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Unopened/original sealed items

mbbrutman said:
I managed to find a Koala Pad, new in the box for my PCjr. You're damned right, I broke the seal and used it!
Click to expand...

Good for you!
People used to wonder why I'd drive my classic/antique cars on a daily basis too. Same principle, a car is to drive. I would not get half the pleasure of ownership if it stayed in the garage all the time.

--T
 
My only problem with opening the stuff up, is that I want "bragging rights" to having a sealed copy. :D Besides, the game I have still shrink-wrapped isn't one I want to play on the 64...I have it for the Amiga. The calculator I just want to keep in pristene condition. I don't mind pulling it out of the box to show it. To me, it's a collectors item, one to be treasured. I have cheapie calculators for use when needed. :wink:
 
FWIW, there still are companies selling new C64 games, like Protovision, Cronosoft and probably a bunch more (maybe Commodore World themselves if they acquired the rights to a good game, but who knows what will happen after Yearonihmo?).
 
Re: Thought I'd just join in...

Re: Thought I'd just join in...

"Thomas Hillebrandt" wrote:

> Well, I have a PC-DOS or MS-DOS 5.0 in shrinkwrapped IBM
> box, like so many others...

I found DOSes to be quite commonly found in shrinkwrap I saw a couple (3 copies of PC-DOS) one time there, when I used to work at a place where people just donated stuff.

> ...I also have an OS/2 Warp, shrinkwrapped - I forget which
> version...

Would have to be either Version 3.x or 4.x of OS/2 Warp, version 2.x was simply known as OS/2.

Cheers,
CP/M User.
 
At the companies I worked at it was common for one set of dos disks to be installed while the others stayed in the shrinkwrapped box, same with Windows 3.1.
 
I guess if I had a lot of something shrink-wrapped, I'd keep a couple like that to sell down the road, but definately open one.
If it was just one, I'd pop it open as soon as I could, I want to have a backup of it before the media starts to fade.

Shrink-wrapped stuff seems to go for a bit more on eBay, but sometimes I wonder if it's really the original shrinkwrap ? Who's to know if it was shrink-wrapped 20 years ago, or yesterday ? Okay, I think the older stuff is crinklier, but would I swear to it ?
Reason I wonder is an aquaintance, few years back, bought "shrink-wrapped" DOS 2.1, and got it home, couldn't stand it, opened it up. Now, inside, the loose-leaf manual were already in the binder, which struck us both as suspicous, since I remember old DOS manuals had the loose-leaf shrink-wrapped, and you had to fill the binder yourself.

I wonder about the vintage chips that keep popping up, too. I mean, how hard would it be to get some factory in China, or Indonesia or somewhere, whip up a batch of fake 8008's ? Who'd know ? I can't see the people buying them on eBay actually testing them, can you ? This stuff happens with art all the time, so why not with chips ? Get a lot of 1000 made for, say, $100,000 or so, remember, we're not talking about an actual working chip, and sell them off, 1 a month, at ~200 a pop ? Not a bad deal.
Hhmn, I wonder what the equipment you need to make a 16-pin CERDIP is going for surplus these days, anyway ?

I can't stand having something shrink-wrapped that I don't open. I have to play with it. I guy I know was nice enough to send me a NIB Sony Magic Link, which is a early freak pen-based PDA kind of thing. Of course I opened it up and fired it up. I mean, how can you not ? It's funky, actually, kinda like Microsoft Bob meets a TRS80 model 100. I popped out the memory card( shipped with 1 Meg onboard/1 Meg PCMCIA ) and discovered the card will work in a HP95LX. Soon as I get a chance, I'll pull the entire unit apart to see what makes it cook.

I think there's a lot of collectors out there that hate people like me, for doing that to stuff. I can live with that.

Sure, like Kaptain Skitzo pointed out, I wouldn't open up a shrink-wrapped game for the C64 if I've already played it on the Amiga, either.

