has technology advanced?

     Benson had music playing in the kitchen while he was doing dishes yesterday afternoon. Not a problem. (I mean seriously! After all, he was doing the dishes!!)  When I walked in there and could thus hear it better, I got puzzled. My brain was trying to remember if we even still had one of 'those', while my eyes were scanning the room trying to spot 'it'.
     What 'those'/'it' am I talking about? An "old school" 3 or 4 inch by 5 or 6 inch transistor radio. You know, the kind that had these little antennas that you pulled out of the top to help you get better reception. They had small dials in the front which you used to tune in to your favorite radio stations. And down one side was the on/off switch, as well as the volume control dial.
     Why in the world was I looking for one of those?! Because the music I was hearing sounded like it was coming out of one of those little radios! Honest! But it wasn't. It was in fact coming out of his relatively new cell phone. When I mentioned it to him, he chuckled and replied, yea, sometimes the reception is a bit static-y. So I'd noticed ;-p
     That incidence brought to mind some other situations dealing with technology advancements, which I have truly questioned over the last how ever many years.
     Remember records? [For you younger generation-ers, those are the 'vinyls' that rappers scrape the heck out of. 8-/. ] They switched from records to cassette tapes (yes, I know, eight track tapes came first, but I hadn't intended to go there .... ;-p ) partly because of how the tapes didn't get scratched, and the fact that they were ever so much easier to transport. Heck, the players were even small enough that you could a) install one in your vehicle, and/or b)carry one with you while you were walking down the street.
      Yes, sometimes the little piece of felt like material (know as 'the pad') would come off, but they were relatively easy to re-apply. And sometimes, especially if young children got a hold of them, the tape could be unwound from it's case and make a ginormous mess!!! But overall, cassette tapes were wonderful! ! ! !
      But then they told us that technology was again advancing and they came out with Cd's, which I swear scrape even easier than the vinyl records did. And they definitely retain finger smears easier. And dust mites that you can't even see with the naked eye, can goof them up!! Grumble!
      The whole same situation applies between VHS tapes (which you use a VCR to play) and DVDs (which you need a DVD player to play). But with these two, there is yet another factor that comes in, one that I do not view as a positive factor. For VHS tapes, the VCRs often had a little flap that was suppose to lift in order for you to push the VHS tape in. If that little flap came off, you could still play your movies. But the DVD machine has a little drawer that is suppose to open and let you insert your DVD on to. Do you know how frustrating it is, when that part comes out, and then before you can totally slip the disk in, it snaps closed again?!?!?!!! Yes, I am speaking from experience here, how could you tell?  o;-p
     So I ask you, has technology really advanced?
     Benson's answer was "yes". "Because the picture on DVDs is so much clearer than it was on VHS tapes. And you can get so many more meg-a-bites of memory on a CD than you could a cassette tape. A-n-d ...."
     I on the other hand, am not convinced that it's advancements are really producing that much better of products. They smear, scrape and break, ever so much easier and faster.
     What's your opinion?  'Inquiring minds want to know'  ;-p