Wednesday, November 14, 2007

CD player design concept blends ancient and old tech

Here's a charming blend of old and ancient tech, a CD player that looks like it took a few cues from an ancient Victrola from a century ago. Designer Yong Jieyu took the innards of a disassembled CD player and rearranged them, turning the laser upside down and situating it inside an appendage that's shaped vaguely like an old-fashioned tonearm.

It's a completely self-contained unit, with up-firing speakers situated directly underneath the opening that leads to this morning-glory-shaped speaker trumpet. So the music goes round and round, playing back from the spinning CD, and then it comes out here: What did they call that flower-shaped speaker in the olden days, anyway? A horn?

In light of the phenomenal success of online music download services such as iTunes and the Amazon Music Store, the irony of this anachronistic juxtaposition is not lost on us. It's an apt statement on the impending obsolescence of CDs. Long live the music download



http://blog.scifi.com/tech/archives/2007/05/29/cd_player_desig.html