of choice were Zip Disks. There was enough traction for the magnetic media format that internal Zip Disks were becoming standard fare, along with the CD-ROM drive and the Floppy Disk drive. With the advent of re-writeable CDs and the drop in price for CD writing drives, this became largely obsolete very quickly. - Cable TV
In 1999, I had cable television, which included some premium channels for $60 a month; a few years later, I had reduced my cable to $12 a month, just for basic cable. Since 2004, I have been TV-free, mainly watching shows online and through DVDs on Netflix. - CDs
In 1999, I allocated $100 a month for purchasing CDs, a budget which steadily declined until 2004, when I decided to go CD-free. With the advent of the iTunes store and single track purchasing, there was no longer a need to purchase a whole album for just a few good songs. - Dial-up Access
In 1999, high-speed internet access still wasn't commonplace; ADSL and cable modem were options that were limited by distance from the telecom switching station. - VCRs and VHS tapes
The VCR served two functions: the first to record TV programming, and the second to play commercial-free movies on tapes. In 1997, I bought my first DVD player, and VHS movies became a thing of the past, and in 2003 I replaced my VCR with a TiVo. - Answering Machine
Remember these things which often used tapes to record messages you missed on a land line? Now we have voicemail on our cellphones, which is marginally better. - CRT Monitors
In 1999, I drove to Fry's to purchase a 17" Sony Trinitron monitor. The monitor box was so huge that it barely fit in the front seat of my car. Since then, LCD technology has made computer monitors lighter and thinner.
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