What went away because of smartphones? Portable MP3 players. I used to work in a warehouse and we

weren't allowed to have our cell phones with us. Well, no devices with any cameras on them. We were

allowed to listen to music and have one headphone in one ear. Everyone who worked there had a cheap

MP3 player for that reason. It's more niche now, but there's definitely

still a market for those. Audio files also love to have separate devices for several reasons.

While iPhones are slightly better about it, Android is actually awful about playing high-quality

sound files, and streaming services chew through data if you want hi-fi sound.

But a dedicated music player, especially if you splurge and get something like a FIO with

the DAC in it, that's the good stuff.

Even refurbished iPods have a decently sized market these days, although that's partially

due to collectors too.

Man, as I get older, I'm kind of happy that I got to

experience the different eras of music from Walkmans, aka CD players, to MP3 players to now smartphones.

To be honest, I love music, but I never really thought about how smartphones could affect the

quality. I always thought it was more about the headphones you used to listen to the music.

But hey, the more you know. Payphones. One day I was walking my daughter, who was five at the time,

we came across an old payphone and she asked me what it was. I explained to her and she started

laughing and said, Mommy, they don't just put phones out in the park. It does sound absurd, but we did put them out in parks and plenty of other places.

I think the last time I saw one was right outside of the local library.

They were the last people to get rid of theirs.

The ability to memorize phone numbers.

I don't know my spouse's phone number, but I still remember the phone number of my best

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