Interest in Vintage Typewriters on the Rise

Posted on March 31, 2011

The New York Times has an interesting article that says typewriters are making a comeback. People are buying vintage typewriters. There are also events, called type-ins, where typewriter fans gather.

The article says the Cambridge Typewriter company is seeing interest from young typewriter enthusiasts, including high school and college students. The Times says the owners of Brady & Kowalski Writing Machines have sold over 70 refurbished typewriters since they launch their vintage typewriter business in April, 2010.

Ms. Kowalski told the New York Times that, "You type so much quicker than you can think on a computer. On a typewriter, you have to think."

This seems to be the advantage with a typewriter. It forces you to think and the distractions with a computer, such as the Internet, are not available on a typewriter. A big disadvantage is that you will likely need to convert into a word processing format later, but there is OCR software for scanners that can do this for you. Typewriters can also be messy and frustrating when keys start to stick.