Guess What's the Fastest-Adopted Gadget of the Last 50 Years

Don

I still have no DVD player and didn't buy a portable CD player until 2008, when the radio in my car stopped working before a long trip.

I have no idea what Compact Audio is, I'm guessing that it's the 80s equivalent of the TV / AM-FM / turntable console that was in American living rooms in the early 60s. I remember there was a thing for bookshelf sized stereo systems.

There are several other items that I never went in for. I don't understand why PC-TV is on the list but not the PC itself. I guess whoever was doing the survey wasn't in that line of home electronics.

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La Piazza Gancio · Grump Joined: 26 Nov 2011 Posts: 151 Location: Chicago

I would have said the microwave oven or the answering machine. A boom box? Never...

And what about the hand-held, battery-operated calculator? Those were white hot once upon a time.

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Don · Posted: Fri Mar 23, 2012 9:33 pm Post subject:

I think calculators were too expensive at first, but since this is a 7 year survey I'd say that many had then within that period of time. Microwave oven is another that is oddly missing from this list, as is the Mr. Coffee machine. Still, from what's here the boom box is a surprising winner. Cellphones are far down the list but since this is only the first seven years, they're counting like 1980-1987. They were still the size of a shoe then.

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