R.I.P. VCR’S

Last week, it was announced that by the end of the month, Funai Electric, the world's last maker of VCR's is pulling the plug on production.

I bought my first VCR in 1985 with the sole purpose of recording 'Late Night with David Letterman'. I was, and will always be, a huge David Letterman fan.

I recorded just about all of those Letterman shows and later, when he moved to CBS, I recorded most of those as well until about 2001.

The video cassette recorder was a must have. Did you know anyone who didn't own one? It was the perfect invention. You no longer had to be a slave to the TV in order to watch your favorite show.

I remember a time when if you missed a show, you had to wait for the rerun to catch it. If you missed a daily of nightly show, forget it. It was gone. Then the VCR came along.

Honestly, it's what the i-pad is today. Once you got one, you couldn't imagine ever living without one. I have close to 100 VCR tapes with many of those Letterman shows and some other favorites in my basement, as well as 2 VCR's that still worked the last time I checked.

The last time I checked was back in 2001. DVR's came along and no thus no reason to hook up the VCR to record, just to watch. And I don't even do that anymore.

But I'll keep my tapes, because they are like photo albums to me. And I'll keep the machines so if I get the urge to see what Dave was doing in 1985, I can.