The Best

It's become a sad-but-truism that most of today's technology becomes outdated within a few years--if not months--of purchase. But some people are not quite ready to throw out their cherished old tools and toys with the trash. "We're digital online but analog at heart," proclaims 8-TRACK HEAVEN, a site devoted to that clunky cartridge that lost out to the more useful audio cassette. Log on to enter the arcane world of "cart" collecting, where custom-made copies of Sonic Youth's Dirty share archival racks with New Year's Eve with Guy Lombardo and Train Your Bird to Talk. Sample the jarring static of an 8-track program change or download a bonus minute of Lou Reed's "Berlin" that appeared only on the cartridge release. Hooked on retro sonics? This site will even help you find vintage machines to play your little treasures.

www.8trackheaven.com (4 stars)

David Morton's SOUND RECORDING HISTORY SITE is dedicated to "dead, dying, or terminally ill technologies." Though a bit academic at times, this fascinating page offers a detailed history of such short-lived devices as wire recorders (on which a significant chunk of Charlie Parker's oeuvre was recorded) and explicates the inner workings of everything from office Dictaphones to old answering machines. There's also an amazing section on "audio adapters," which fused together such technologies as a World War II-era gadget that allowed you to connect your home radio to a car battery, creating a primitive pre-transistor portable radio.