Remember typewriters? It's rather easy to see why word processing pretty much killed the typewriter; but they're supposedly making a comeback. Kids who see one for the first time think it's cool to see the print appear on the page as soon as you press a key.
They haven't ever totally gone away. Some people still have them and use them. Some writers, like Woody Allen, prefer to write on a typewriter. I've seen them in doctor's offices several times.
I actually have one, a very late-generation Panasonic electronic typewriter. (It's got two modes: in one mode, it prints as you strike a key, like any typewriter. The other mode lets you input up to an entire line at a time and you can edit before you print. And it can store documents, too.) I confess I haven't used it in a long time. I would if it were sitting out on a desk, but it's packed away on a closet shelf.
Still, I haven't heard that anyone has resumed making them. And it must be very difficult to find ribbons for them.
The vinyl record has never completely gone away, in the 30 years that we've had the CD, and a number of turntable models are still being made. Maybe typewriters will show their viability, too, and return from being an antique and a curiosity.
Copyright © 2012 by Richard Stein
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