Because we couldn’t use an actual rotary phone
Here I am tapping out this post on my laptop to that marvelous sound of a typewriter….. No, someone is not using my Royal. I am typing to a program that simulates the sound of a typewriter on your computer. Seems rather strange when you think about it. Are we all so nostalgic for something that we will make a sound to recreate it on our computer? It’s rather like the cell phones that have a regular phone’s ring, or that attachment you can connect to your cell that looks like a regular handset from a home phone.
Anyways, Walter and I were talking last week about how we he wondered if there was a program to make your laptop typing sound like a typewriter. There is. There are three major ones in fact though I think one is better than others.
I’m using Qwertick which is the simplest of the three. No setting, runs easy, and you can shut it down relatively easy.
Then there is ClicKey which took me a while to figure out how to change the settings. Downside, all keys sound the same, including the Enter key, which on Qwertick actually sounds like an electric typewriter’s carriage return.
The third one is Home Typist which we didn’t like at all. The sounds were a little to computer game sounding, in my opinion
My Royal
So, am I going to use this that often? Probably not. It does bring a bit of nostalgia back into typing, but since I can yank out my Royal anytime I want to actually hear a typewriter, then why not do that? Walter thinks it’s great because he’s not the world’s best typist so the extra sound lets him know he has hit a key. And I have to admit, it is rather fun to hear that sound, though I prefer a manual typewriter sound versus an electric machine sound.
I just find it rather humorous that we search for things to bring back the old into our modern lives, when if we would just unplug the laptop, or cell phone, we could pick up the typewriter or the rotary phone and have those old sounds or feels right at our finger tips.
Check out the apps. Let me know what you think. Would you use this? I think the typewriter sound might be fun when I’m working with Dark Room. Which I happen to love for the minimalist approach to writing. (I would like spell check occasionally, but you know, you can’t have everything when you are going minimalist.
Signing off
Kate
Kate's Bookshelf 
How fun! I’ll have to check out those programs.
They are rather fun. I say use them in the cubical so that when the boss comes by, it sounds like you are being productive. 😛 Or to just annoy your coworkers who play solitaire.
Bwahaha, oh the possibilities! Although in my case, I think it would just give my little girl that much more incentive to pound on the keyboard . . .
Oooh, pounding on the keyboard. Well, in some cases I guess it could be fun… for the doer, not the listener. haha
Love this!! I especially liked your point about mimicking the simplicity when in reality all we have to do is to go back to the reality of the actual typewriter or rotary phone. I’m sure there’s another blog post idea buried in those thoughts somewhere, but I can’t seem to quite grasp it. I love the way you write.
Oh, please do come up with something else! I welcome it. I like how you rephrase what I said because you sum it up perfectly. And thank you so much, Mrs. Austen. 🙂 I like the way you write too.