1968

The "Pause Selector" is the sort of thing we can laugh about today, because our methods of pausing are so much easier. Ha ha you suckers of 68. And I'm sure someone would use this ad as an example of how Madison Avenue and Large Cruel Corporations came up with gimmicks to sell you stuff you didn't need.

Except that this did make things easier, if only in a small way, and it was probably invented by someone who was tired of getting interrupted while listening to music. There's nothing insidious about anything here.

Note the Brentwood Rocker. Everyone had to have one, for a while. I had to have one in 1983. I don't know when it became okay to say thanks but no when someone offered you one for free.