The ex factor | 10 January 2019

In Competition No. 3080 you were invited to supply an elegy on a piece of obsolete technology. Thanks to Paul A. Freeman for suggesting this challenge — there’s nothing like a blast of nostalgia to usher in the new year. Sinclair C5s, faxes, floppy discs, typewriters; all were eloquently hymned. I admired Hamish Wilson’s elegy on a radiogram and John O’Byrne’s Whitman-esque homage to the Walkman:
 

O Walkman! O Walkman! our cassette days are done,
My ears have enjoyed every tune, the tapes I played are worn,
The phone has come, the apps are here, the playlists all inspiring,
But Apple killed this mobile thing for designs sleek and aspiring.

 
The winners below earn £25 each.

No mourning when the Olivetti
Clacked its final doubtful e,
Its drawbacks were, however petty,
As irksome as such irks can be.