8" floppy disks
"I remember seeing these in WarGames. I was 10, and it had a big influence on me wanting to get into computers."
Punch cards
"Punch cards have been in service for over 100 years, were responsible for Y2K, caused a presidential election to go sideways. It's a piece of cardboard with holes in it that control machinery. Amazing."
5.25" floppy disks
3.5" floppy disks
"I love this image for the color and the pattern. What an improvement over 5.25" disks, you could just throw them in a bag. They're rigid, smaller, they came in colors, what's not to like?"
7" vinyl records
"I collected and traded hardcore and punk 7-inch records as a kid. I wanted to include 7-inch records because although vinyl is having a resurgence of sorts, 7-inch vinyl isn't."
Microcassettes
Video game ROM cartridges
"These are from a Magnavox Odyssey2 gaming system, but the technology was universal for all those early 8-bit gaming consoles - Atari 2600, Intellivision, ColecoVision, NES, etc. The Nintendo 64 was the last gaming console to use ROM carts."
Zip disks
Originally supposed to be the successors to floppy disks, they held 100MB each, which seemed like a lot at first. They were eclipsed by USB flash drives.
Betamax
Betamax may have lost the war against VHS...