As a tech nerd this oozes nostalgia, this is all the tech I grew up with as a kid and it looks so dated now. The computers really take me back, I remember them being THAT expensive and those slow speeds and memory. That Discman looks a lot like my first one which I got for Christmas in '95, I think mine was a slightly better model though. Those big cell phones that just made calls and weren't so "smart".  ;D My first modem was an external 28.8K I believe.

http://gregarious24.imgur.com/best_buy_flyer_september_1996

As a tech nerd this oozes nostalgia, this is all the tech I grew up with as a kid and it looks so dated now. The computers really take me back, I remember them being THAT expensive and those slow speeds and memory. That Discman looks a lot like my first one which I got for Christmas in '95, I think mine was a slightly better model though. Those big cell phones that just made calls and weren't so "smart".  ;D My first modem was an external 28.8K I believe.

http://gregarious24.imgur.com/best_buy_flyer_september_1996


My brother worked at Best Buy around that time, so it was interesting looking back at all of this.  I used to own the same Packard Bell computer that BestBuy is advertising.  Also, I played pretty much all the PC games there except "You do not know Jack."  Weird to see Cell Phones being advertise there though, as I figured Cell Phone usage didn't really take off until a 2 years later.

My brother worked at Best Buy around that time, so it was interesting looking back at all of this.  I used to own the same Packard Bell computer that BestBuy is advertising.  Also, I played pretty much all the PC games there except "You do not know Jack."  Weird to see Cell Phones being advertise there though, as I figured Cell Phone usage didn't really take off until a 2 years later.


My parents actually got our first family cell phone in '96 before that even I remember my mom's cousins family having a few, then in 1998 we got a family plan and I got my first cell phone. I'd say cell phones were certainly somewhat common in 1996, really they first broke into the mainstream in the late '80s even. Of course it wasn't like until sometime around 2003 where everybody seemed to have one.  A lot of people just had pagers back then too, look at how cheap the pager plans were like 7 bucks a month. One thing is I don't recall ever texting or even hearing about it in the '90s, I'm pretty sure it existed but didn't seem common at all until like mid '00s.

Nice..thanks for showing this!  The days of only 1.6 to 2 GB harddrives.....always had to go through and clean out what you liked the least so you could download more lol. i have a bunch of these flyers saved from around this time to 2004 or so and its always fun to go through them. Its hard to believe how much technology has progressed in just the last 15 years.

I'm starting to feel a LITTLE old, as I view as "truly nostalgic" as being Interne I also notice that the fonts are a bit more "square" in appearance compared to those in recent years and . I view this era now as the "primitive version of the present", given that most of the necessities of today (Internet, cellphones, etc.) are around, but aren't as innovative as stuff such as social media, HDTV, DVD/Blu-Ray, . It's sort of that time where it's partly bygone, but partly still with us. If you look at a typical retail flyer 1987 or so, THAT feels bygone! CDs were just beginning, no cellphones except for a very few select models, no Internet, no virus software, dot-matrix printers, floppy disks, no laptops, no DirectTV. That's why I'd say at the point around 15 years ago is sort of the "breaking point" between nostalgic and not-so nostalgic, with the era between 10 and 20 years ago that transition between "bygone" and "contemporary'. That's why the '90s in general are waxing nostalgic, while the '80s have peaked and are basically at the hands of the people who lived through them and caught the nostalgia wax in the '00s decade, such as myself.

I'm starting to feel a LITTLE old, as I view as "truly nostalgic" as being Interne I also notice that the fonts are a bit more "square" in appearance compared to those in recent years and . I view this era now as the "primitive version of the present", given that most of the necessities of today (Internet, cellphones, etc.) are around, but aren't as innovative as stuff such as social media, HDTV, DVD/Blu-Ray, . It's sort of that time where it's partly bygone, but partly still with us. If you look at a typical retail flyer 1987 or so, THAT feels bygone! CDs were just beginning, no cellphones except for a very few select models, no Internet, no virus software, dot-matrix printers, floppy disks, no laptops, no DirectTV. That's why I'd say at the point around 15 years ago is sort of the "breaking point" between nostalgic and not-so nostalgic, with the era between 10 and 20 years ago that transition between "bygone" and "contemporary'. That's why the '90s in general are waxing nostalgic, while the '80s have peaked and are basically at the hands of the people who lived through them and caught the nostalgia wax in the '00s decade, such as myself.


Of course, I doubt there's many people out there who are going to hear this and think to themselves, "Ah, the good old days..."

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GSRG0TqxLWc&feature=related

:D



What's interesting about the Best Buy flyer is how the prices of different items compare to today. Obviously they wanted (and we paid) a king's ransom back then for computers which are laughably obsolete today, so much so that they may as well have been manufactured in 1965. But for the most part, it seems as though the prices of most of the stuff from 1996 is nearly identical to that of today's items, the only difference being that today's items are far more advanced. For example, the prices of 1996 35 mm film cameras are comparable to the digital cameras of 2011. The CD's and computer games also cost about the same today as they did back then.

On the other hand, the televisions are where you really get more bang for your buck today. Today you can get 42" and 47" HDTVs for less than a 35" analog set cost back then.

Kind of makes you wonder what they'll have at Best Buy 5 years from now.  :o :o :o

Games for Windows 95.  and look at those urban CDs.  That is sooo 90s. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GSRG0TqxLWc&feature=related


"Anna, is that you?"

http://www.mtv.com/movies/photos/w/white_noise_041220/flip-a.jpg


:D

I remember I was at a family reunion and started seeing commercials on the tv....