Was the first removable media you used precede the CD (Compact Disc)?

SGT Private RallyPoint Member — Thu, 11 Jun 2015 09:09:03 -0400

Did you at one point use Jaz, Zip, or floppy disks?

Response by SGT John Wesley made Jun 11 at 2015 9:10 AM

SGT John Wesley — Thu, 11 Jun 2015 09:10:13 -0400

My first computer was a TRS-80! It used these huge floppys

Response by Cpl Jeff N. made Jun 11 at 2015 9:13 AM

Cpl Jeff N. — Thu, 11 Jun 2015 09:13:44 -0400

My first computer was me. I had a pencil and paper, not even a calculator. I removed the media when I took the pencil out of my mouth. That was about it.

I think I used my first computer (PC) when I was about 26 or 27.

Response by SGT Private RallyPoint Member made Jun 11 at 2015 9:24 AM

SGT Private RallyPoint Member — Thu, 11 Jun 2015 09:24:37 -0400

I used a 3.5 inch floppy first and then ZIP disks (250-750 MB) on my Korg Triton music workstation.

Response by SFC William Swartz Jr made Jun 11 at 2015 9:29 AM

SFC William Swartz Jr — Thu, 11 Jun 2015 09:29:33 -0400

Floppy disks and Zip were the first I had ever used. The old big floppy and then the smaller ones, did a lot of counseling statements on the smaller disks lol.

Response by SrA Edward Vong made Jun 11 at 2015 9:34 AM

SrA Edward Vong — Thu, 11 Jun 2015 09:34:52 -0400

I've used floppy of all sizes, zip, super disks. Never used a cassette tape though.

Response by CPT Private RallyPoint Member made Jun 11 at 2015 9:39 AM

CPT Private RallyPoint Member — Thu, 11 Jun 2015 09:39:40 -0400

IBM 286 with 5.5 floppys

Response by Maj Private RallyPoint Member made Jun 11 at 2015 9:53 AM

Maj Private RallyPoint Member — Thu, 11 Jun 2015 09:53:27 -0400

I think I was born JUST early enough to grow up around 3 1/4" floppies, VHS, and cassettes. CDs started replacing floppies and vinyl/cassettes somewhat early in my childhood, and I remember DVDs coming about around my preteen years.

I still enjoy collecting and listening to music on vinyl though. Digital provides excellent clarity in my opinion, but for some reason I like the "warm" sound of vinyl. And I still think a brand new, perfectly clean vinyl record provides more clarity than digital...and the soundstaging you can get with vinyl is incredible.

Response by SSG Ed Mikus made Jun 11 at 2015 10:13 AM

SSG Ed Mikus — Thu, 11 Jun 2015 10:13:21 -0400

My first was the 5.25inch floppy, but there have been many after that!

Response by CW5 Private RallyPoint Member made Jun 11 at 2015 10:26 AM

CW5 Private RallyPoint Member — Thu, 11 Jun 2015 10:26:48 -0400

I had a Commodore 64 and my school computer classes used Apple IIs and Commodore Pets. All used 5.5 floppies. My dad used punch cards and the 8 inch floppy in the Air Force.

We used 100 MB Zip disks in Korea in 2002. (And Pentium II desktops)

Response by LCDR Private RallyPoint Member made Jun 11 at 2015 11:38 AM

LCDR Private RallyPoint Member — Thu, 11 Jun 2015 11:38:16 -0400

10' floppy in an HP laptop (well more like a briefcase)

Response by SCPO David Lockwood made Jun 11 at 2015 11:40 AM

SCPO David Lockwood — Thu, 11 Jun 2015 11:40:14 -0400

Zip discs and 3.5" discs.

Response by LCDR Rabbah Rona Matlow made Jun 11 at 2015 12:46 PM

LCDR Rabbah Rona Matlow — Thu, 11 Jun 2015 12:46:15 -0400

Punch cards - I used to code in Fortran and LRLTran (Lawrence Livermore's version of Fortran).

8" floppies Xerox 830. 5 1/4" floppies PC, etc...

Response by SFC Steven Borders made Jun 11 at 2015 3:08 PM

SFC Steven Borders — Thu, 11 Jun 2015 15:08:12 -0400

Floppy Disk's 5-1/4 and 3.5, Zip Drives, Compact Flash, Flash Drives etc...

I have used them all. We had a a Sony Camera that used 3.5 floppy disks. LOL You could only imagine how much you could fit on it.

Response by LTC Gavin Heater made Jun 11 at 2015 5:13 PM

LTC Gavin Heater — Thu, 11 Jun 2015 17:13:31 -0400

I started out with a mainframe connected through a keyboard to magnetic tape media. I then moved up to 8" dual drive floppy disks, followed by 5.25" disks, 3.5" disks and so on. My iPhone is Star Trek compared to the Bronze Age I started in.

Response by SGT(P) Private RallyPoint Member made Jun 11 at 2015 5:24 PM

SGT(P) Private RallyPoint Member — Thu, 11 Jun 2015 17:24:48 -0400

Commodore 64 with a cassette drive
5-1/4 inch floppy disk
3-1/2 inch not-so-floppy disk
Zip disk
Zip Plus
Jazz

Response by MSgt Private RallyPoint Member made Jun 11 at 2015 6:17 PM

MSgt Private RallyPoint Member — Thu, 11 Jun 2015 18:17:06 -0400

Cassette tape to load Frogger on a Sinclair. Took about 15 minutes to complete. Not every attempt was successful- maybe 50%. That was when processor speed was measured in kHz and system memory (ram) in kb. Monitor was a 13" black/white TV.

Response by COL John Power made Jun 18 at 2015 1:20 PM

COL John Power — Thu, 18 Jun 2015 13:20:37 -0400

All a function of age. My first computer was a TI-90 as I recall and the storage medium was actually a personal tape recorder! Next was 5.25 floppies and on up the line. Now I mostly use the Cloud to backup the hard drive. Never use the CD.

Response by LTC Earle Bluff made Jun 22 at 2015 10:24 PM

LTC Earle Bluff — Mon, 22 Jun 2015 22:24:15 -0400

5.25 " floppies (interesting when if you bent them, you destroyed them). Proverbs 3, vs. 5 - 6