While there’s literally no debate about the convenience of listening to your favourite music through the streaming platforms such as Spotify or Apple Music, there’s a tactile itch that needs to be scratched when it comes to listening to music or reading a book. With this nostalgic thought in mind, the team at the Yamaha Design Lab have developed the TurnT device, which converts your smartphone into a vinyl record to be played.
It might be one of the only things that hipsters and boomers have in common, but despite the universal popularity of music streaming, the sale of cassette tapes, vinyl records and CDs has only increased over the last decade. Convenience, portability and variety are all critical, but clearly aren’t the whole picture when it comes to the way we want to listen to music.
As a result, the Yamaha Design Lab has announced its Stepping Out of the Slate concept series, which includes a number of digital devices that attempt to replicate an analogue musical experience through symbiotic smartphone apps. These devices include the TurnT, Winder, MusicLight, and RhythmBot, but without a doubt, the TurnT is the most similar to an actual analogue decide.
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In essence, the TurnT is a record player for smartphones, where the user simply places the stylus onto the screen of their phone with the app open and music will begin playing. It’s a very simple idea, but one that not only replicates the act of dropping the needle on an actual wax pressing, but would also look great in any living room.
“The step of carefully placing the stylus on to the record will bring back the nostalgia as well as the solemn respect to the music you are about to play,” explained Yamaha in a statement.
While the devices are just concepts at the moment, Yamaha sees the Stepping Out of the Slate series as something of a statement of intent, with prototypes set to be built next. It’s likely to be a little while before the Yamaha Design Lab TurnT is available for sale, but we’ll let you know as soon as it is.
