A production sound mixer named Pete Verrando has created the world’s first CD turntable. A device that will, presumably, let you play a CD as though it were a vinyl record.
Let that sink in for a moment. You can take a compact disc, a medium that allows you to press a single button and listen to an entire album in one go without any further interaction, and reduce it to functioning like the very thing it was intended to supplant.
Who wants this? Who needs this? Does it even work? Okay, sure, this may have sounded cool in the days when the transition was still fresh, and people were still undecided about how these things would operate, but now?
I’d like to be bullish on this just ’cause I like technology, but … why? What do you gain by listening to a CD this way? At least with straight-up vinyl, you can lift the tone arm and drop it on the next track if you want, but you can’t see that on a CD! What about scratching? Will that even work on a CD like this? Would it look cool to spin two tiny discs?
Maybe I’m just not the right audience for this, because I see in the article’s comments how techie types are all over this, debating specs, functional parameters, etc. Maybe the true value of this is in its mere being. Even so, I can’t wait for the first time someone tries to DJ with this thing and gets a laser right in the eye.
Comments
madroxxx
April 6th, 2009 - 10:06:19 AM
can you scratch on that? looks kind of cool, but yeah functionally, nothing there. oh and BTW, it's 2009. your music should either be digital or if you 'like to hold the product in yr hands' vinyl. CDs are goin' the way of the 8-track. no longevity.
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Xerxy
April 6th, 2009 - 3:53:12 PM
Nope, doesn't excite me one bit. Besides, flash drives have pretty much obsoleted CDs by now.
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spiff henderson
April 7th, 2009 - 9:59:26 AM
last time I checked, you could still buy cds in stores. Oh, yes, and those 500 or so that I still have in my closet. And where do you keep the glossy multipage insert booklet on that flash drive? You are right in that compressed mp3's sound so much better than cds. Even if this things purely for asthetics, it looks cool
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Xerxy
April 7th, 2009 - 10:30:21 AM
You're right. Maybe it's just me, but it's been a while since I, or most people I know, last handled a CD. The size and convenience of flash drives makes the absence of the insert bearable. And yes, the turntable does look cool.
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Franko
April 9th, 2009 - 3:16:38 AM
Being 62 years old I guess I'm a bit nostalgic and like the novelty of this turntable. Just because cd's, mp3's, flash drives and Ipod's are around doesn't mean I'm going to throw out my record collection of 45's and albums of the past. Also Verbatim puts out a vinyl cd where the top of it looks like an old 45. The cd quality is great and the vinyl top is nostalgic. Technology is great but can only be appreciated if you know what it was like before it came along. I appreciate the new because I was around for the old.
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