Bring the Space Age to Your Space

Before you take the new era of high definition television, wireless internet and satellite TV for granted, consider the journey that American media technology has traveled to arrive in this modern era.

Imagine the American homes of the past: Living rooms dominated by enormous televisions, so heavy and large that they were encased in wooden cabinets to resemble pieces of furniture; Rabbit ear antennae that stretched almost to the ceiling; Bulky VCRs with stacks of VHS cassettes crammed onto every shelf. With so much room taken up by analog media, it’s a wonder that there was any room left for the sofa.

The desire for home entertainment has shaped the American home for decades. From radios the size of refrigerators to record collections that covered entire walls, homes have been dominated by the trappings of modern media.

While the novelty of having your analog music and video collections proudly displayed was a common sight in past decades, today it serves to make your home look more like a teenager’s attic than a sophisticated space for adults.

Storing aging media in communal spaces would leave your collection vulnerable to accidental breakage, theft and even fading from the sun. While there’s no substitute for the crackle of a vinyl album playing on a turntable, records scratch and break easily and require a great deal of care and storage space. Cassettes and video tapes only deteriorate with age and properly storing them is usually more trouble than it’s worth.

Luckily, the march of technological progress has been coupled with a steady decrease in the size of media and the devices used to play them. With sleek new HD televisions that hang like artwork on the wall, the living room must no longer be dominated by a clunky box that can never be moved too far from the cable jack.

Gone are the days when enormous metal dishes dominated the back yard. Instead, sleek new satellite TV systems cling neatly to the roof ledge. Mp3s and massive hard drives have revolutionized media reproduction, and even entire movies can be stored on pocket-sized storage devices.

Such smaller devices and digital media not only free up space, but they also make moving much simpler. Rather than packing large boxes full of records, cassettes and CDs and struggling to move heavy and delicate audio and video components, modern media devices are often small enough to fit in a backpack.

Without the need to accommodate large televisions and stereo systems, you may even consider moving into a smaller space. With an HD flat-screen TV on the wall and a speaker set up that plugs into your laptop or mp3 player, it’s much easier to make the most out of a cramped urban apartment. As cities become more crowded and the price of real estate soars, the ability to maximize available space is more valuable than ever.

The digital age has brought new life to media and home entertainment with high definition displays and crystal clear audio. While enhanced performance is an obvious benefit of new technology, the space it creates in the home may be an even greater value.

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