I bought a NIB NEC PC8201A from a guy on eBay, and it was truly mint, I don't think he even realized just how mint it had been, original receipt tucked in box, everything still packaged originally, and what's the first thing I did, after rubbing my hands and chuckling ? I pulled it out, fired it up, tried to get it to talk it my model 100 , ran the modem through a phone simulator to my Desktop.
I once picked up a boxed Pentium overdrive chip( the one for the 486/33 socket, what was it, socket 3, or something), and the first thing I did was to plop it into an old IBM to see what it would do.

In another post, I mentioned "Antiques Roadshow", and I had another amusing thought( well, to me at least )
You know how they're always going on about:
'Well, this is a fine 17th century footstool, but some one cut the legs, and then later on in it's life, a hole was cut into the top, and a midified tin milking bucket inserted into the hole, and nailed in place, so the actual value of the item is..."
That would be me, always messing around with the collectibles. Can't help it.

If I ever run into a virgin S100 kit, I'd do the same thing Terry did.
If I ran into the original, untouched DOS 1.1, I'd pop it open, back it up, and run it. Okay, maybe then I'd sell it, but I'd sure as heck make sure I played with it first.

patscc
 
"Unknown_K" wrote:

> At the companies I worked at it was common for one set of dos
> disks to be installed while the others stayed in the shrinkwrapped
> box, same with Windows 3.1.

geez, I gotta get hold of some shrinkwrap machine, maybe that's how many people come up with something in Shrinkwrap - there's just nothing more tempting then opening some shrinkwrap, just can't see how people keep this stuff for years without opening it :)

Cheers,
CP/M User.
 
I open all the games/apps I get that are shrinkwrapped. Software is to be used, not to sit on a shelf like a 2000 year old coin.
 
hehehe,

i have a sealed Treasure of Tarmin intellivision game, that i intend on NEVER opening.

it is my fav. video game, so i bought myself a brand new copy of it.

if the guy on ebay only knew, he could have just sold me the box and put whatever the hell he wanted inside, and just reshrink wrap it :)

chris
 
Like many of you, most shrink-Wrapped items I acquired were quickly opened. The only ones I have left are the common MSDOS 5 (Upgrade -
Where any of the issues not upgrades ?), a Mac OS7, which is (was ?)
free on the Apple site, and an IBM Basic manual. That included an Apple
II-C LCD monitor, long sold off. Oh yeah, also a couple of OS-2 versions
and some oddball Dos stuff.

I acquired an original DR Gem Suite package some years ago, soon to be listed on e_Pay (whimper,whimper). I found the first disk had succumbed to bit-rot and I quickly stopped testing. In any case the disks can be found on Gaby's mirror of Tim Olmsteads " Unofficial CP/M site"
and I didn't want to incur any more damage without lubricating with isopropl and doing a quick copy. I dismissed (after some soul-searching) this as unworthy and besides the manuals are in mint shape, the idea of carefully peeling off the DR labels and putting them on copies, since a couple of years back a set had sold for around $200 on E-Pay

That alerted me to the dangers of hoarding "pristine" copies of software.
There is nothing more jangling than hearing the "scree, scree" sound of bit-rotted disks. I have some old CP/M and Dos software which I have cowardly avoided trying because of bitrot fear. I should really stern myself
and make copies of the older software I don't have copies of. I have copies of others downloaded or collected over the years that I burned to a CD with tips from usenet from one HD, but have to do a systematic and
logical catalogueing and burning of cds from the multitude of others I
have on 5 1/4 floppies, including non-Dos ones which I will have to make disk images of. A major undertaking.
 
vic user said:
if the guy on ebay only knew, he could have just sold me the box and put whatever the hell he wanted inside, and just reshrink wrap it
Click to expand...
Yes, how common is it to re-shrinkwrap an item? If the box is in fairly good condition, can you tell whether its damage has occurred while inside the wrapping or before re-wrapping it? If you never open the package, you can also not tell if the contents inside seems used or not. It may be unethical to do something like that, but I'm sure people already are, in particular after finding how sought after some wrapped items are.
 
My kid used to collect baseball cards, and the same principal seems to apply. Unopened packs of cards demand a premium price, just on the chance that they might contain something valuable. (Of course, I could never resist the temptation to open them, either).

--T
 
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