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ie8 fix

lps

How I get my music

Over on the Audiophiliac blog, Steve Guttenberg is polling readers about how they get their music. Here are my answers to his questions.

Do you buy CDs, LPs, MP3s, iTunes, or 8 track cartridges? I purchase about 80% of my music on LP. For a few years in the early 1990s it was almost impossible to find new vinyl, but now it's reasonably common, especially for indie rock, electronic music, and hip hop. (Classical? Not so much. Jazz? Only re-releases.) In fact, vinyl availability sometimes convinces me to buy a record I otherwise might have skipped--Of Montreal'sGladiator Nightstick Collection … Read more

A turntable for all generations

Apparently, the musical nostalgia we've noticed recently just won't quit. The latest gear for LP die-hards comes in the form of Numark's "x2 Hybrid Turntable" as featured on Uncrate.

This music time machine spans several generations, mixing vinyl albums, CDs and MP3s (what, no cassettes?) to bring out the aspiring DJ in you. But for its $1,000 price tag, we'd expect them to throw in a few 8-track tapes too.

Save LPs on CDs for auld lang syne

Maybe the New Year is making people reminisce, but for some reason lately we've been seeing more products than usual that convert cassette tapes, LPs and other historical artifacts to digital form. One such example is Hammacher Schlemmer's "LP to CD Record Stereo," which does exactly what its rather prosaic name indicates: It records albums onto discs, allowing you to pause or change LPs along the way if some tunes are just too embarrassing to preserve.

In addition to standard 33 albums, Chip Chick says the machine can record at 45 and even 78 speeds. Now … Read more

The $150,000, quarter-ton turntable

With a name like the "Transrotor Artus," this contraption sounds like a piece of heavy machinery that might be found in an assembly plant. And by the looks of this photo, it almost could be.

But closer inspection of the top reveals the real purpose of this erstwhile bucket of bolts: a turntable. And not just any old record record player, but an "LP player/phonograph/grammophone" that goes for $150,000, according to Hiendfi, and weighs nearly a quarter-ton. Maybe it's priced by the pound.