register of endeangered noises

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it occurred to me today that the "modem" sound, i.e. "eeeeeeeeeescreeeerrrrgggllkhhhhhkhhhhhkhhhhhhhkhhhhhhhh" may soon never again be heard in the wild but only in anachronistic movies or television shows where the producers want to signify "computer networking" somehow, and must use this audio sample that no one acctually ever hears anymore.

anyway, what other sounds have passed into history, only hearable on recordings?

― Tracer Hand (tracerhand), Friday, 4 November 2005 20:43 (twenty years ago)

The rattle of cart wheels on cobblestones x 200 (ie the streets of downtown New York in 1864).

― Laurel (Laurel), Friday, 4 November 2005 20:46 (twenty years ago)

Thought of this while watching an old movie last night: the sound a rotary phone makes after you've dialed a number and the dial is spinning back to 0: WHIRRRRRRRRRRR.

― n/a (Nick A.), Friday, 4 November 2005 20:47 (twenty years ago)

Maybe a little too obvious, but voices of dead people? (speeches, songs)

― StanM (StanM), Friday, 4 November 2005 20:48 (twenty years ago)

Phones with bells in are rare now, but I know somewhere where the internal phone network still uses dial phones with bells. Hurrah!

― Forest Pines (ForestPines), Friday, 4 November 2005 20:49 (twenty years ago)

I've still got dial-up at home.

I have a business contact that I call each day, and when he answers his old phone, I can still hear the faint *ding* from the ringing.

― Pleasant Plains /// (Pleasant Plains ///), Friday, 4 November 2005 20:51 (twenty years ago)

There is a really pleasing complexity and depth in the fact that you can have "business contacts" but not DSL!

― nabisco (nabisco), Friday, 4 November 2005 20:58 (twenty years ago)

StanM,

When Edison developed the cylinder phonograph, his primary interest was not in preserving music, but in preserving the voices of dead people; this was also a key cultural idea at the time of the development of photography.

― paulhw (paulhw), Friday, 4 November 2005 22:38 (twenty years ago)

I don't have business contacts at home.

(Business contact = Dude I call on phone for football practice reports.)

― Pleasant Plains /// (Pleasant Plains ///), Friday, 4 November 2005 22:44 (twenty years ago)

the vinyl popping sound.

― Super Cub (Debito), Friday, 4 November 2005 22:49 (twenty years ago)

That hasn't passed into history just yet. But it could be considered 'endangered'.

― Super Cub (Debito), Friday, 4 November 2005 22:51 (twenty years ago)

The whirling sound of tape being rewinded (VHS, audio cassettes, etc.)

― Super Cub (Debito), Friday, 4 November 2005 22:52 (twenty years ago)

The sound when you play a cassette tape that has a computer program on it in your stereo.

― n/a (Nick A.), Friday, 4 November 2005 22:53 (twenty years ago)

The sound of a monocle popping out of an eye and cracking on the street.

― n/a (Nick A.), Friday, 4 November 2005 22:54 (twenty years ago)

The sound of a zeppelin inflating.

― n/a (Nick A.), Friday, 4 November 2005 22:54 (twenty years ago)

Tape hiss.

― n/a (Nick A.), Friday, 4 November 2005 22:54 (twenty years ago)

Butter churn.

― n/a (Nick A.), Friday, 4 November 2005 22:55 (twenty years ago)

The squawk of the dodo.

― n/a (Nick A.), Friday, 4 November 2005 22:55 (twenty years ago)

The coo of the passenger pigeon.

― n/a (Nick A.), Friday, 4 November 2005 22:55 (twenty years ago)

THE MIGHTY ROAR OF THE TYRANNOSAUR.

― n/a (Nick A.), Friday, 4 November 2005 22:56 (twenty years ago)

There must be bird calls that belonged to birds that no longer exist.

― Super Cub (Debito), Friday, 4 November 2005 22:56 (twenty years ago)

The clank of armour. Techno in New York City.

― paulhw (paulhw), Friday, 4 November 2005 22:56 (twenty years ago)

WAY TO READ CLOSELY SUPER CUB

― n/a (Nick A.), Friday, 4 November 2005 22:57 (twenty years ago)

whoa. where did all those birds come from? I swear they weren't there when I posted.

― Super Cub (Debito), Friday, 4 November 2005 22:59 (twenty years ago)

The chug of a steam locomotive.

― Super Cub (Debito), Friday, 4 November 2005 23:00 (twenty years ago)

The Dead Media Project
An attempt to catalogue many past forms of media so future generations might
remember them.
www.deadmedia.org/

― Sébastien Chikara (Sébastien Chikara), Friday, 4 November 2005 23:06 (twenty years ago)

cash registers that actually make that cha-ching sound

― jim wentworth (wench), Saturday, 5 November 2005 01:45 (twenty years ago)

The subtly different sound of a white tennis ball bouncing.

― Beth Parker (Beth Parker), Saturday, 5 November 2005 02:34 (twenty years ago)

i worry about when the seagulls die

― terry lennox. (gareth), Saturday, 5 November 2005 02:38 (twenty years ago)

Like, in the Big Crunch?

― Beth Parker (Beth Parker), Saturday, 5 November 2005 02:40 (twenty years ago)

that's not going away for a while... lots of businesses still use modems for their debit card machines!

― s1ocki (slutsky), Saturday, 5 November 2005 04:35 (twenty years ago)

Yeah, you're all acting like it's 2044. Most people use dial up! Remember VR / virtual sex? It never happened! The 1990s got us all excited about futurism again, just like the 1950s. So we use the internet...that's big, for sure, but what else has proved monumental? (sorry for getting away from the sound theme).

― paulhw (paulhw), Saturday, 5 November 2005 04:42 (twenty years ago)

The sound of a ruler thwacking down on a schoolboy's wrist.

― Beth Parker (Beth Parker), Saturday, 5 November 2005 04:57 (twenty years ago)

Ever since you moved out
I've been living in the park
I'd rather talk to the wind
then an empty apartment
and I wish I could forget
how a billion birds flew in
my hollow dying heart
the first time I touched your arm
once there were a billion passenger pigeons
so many flew by, they darkened the sky
but when they were clubbed and shot
netted, gassed and burned
until there was nothing left
but miles of empty nests
I can't believe how easily
a billion birds can disappear
the park is empty now
it's so cold out
and all the paddle boats
are covered up with snow
once again it's dark
the electric lights snap on
but I'm still sitting here
drinking frozen beer
and throwing potato chips
into the white snow drifts
just in case a bird decides
to fly through here tonight

I can't believe how easily
a billion birds can disappear
ooh, I can't believe how easily
a billion birds can disappear

― gear (gear), Saturday, 5 November 2005 05:02 (twenty years ago)

I just saw "Goodbye Lenin", which is a good movie BTW. The movie deals quite a lot with the rapid extinction of everyday things during East Germany's demise. Somehow seems relevant.

― Super Cub (Debito), Saturday, 5 November 2005 05:19 (twenty years ago)

paulhw, it's that attitude that did in the dodo!

― Tracer Hand (tracerhand), Saturday, 5 November 2005 05:24 (twenty years ago)

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