Getting it all on tape

Speaking of obsolescence (which seems to be today's theme), this week's Circuits section of the New York Times profiles Stephen P. Teplansky, the man at Sony Electronics in charge of marketing for another gadget whose days are surely numbered: the voice tape recorder:

Known formally as Sony Electronics' senior marketing manager for general audio, Mr. Teplansky has spent 33 years
selling, developing and championing products meant strictly for recording the human voice. "I don't do music," he
said proudly in his relatively lonely corner of the open house two weeks ago. Of the 101 journalists who attended the
event, exactly two spoke with Mr. Teplansky, he later recalled. "I understand the big picture," Mr. Teplansky said
last week over lunch near Sony's compound in Park Ridge, N.J., where he is based. "The music players, the television
sets, the computers – I know that's what excites the public. I am in a category of products that doesn't have that
sex appeal. But to people who actually use these technologies, it's a godsend."