A requiem for the Portable DVD Player
The portable DVD player was never truly a big hit. The size of portable DVD players was always going to be an issue because they still had to play DVD’s which if you haven’t noticed do not fit in your pocket. Most used batteries which would eventually die, so you would have to carry spares just in case.
The first portable DVD player released to the public was by Panasonic in 1998. The device allowed many to view movies on the go. Upon release they were not close to the low costs that we see today in Walmart, some retailing now around $40. They were costly but they provided people with the opportunity to not just watch and share movies on the go but also with some, plug in SD cards and USB drives to play various content such as photos and music, not just movies.
Soon enough though enormous advancements occurred, smartphones became more predominate and eventually, tablets took off as well. The development of these two devices which most of us have killed the portable DVD player. The insurgence of smaller chips, processors, flash memory, as well as high-resolution screens all, allowed companies to create devices where its customers could do everything that portable DVD players could and so much more.
Those devices alongside services such as Netflix, Hulu, iTunes and google play have allowed people to do even more. You can watch any movie or TV show that they offer and have it take zero space on our devices which were one of many limitations that the portable DVD player had.
The portable DVD player although still being sold today, lasted in my opinion around 5-8 years. When you think about it is astonishing how short the lifespan of devices. When you realize that Obama was the first to utilize social media and he was elected in 2008, it makes you feel old. Change happens quickly in the technology world and that is a good thing, innovation is great. It is also good to re-examine tech from the past and how it met the needs of the people of that time.
Every Friday I will try to do just that; I will pick a device or service that was once the hot thing to have/use and understand why it was such a success and why it is no longer used.
If you have any suggestions for next week's Tech flashback, comment below.