techmoan

Proof Of Life

Still kicking

I’m still alive. I think I’m on that bit of the sickness slope just before officially “starting to feel a bit better”.

While I’ve been dead on the couch, the garden studio has been installed. They finished lunchtime today. I haven’t had a good look at it yet. There’s still plenty to do, most notably electricity hook up. 2025-02-19 18:48:55 +0000 UTC View Post

Apologies - no new video this week

I’ve been horrendously ill all week and I still am - this is the worst thing I can remember having - it’s a fever but it just keeps on going. This is all I can type right now.

The B&Oombox (UPDATED)

As soon as I found out that Bang & Olufsen (the high-end Danish audio company) had once sold a lowly portable stereo radio cassette recorder, I just had to try it out. I’d feel much the same way If Rolex had made a plastic calculator watch. Of course the B&O name meant that their take on this common device wasn’t cheap, but is it wor...

MP3 Cassette - Mixxed Feelings

Remember being a child and thinking that a flying car would be cool. Sharing that thought with an adult immediately brought it crashing down to earth.

What about the pilots licence? Flying a plane isn’t something anyone can do. Who’s doing all the extra air traffic control? You wouldn’t be allowed  to land a fl...

Is the Patreon video player rubbish?

It seems that there isn't much love for the Patreon video player. The only way to find out for sure though was to post a video using it and see how well it was received.
So I've just done that and I'd appreciate your feedback on this survey.

New Studio Digs - UPDATE: Added a Youtube link

I could benefit from having more studio space so here’s what I’m doing about it.

A short (yet still verbose) video exclusive just for Patrons.

For anyone who wasn’t able to view this impromptu short extra video on Patreon but wanted to - here’s a new Youtube link. 2025-01-25 16:17:39 +0000 UTC View Post

Cantata 700 - Techmoan Nil

In this video I revisit the 3M Cantata 700 BGM tape system in an attempt to resolve some unfinished business.

https://youtu.be/fgwIs1QaJms

Behind the scenes I’m experiencing a bit of disruption at home while I get some work done. It’ll mean that eventually I s...

The smallest ‘Walkman’?

Which was the smallest personal stereo Compact Cassette player?

https://youtu.be/nTwbpHp0TFI

I’m snowed in today, or to be more accurate, iced in. I’d have to be a nutter to try driving down the steep road from my house, especially when I have...

DTS 5.1 CD - I missed this one

Here’s a format that I either missed or I forgot about - I suspect it’s the former, but I can’t remember.

I might be twenty five years too late but I’m finally up to speed on this now, so let me share everything I now know about the DTS 5.1 Music Disc before this all goes out of my head.

2025-01-02 18:20:11 +0000 UTC View Post

December mini update

Due to enforced downtime around Christmas I took the opportunity to make a short extra video just for Patrons.

https://youtu.be/tLWVed9nKPM

Many thanks for all your support in 2024 and here's to a new and improved 2025.

Below are the links t...

New Oscilloscope Music

I’m really happy to be able to show you something new today. It’s been eight years since I last featured oscilloscope music on the channel but a new EP has finally given me an opportunity to revisit it.

https://youtu.be/VqM84RJzGq4

You’ll probably have noticed...

Two twin tapes - UPDATED

The Twin-Tape, Personal Stereo is a product category that only has two members. That's probably two more than make sense.

In this video I look at one of these that you’re most likely already aware of and one that you are far less likely to have encountered.

2024-12-13 21:48:24 +0000 UTC View Post

Travelogue Xmas Special

You may have seen me mention that there would be a slight gap between my regular video uploads, this video shows what I’ve been getting up to.

https://youtu.be/X_W6Cmequ9Y

Since I don’t have any other video to put out this week, I’ve left this one open to the ...

Big Bad? Bose

This is the last of an unplanned three part series looking at relatively recently discontinued Bose Products.

I liked the Bose Wave Sound Touch IV, so surely its big brother will be even better…

https://youtu.be/wd2dLg7D92U

I’d just like to give advance wa...

A stereo with a twist

Here’s a compact video about a neat little portable stereo radio cassette recorder from the mid eighties. It’s unlikely you’ll have encountered this model before, I certainly hadn’t, which is why I thought it deserved a video.

https://youtu.be/aqc9akDIE_g

I ...

November 2024 AUDIO Oddcast

An unflashy (as well as wheezy) Patreon update this time, looking back at the last few videos and assorted irrelevance.

LINKS:

My disappointing video about the Kanto Syd speaker: https://youtu.be/w7SpLrATpUE

A playlist of previously unseen lun...

November 2024 VIDEO Oddcast

An unflashy (as well as wheezy) Patreon update this time, looking back at the last few videos and assorted irrelevance.

https://youtu.be/VAdqIeLvjyg

LINKS:

My disappointing video about the Kanto Syd speaker: 2024-11-10 16:25:55 +0000 UTC View Post

DVD = RetroTech

DVD was launched a day over twenty eight years ago on the 1st November 1996 in Japan.

There have been hundreds of different DVD players launched since then, but in order to show you the one that I feel has the most Techmoan-esque aesthetic we need to travel back to 2001 and take a look at the unique Sony D-VM1 DVD Walkman.

2024-11-02 17:21:49 +0000 UTC View Post

The story of the 4-Track cart

I’ve wanted to tell the story of the Muntz 4-track cart for years, but I needed to find sufficient time to spend on it, to do the topic justice.

I think this might be the video that’s taken me the longest time to research, assemble, shoot and edit. I’ve been concentrating on nothing else for the last couple of weeks and as a result I...

The fetid Pong of nostalgia

Some people here will be old enough to remember a Christmas Day at the end of the 1970s when you opened up ‘the big present’ - and found your first games console inside.

For most of us outside the US it wasn’t an Atari - it was one of the many cheaper alternatives with names like Binatone, Grandstand and Radofin.

After sending ...

Update - Bose 500 UK stock.

Just a quick message for anyone in the UK who is looking to buy a Bose Smart Speaker 500 after my last video. Bose UK has just restocked these online in their refurbished store at £260 in both colours. I suspect these will be the last of the...

The Bose Smart Speaker 500

I think I might be getting worse at making videos that appeal to a wide audience. Spending a week on a video about a discontinued, unpopular, expensive, smart-speaker is probably not the way to fame and fortune. Nevertheless, that’s what I’ve been doing. I don’t dislike the video, but I just feel I might have been making it for an ...