[typing]
What is it about floppy disks?
What makes them special and worth collecting?
After all, floppy disks are known to be a fragile medium and have a limited shelf life.
They simply will not last, so
either I'm diluting myself by thinking their contents are what gives them value,
or the content of these disks is secondary by default.
As with many things,
the truth lies somewhere in the middle.
To most people nowadays,
floppy disks are a symbol,
more so than any kind of useful storage medium.
Their usefulness has been far outpaced by flash memory and such.
But to others, floppy disks are much more than a symbol
and are more of a physical reminder of another time.
For me, it's more that floppy disks signify fond memories of childhood.
They signify fun and engagement from a game,
or usefulness from a piece of software.
They even signify trust,
which evident even today when a floppy disk is used
as the icon for saving
in so many applications and video games.
But there's more to it than symbolism
that makes the floppy disk special.
Diskettes,
known fondly as floppies,
have been around since the late-1960s in some form or another.
The earliest ones were eight inches in diameter,
and these were eventually supplanted by 5¼-inch and 3½-inch versions,
along with several lesser-known sizes in between.
But no matter the size, density or color,
when I put a diskette between my fingertips,
I smile inside every... single... time.
There's just something about these that I just don't get from any other storage medium
and really, that's all it is: a storage medium.
Meant to save some computer data for a period of time.
Incredibly bland on paper,
yet I don't feel the same attachment to other types of storage
like CDs, cassette tapes, hard drives, punch cards, or whatever.
These disks are the single-most fascinating and cherished format to me,
and many other people that I know
who are into the hobby of retro computing and gaming.
Despite their usage being absolutely ubiquitous during the '80s and '90s,
if it comes on a floppy, there's a sense of importance to it
that surpasses practically any other type of storage.
Part of it has to do with the temporary and fragile nature of the medium itself.
The circular disk contained inside its plastic shell.
This is a thin piece of plastic coated in magnetic oxide
sandwiched between some fabric,
which is then packed inside a square plastic sheath,
and... that's about it.
It feels flimsy, corruptible, vulnerable,
even the later 3½-inch floppies with the sturdy shell.
And if you've used many of them, then
you kind of know why.
You know exactly how unreliable they can be.
I've got some disks from 1979 that still function,
but others from 2001 that don't even show a single byte when read.
The drives themselves are growing ever more brittle and prone to failure as well,
and it's getting more difficult all the time
to find a well-maintained drive
with lubed rails and an accurate read-write head.
Granted, a nice one is still more stable and useable
than half the cheap gadgetry out there today,
but the point remains that these items are increasingly finite.
Beyond their fragile natrure,
floppy disks are enjoyable to me,
simply because they're fun to handle.
They have such a neat shape and size,
and I love all the hard angles
and the varying quality of textures of them
pleases my fingertips.
It's always enjoyable to see which ones held up better over time
and which one had a modeled label.
Which one's write-protected and which is not.
So there's that, and
the fact that using them can be a complete toss-up.
Gone are the days when a floppy disk error
could ruin a day of work or play.
See, if that happens to you now, then you did it to yourself
and you probably expected it.
That's what you get for using old tech.
So enjoy it.
Tinker with it.
Fix it.
Love it.
Those errors are what makes things special.
Imperfections make something feel more real, more alive
and this is more true the older something gets.
To me, it's the same as the appeal of driving a vintage automobile
or listening to vinyl records
or hooking up a film camera to a projector.
There are undeniably easier,
more efficient and more reliable ways to do all these things.
I could just fire up an emulator and download an archive
and play with all the old software I want all day long.
But if there's no risk of it failing,
no feel of the plastic in my hands,
no scent of the packaging,
no mechanical clunking of the drive,
then something is lost.
Something that will someday never be experienced completely again.
And that is what makes the floppy disk special.
And if you though this video was special,
or at least kind of interesting,
then you might enjoy some of my others.
I've made a whole lot of them
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And as always, thank you very much for watching.