Pshhhkkkkkkrrrrkakingkakingkakingtshchchchchchchchcch*ding*ding*ding”


That’s how Alexis Madrigal describes the distinctive sound of a dial-up modem connection sequence (which you can listen to up top). You really must read his write-up of what the sound means, a unique look at “endangered sounds”.

It’s a wonderful essay, both a piece of technology education (just what are those bleeps and squawks for, anyway?), and a journey of nostalgia for a certain generation (including me). When the Internet at Home™ was a new and novel thing, when you spent two hours installing that awful AOL or CompuServe portal to the tinyweb from a glossy CD-ROM included with your new computer, when you told your whole family that you were getting online so they wouldn’t pick up the phone (multiple phone lines were a luxury unto themselves), when you spent days devising the perfect instant messager screen-name only to find that it was taken (Solution: add “x_x” or “99”), or when you crawled USENET boards looking for the perfect cheats to beat that level of Duke Nukem that was just out of reach … this sound was our universal passageway to that world. 

It’s meaning to us was a complete mystery, while at the same time being as familiar as any voice.

Anyway, go read it. The young will learn something new, the slightly less young will smile with remembrances infinite. 

Source: SoundCloud / John Pemberton

224 Notes/ Hide

  1. waking-pillow reblogged this from fluorite-8ctet and added:
    this glorious sound :’D IM THE LAST GEN THAT EXPERIENCED THIS
  2. fluorite-8ctet reblogged this from jtotheizzoe
  3. mokak reblogged this from jtotheizzoe
  4. twosidedconfidence reblogged this from jtotheizzoe
  5. ssa-aes reblogged this from jtotheizzoe
  6. hey-mayonegg reblogged this from mswyrr
  7. mistermoraeman reblogged this from nadork
  8. noaaltwynn reblogged this from jtotheizzoe and added:
    This brings back such memories...and it’s announcement
  9. msjanetweiss reblogged this from jtotheizzoe and added:
    un-sus-tain-a-ble wubwubwubwub weeeewoooo
  10. utterlybanjaxed reblogged this from jtotheizzoe
  11. tenyouusness reblogged this from jtotheizzoe
  12. luvleah reblogged this from jtotheizzoe
  13. borehound reblogged this from jtotheizzoe
  14. whenforgetmenotsbloom reblogged this from jtotheizzoe
  15. notd2 reblogged this from jtotheizzoe and added:
    internet? For those old enough...distinct tones, beeps,
  16. shbek reblogged this from deniablesmiles
  17. irrationalsense reblogged this from jtotheizzoe
  18. radicallydreaming reblogged this from jtotheizzoe
  19. fabulousfictionista reblogged this from gjmueller and added:
    I used to do a little head dance to the “beat” of dial up. Oh circa 1998, you’re missed lol
  20. cirk-urk reblogged this from jtotheizzoe
  21. thankstothemoon reblogged this from jtotheizzoe
  22. zemblanityinsomnia reblogged this from gjmueller and added:
    I feel a little sad whenever I learn of a new person that had never heard that before. And to think it was extremely...
  23. des-partages reblogged this from jtotheizzoe
  24. private-revolution reblogged this from yiheyuans

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