My friend/enemy for the last 21+ years.
Dear Sony Corporation:
Yaaaawwwwwnnnn.
I’m not one to write “love letters” to corporations but I have to say that you got it right with one of your products. I’m writing thank you for 20 years of “getting it right” for me on a daily basis.
I’m guessing alarm clocks are not usually the types of products that get you strong positive reviews but I just want to say that I love my Dream Machine. The attachment I have to this clock/radio is not unlike what I’ve had for certain cars I’ve owned or houses I’ve lived in. For example, someday we’ll move out of my family’s house in Seattle and we’ll think about the home we made, the kids we’ve raised, the money we put into it and the neighborhood and city that surrounds it.
On a much smaller scale but with the same kind of attachment I’ll be sad when this collection of plastic parts and wires are no longer working. However, over the past 21 years I’ve not yet experienced that sadness.
I got the Dream Machine in 1989 for my freshman year at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. I don’t remember if it was a gift or if I purchased it for myself. I did have a need for it now that I was no longer living at home and the parental units no longer served that function for me (usually by pulling me by my leg off the bed).
As a freshman, I lived in the 10-story Witte Hall. Each floor had about 30 rooms, 2 people to a room. This meant life in a 15 foot by 20 foot box with another person, who was a total stranger to me. That person, a friend to this day, brought in a bunk bed set-up and I slept on the top bunk. I set the Dream Machine on a shelf that was just high enough to be perfect for holding a clock, a book and the ever-present ear plugs. However, there existed a gap large for my items to fall through should they be bumped hard enough. See where this is going?
One night, I rolled over in my sleep, knocked the clock off and it hit my roomie in the head while he slept. He woke up, but being the nice guy he is, he laughed it off. As a further testament to his niceness, he also laughed off a dropping of a Stephen King paperback and a basketball later that year.
While for the next 20+ years the Dream Machine has been personally reviled for a minimum of 10-30 seconds every morning it has gone off, it has performed for me valiantly and faithfully. It woke up me for classes for 5 great years of undergraduate education, never failed me in getting me up for work for the dozen or more jobs I’ve had since college (I was never fired from one for being late or for any other reason for that matter!), woke me up for airport trips at god-awful hours to make many trips domestically and internationally, got me through my graduate school classes at the “other UW” and made sure I didn’t nap too long. As mentioned before, each alarm blast or radio volume explosion has been met with a less than delicate response from me to extinguish it.
Through all the rough handling, it’s never let me down. In the many cases I’ve overslept it’s been because of human error by forgetting how to program it. I can’t count the number of times I’ve set it for 6pm instead of 6 am! I have to also give thanks for the fail safe trick it displays in the event of power loss. When power to the Dream Machine is cut, it gives one last belch of sound that always wakes me up and thus makes me aware of the outage. In other words, it’s never given me an excuse for being late, no matter the conditions.
For something that has been on 24 hours, 7 days a week for over 20 years it’s been a one of a kind appliance for me. BUT, don’t just take MY word for it. What makes this even better is my wife has the SAME model Dream Machine that is actually a year older and it’s still working great, too. So, make that two satisfied Dream Machine owners!
Kursten and Ken's Dream Machines
The Dream Machines are getting a little less used these days since my wife and I have the challenges and often times joys of being awoken by our 2 year old daughter and 6 month old son. While I can’t say that being woken up from nights that rarely seem long enough is ever enjoyable I would like to thank you for making such a great product that has not only lasted a long time given the miles its travelled and the abuse it’s received.
It’s still ticking away or whatever it does to keep alive. I haven’t dropped it many years, by the way. I also wouldn’t dream of selling it.
Sincerely,
Ken
Ah, yes, I have to say that alarm clock has been like a second cousin twice dropped. Like your old turntable with the Rush/Dokken stickers on top, it’s definitely an appliance attach to your life essence.
How about the Sunbeam Mixmaster that Mom and Dad got as a wedding gift? This is the same hand mixer that made us our pancakes/waffles growing up, helped feed my many roommates through college and now 45 years later, still makes Bisquick delights for my fam. I will sob uncontrollably when it finally goes batter up. Will you write an ode to that family heirloom for me when its time comes?