Hit the “Record” Button…

I was reminded recently of the brown Fisher Price tape player my sisters and I had growing up. That is what they were called, right? I can’t even think of the last time I said “tape player”, let alone saw it spelled out. Anyways, we had this portable player that we would use to listen to our Patch the Pirate and Psalty the Singing Songbook tapes. I can remember the tunes wafting out of the little speaker…”…the poochie lip will get you if you don’t watch out…” This, of course, was the precursor to my very own pink stereo that had a record player, two tape decks, and big box speakers…I know, pretty stylish.

But the ability to play music was not the main attraction for us girls. What we really got a kick out of was the big red record button and a stack of blank tapes. We would spend hours recording ourselves singing songs, talking, or just giggling and then rewinding the tape to hear it all over again. There are a few memorable recordings…where Kristin is talking (pre-tonsil surgery) with her gravelly voice…where we are playing with my Dad and we are all just belly laughing about nothing…where there is a recorded argument about whose turn it was to talk into the microphone…where I sing “She’ll Be Coming Around the Mountain” and when I was supposed to make a snoring sound, I say “snore, snore” instead…the list goes on.

We got such a kick out of hearing our voices blaring from that little speaker. I’m not sure what the thrill was, but even now, they are fun to listen to (surprisingly, a few still exist). I think it was just fun to be able to hear what your voice sounds like and laugh if we did something silly.

I was reminded of all this the other day when Madi and Parker discovered the Voice Memo application on my iPhone. It is basically a modern day version of Fisher Price tape recorder without the kid friendly brown plastic case. You can record snippets of talking or singing and play it back through the speaker whenever you want…no rewinding necessary.

They loved it. I now have multiple versions on my phone of Madi saying “Hello, this is me. I am talking into Mommy’s iPhone…” and Parker singing “God is so Good” with Fiona crying in the background. They not only wanted to record again and again, but they also wanted to listen to their creations multiple times. Side benefit…if I am ever away from them, I would have their recordings to listen to for those times where they refuse to talk on the telephone! (Fat chance with me being on vacation without the kiddos, but that’s beside the point.)

It is funny how true the statement is “The more things change, the more they stay the same.” In this case? The technology has definitely changed, but I guess it hasn’t taken away that thrill of hitting the record button!