You might not remember it, but the world used to be full of the sounds of technology. These days, consumer electronics are praised for their noiselessness. There’s something nostalgic about those old mechanical sounds—the screeching noise of your dial-up modem connecting to the internet or the satisfying clunk of a VHS tape inserted into a VCR. As these old technologies have disappeared, so have the noises that came with them.
Fortunately, a few websites have made it their mission to keep these sounds alive. They’re basically online museums dedicated to the preservation of these old clicks, beeps, and whirs. One of the best-known was the Museum of Endangered Sounds, which unfortunately appears to have been shut down. There are a few cool alternatives, though.
One of my favorites is Conserve the Sound, a German website with a collection of recordings from old gadgets and household devices. Each recording comes with a photo of the device as well. The site is in German, but the images make it easy to poke around and enjoy without knowing the language.
Then there’s BigSoundBank’s Museum of Lost Sounds, which has a great collection of its own. You’ll find recordings of everything from 56k modems and floppy disk drives to pagers, rotary phones, and film projectors. Many of the entries also have a little background information about the devices and how they worked.
I found both sites surprisingly entertaining to browse. If you grew up with any of these gadgets, there’s a good chance you’ll hear something you haven’t heard in years. And if you’ve got kids, it’s a fun way to show them just how noisy everyday technology used to be.
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