Pocket phonograph: the proto-walkman

Here's a sweet video of an early walkman ancestor, the Mikiphone pocket phonograph, a superb gadget that unpacks and assembles in seconds, quickly filling the room with the dulcet tones of your be-bop combo.

Mikiphone Pocket Phonograph (Thanks, Bill!)

[#1 posted by Darren Garrison, April 8, 2009 11:08 PM]

Darn, just missed it!

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=190283177336

And only $1,800 out of my budget! (Okay, $1,850).

[#2 posted by Fritters, April 8, 2009 11:58 PM]

Gracious, what does a needle with that much obvious weight behind it DO to your vinyl? 0_o

[#3 posted by devophill, April 9, 2009 1:43 AM]

@2- It can mess it up pretty bad, but it was designed for shellac (or whatever non-vinyl substance 78s were made of).

Also, captcha? Seriously? Was comment spam a big problem, or are we just helping out old, elderly OCR bots?

[#4 posted by kyoob, April 9, 2009 1:47 AM]

pssst, typo in the title - phono... not photo...

/Chris

[#5 posted by takeshi, April 9, 2009 2:07 AM]

I keep a pocket photograph of my wife with a voodoo doll and some needles.

[#6 posted by Spikeles, April 9, 2009 2:58 AM]

Omg.. just had a Fallout 3 flashback when the song came on, started looking around for Super Mutants and expecting Three Dog to come on and tell me to keep fighting the good fight!

Oh, and the phonograph is pretty cool too.

[#7 posted by Anonymous, April 9, 2009 7:11 AM]

Well that's cool and everything but it takes a minute and a half to set it up.

[#8 posted by dragonfrog, April 9, 2009 7:51 AM]

That is amazing - I must go out and get a hard-sided satchel with 13"x13" interior space so I can carry LPs with me. Then I can have recorded music anywhere I go, within minutes. The future is now!

Incidentally, does anyone know what kind of stylus that thing is using? All kinds of stuff used to be used - steel or copper (wore out after a couple of plays), cactus thorns (wore out even quicker, but didn't damage the discs so much), eventually diamond.

I suspect that any damage to the disc would come mainly not from the stylus material, but the fact that the tone arm has to press down hard enough to power the sounding box purely through mechanical vibration.

[#9 posted by The Unusual Suspect, April 9, 2009 10:19 AM]

Feh!

http://rocknrollgraffiti.blogspot.com/2007/07/hip-pocket-discs-failed-to-ignite.html

[#10 posted by The Unusual Suspect, April 9, 2009 10:21 AM]

Also:

http://wfmu.org/MACrec/MT.html

[#11 posted by The Unusual Suspect, April 9, 2009 10:25 AM]

And if you're a purist, and want to play full-sized records:

http://www.newgadgets.eu/2008/06/27/sound-burger-portable-record-player/

http://www.gadgettastic.com/2008/04/01/vw-camper-van-portable-record-player/

Okay, I'll stop now.

[#12 posted by Anonymous, April 9, 2009 11:13 AM]

:( i cant log in with my name....


anyone know what is powering the spinning? did he wind it before the start of the video?

[#13 posted by ill lich, April 9, 2009 11:48 AM]

Cool for curiosity value, but not efficient: too many parts to lose, too much assembling required prior to use.

Vestax and Numark have been making battery powered portable phonographs for years now, and they play 78s too.

[#14 posted by hastepost, April 9, 2009 3:20 PM]

The Thorens Excelda (1930's) is a much more robust portable. Looks very much like an early Polaroid when folded up. Hand crank spring drive, full sound, about 200 bucks.

http://www.bl.uk/onlinegallery/themes/recordplayers/thorens_excelda.html