What are you an analogue snob about?

I was contacted yesterday by someone writing a piece for The Times on parental snobbery. They had come across my posting on My Own Leisure Snobbery and wanted to know if they could use it. By the way, having just done two blogging talks this was a minor example of the economics of reputation concept - this person would never have contacted me normally. In my response I mentioned that I was an occassional anaologue snob, and that being an analogue snob was a sure giveaway of being a digital immigrant, to use Prensky's term.

I recounted the story of when we were in a restaurant recently and my daughter and her cousin were swapping pictures via their Nintendo DSs. I used to be a bit judgemental about kids sitting there with gameboys, but that was before I had my own child, and I realised what a Godsend they were. There was a table behind us of older people who were casting disapproving looks at the children though for this blatant display of digitalness. It struck me that if the children were swapping pictures on bits of paper, then everyone would think it was sweet.

This made me reflect on what I was an analogue snob about. Not that much, but two things came to mind:

• Watches - I have an automatic with a glass back so you can see the movement, and I think it is a thing of wonder. It gains about 5 minutes a week and is much less reliable than a digital watch, but I have always felt proper watches should have a movement.
• Art - it's got to have paint, canvas and stuff you know?

Now I think these are justifiable snobberies, that in these cases analogue is simply better, but maybe not. For some people photography would be another case (not me, I'm a point and click merchant). So, what's the thing your an analogue snob about?

[Update - the piece in the Times by Michele Kirsch was published here, although it got rather trimmed down in favour of an advert apparently. Not a problem one has with blogging I will snootily point out]

Comments

[Guy Pursey]

Fiction. I love reading articles, interviews and (case in point) blog postings but can't enjoy a story unless its on paper and bound up with (preferably) a nice paperback cover.

Amazon, etc are great but I don't think the digital age offers much in the way of storytelling itself - in fact, the digital age seems to be entirely at odds with it and I'm personally not ready to be "liberated" from the "constraints" of narrative.

[Martin]

Guy, of course! Yes, I'm a book snob. I'm happy to read academic stuff online, but fiction has to be paper.
Martin

[Brian]

Books, sure. But vinyl LPs too. Superior artwork. I love browsing used record stores (ere's so much stuff available that's never been digitized). And I get a tactile pleasure from placing a disc on the turntable and dropping the needle.

[Martin]

Hi Brian, this is one I've surrendered. I used to love my vinyl, but as a student I didn't have the storage and shifted over to CDs, and I never felt that tactile attachment to a CD, so from there the move to MP3s was easy.I still remember the joy of holding Sandinista in my hands though - 3 whole albums!
Martin

[Joy-Mari]

I love this question. I think I'm only an analogue snob about books. I <3 my books.

And the strangest thing is that I now buy CDs, whereas I've only ever had stolen MP3s ;)