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Also, for those too young to remember answering machines, they spawned a lot of scenes in thriller movies where someone had to break into a place to get an answ

by paggle 7y ago

Also, for those too young to remember answering machines, they spawned a lot of scenes in thriller movies where someone had to break into a place to get an answering machine tape, either to ascertain what was on it or to swap it out with a blank tape so that the intended recipient didn’t receive it. Even in some romantic comedies where someone confessed their love in a message and then regretted it. Also, the mechanics of answering machines is why they have the “please leave the message after the beep.” The greeting was stored at the beginning of the tape (no solid state memory!), but there could be a lot of messages already on the machine. So the machine would rewind the tape to the beginning in standby mode, play the greeting, then fast forward to the first section of blank tape. Since this would be a variable amount of time, they played a beep so the caller knew when recording was starting. This could be a long wait for people with lots of messages. When the greeting could be stored in solid state, this was an advertised feature, as were the completely solid state machines.

logfromblammo 7y ago
Two-tape machines had the outgoing message on one tape, and the incoming messages recorded to a longer tape, that did not rewind until playback. In some instances, the outgoing message was recorded on a microcassette tape, as would have been used in compact personal audio recorders, and the incoming messages went to either another microcassette or to a full-sized cassette tape. Single-tape machines were basically extinct by the late 80s. By the 90s, they returned when the outgoing message was recorded to solid-state memory, and the incoming went to tape.
- paggle 7y ago
  We never had a solid state machine and only had single tape machines. I think at the low end they were quite common through the 90s, unless we had one that lasted a long time and also had the 90's styling in the 80s, which could be the case.
ghaff 7y ago
It's amusing to note how many plot points, gags, etc. in various movies (and books) are obsoleted by today's technology, perhaps cell phones most of all. It's the default that you can always reach someone now and you probably have to provide some rationale if you can't.
- aaron_m04 7y ago
  > It's the default that you can always reach someone now and you probably have to provide some rationale if you can't. "Sorry, I was in a mine shaft"
- tomjen3 7y ago
  There is a great example of this in Buffy where they obsolete themselves. In one of the earlier episodes (where a demon is scanned into a computer and activated) they call one of the characters at home, and the phone connects, so they no she isn't online. In one of the later episodes a character has just left the room and as they are about to call him, the camera pans to his seat where he has left his flip-cell phone.

by paggle 7y ago

logfromblammo 7y ago

Two-tape machines had the outgoing message on one tape, and the incoming messages recorded to a longer tape, that did not rewind until playback. In some instances, the outgoing message was recorded on a microcassette tape, as would have been used in compact personal audio recorders, and the incoming messages went to either another microcassette or to a full-sized cassette tape. Single-tape machines were basically extinct by the late 80s. By the 90s, they returned when the outgoing message was recorded to solid-state memory, and the incoming went to tape.

paggle 7y ago
We never had a solid state machine and only had single tape machines. I think at the low end they were quite common through the 90s, unless we had one that lasted a long time and also had the 90's styling in the 80s, which could be the case.

ghaff 7y ago

It's amusing to note how many plot points, gags, etc. in various movies (and books) are obsoleted by today's technology, perhaps cell phones most of all. It's the default that you can always reach someone now and you probably have to provide some rationale if you can't.

aaron_m04 7y ago
> It's the default that you can always reach someone now and you probably have to provide some rationale if you can't. "Sorry, I was in a mine shaft"
tomjen3 7y ago
There is a great example of this in Buffy where they obsolete themselves. In one of the earlier episodes (where a demon is scanned into a computer and activated) they call one of the characters at home, and the phone connects, so they no she isn't online. In one of the later episodes a character has just left the room and as they are about to call him, the camera pans to his seat where he has left his flip-cell phone.