别过早给晶体管收音机宣判死刑

我是一个超级科技迷，几乎适用所有的情况；但有的时候我还是会希望，在稳定的技术创新进程中，某些特定产品永远不会被淘汰。几周以前我就遇到一个左右为难的窘境，那天是美国职棒世界大赛的第四战，又刚好是万圣节；我不得不放弃其中一样东西。

11月1号那天晚上一直到后半，我跟那些煎熬了很久的旧金山巨人队球迷一样，都很担心在有生之年没办法看到巨人队赢得世界冠军；我也是两个小男孩的爸爸，他们虽然也是巨人队的球迷，但因为太资浅，所以比较关心能在万圣节的“不给糖就捣蛋”拿到多少糖果。

因为我太太得工作到很晚，让爸爸我只得担任两个小孩出门去要糖果的保镖；但世界大赛将在下午5:19开打，差不多就是万圣节要糖果活动的热门开始时段。巨人队在前三场比赛赢二输一，如果第四战再败北，将与德州游骑兵回到对等地位重新开始；但如果第四战再赢，将取得主导性的优势。

如果这只是一场赛季内的例行赛，我大可以通过我的黑莓机追踪比数；但那偏偏就不是例行赛，是世界大赛的第四战！我不能容忍自己错过任何一个比赛中的细节。

无可避免的，我得在比赛期间离开家；原本解决之道可以很简单：带着一台晶体管收音机出门、转到AM某频道，然后在戴上耳机聆听球赛实况的同时，又能看着两个小孩敲邻居们的大门要糖果。而我马上发现，有个唯一的问题是——我没有收音机！

点击进入第二页：iPhone终究不敌我的小收音机

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虽然从小到大，我应该至少拥有过10台那种装备；但我搜遍家中，找到一台iPod、数台CD随身听、还有一台SanDisk的MP3播放器Sansa(有的Sansa支持AM广播，但我的那台没有)，就是没有一台可以随身携带的小收音机。

于是我马上去败了一台13美元的简易“配备耳机的随身听式AM/FM收音机”，可怜我住在一个无线电波很弱的地方，再加上那台收音机真的很烂，收信状况非常不好；好不容易我调到一个全国性的频道收听赛况(我就是收不到巨人队官方广播电台KNBR，虽然他们信号很强，但却被地方性的某个AM频道盖台)，总之问题是解决了。

以上这个故事还有一个最精采的部分：我弟——也是一个煎熬了很久的巨人队球迷——自愿加入我跟孩子们的要糖果行列，而且尽管他也很想看比赛，他还是依约前来。我弟内行的地方在于，他花了5美元让他的iPhone可以收听比赛实况；于是我们各自携带“装备”，挤进车子直奔要糖果的目的地(我规划了一个能够有效率收集到最多糖果的路线区域)。

当我们开始在街上绕，我跟我弟都没错过比赛中的任何一节，但从iPhone听到的实况却比AM收音机延迟至少1分钟、或许有2分钟，我总是能抢先报告最新战况；于是他放弃了iPhone，那支配备Apple自家的先进A4处理器，集尖端软硬件于一身的精巧智能手机，终究不敌我的小收音机，它里面的电路结构可能跟1950年代的第一代晶体管收音机相去不远。

我的故事带来两个启示：其一，我们在拥抱最新科技的同时，应该不要太快将那些旧装置宣判死刑；其二，你应该手边随时留着一台小型AM收音机，因为你永远也不会预料到，你所支持的职棒球队会在世界大赛中遭遇到什么情况。

点击进入参考原文：Where have all the transistor radios gone? by Dylan McGrath

《电子工程专辑》网站版权所有，谢绝转载

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Where have all the transistor radios gone?

Dylan McGrath

I'm a huge fan of technology advancement, in nearly all cases. But there are times when I wish the steady march of innovation wouldn't leave certain products obsolete.

A few weeks ago, I faced a major quandary. It was Game 4 of the World Series. It was also Halloween. Something had to give.

Up until the later part of the evening of Nov. 1, I could aptly be described as a long-suffering San Francisco Giants fan, who like many others had been given legitimate cause to worry that the team would not win a world championship in my lifetime. I'm also the father of two young boys, who though short-suffering Giants fans themselves, made it abundantly clear that they were planning to accumulate as much candy as possible through trick-or-treating.

My wife had to work late. That left Daddy the only option for trick-or-treat escort. But the game began at 5:19—right at the start of prime trick-or-treating time. It was Madison Bumgarner versus some guy named Tommy Hunter, and there was a lot riding on this. The Giants led the series 2-1 after losing Game 3. If the Giants lost Game 4, it would have been anybody's series. If they won Game 4, they would take a commanding lead (some threw around the term "insurmountable lead," but I'd been hurt too many times by this team to think so boldly).

Were it a regular season game, I would have had no problem tracking the game through occasional scoring updates on my Blackberry. But it was not a regular season game. It was Game 4 of the World Series. And I was not about to allow a pitch be thrown without being in a position to analyze, evaluate and scrutinize every detail of it.

There was no getting around the fact that I needed to leave my house during the game. But the solution was simple enough, right? Just grab a transistor radio, tune it to the AM band, slip on some headphones and hear the game for me described in rich detail while I watched my kids roam the neighborhood looking for handouts.

Only problem was, as I soon realized, I didn't have such a radio. Though I must have owned at least 10 such devices in my life, a thorough search of my home turned up an iPod, several portable CD players, and even a Sandisk Sansa (some Sansas have an AM tuner; this one didn't), but not a single radio small enough to carry around without looking thuggish.

I hit my local CVS and paid $13 for a simple "Walkman-style" AM/FM radio with headphones. Because I live in a bad area for reception, and because the radio was a real piece of junk, the reception was very poor. But after some effort I managed to tune in the game on a national radio feed. (I couldn't get the Giants flagship radio station, KNBR, despite the fact that it has a very strong signal, because another AM station dominated most of the band). But either way, problem solved.

Now here's my favorite part of the story: My brother, another long-suffering (at the time) Giants fan, had volunteered to join me for the trick-or-treating, and though he was also torn by wanting to watch the game, he kept his word. Hipster that he is, my brother paid $5 for an app that enabled him to listen to the game on his iPhone. With our apparatuses in hand, we piled into the car and headed for the TTZ (trick-or-treating zone; to maximize efficiency I selected a target-rich environment around the corner).

Once we hit the streets, I was able to follow every pitch. My brother was, too, but the iPhone feed was way behind the over-the-air AM signal—at least one minute, probably two. A batter that was just strolling to the plate on his headphones had already grounded out to short on mine, and I was quick to report the updates. Finally, he gave up. His sophisticated smartphone, featuring Apple's A4 processor and other elegant hardware as well as cutting-edge software, simply couldn't compete with my little radio, which probably has circuitry very similar to the first transistor radios of the 1950s.

There are two morals to this story. One is that we should embrace new technology with open arms, but not rush older gadgets off to premature deaths. The second is that you should always keep a small AM radio on hand, because you just never know when your team's appearance in the Fall Classic might have to deal with a competing event (even you, Cubs fans).