In 2015, vinyl is outdated tech without a doubt, but its sales just keep on climbing. That enduring popularity is often contributed to nostalgia and trends, but an American inventor named Jesse England has decided to challenge that perception and find out whether vinyl has value beyond hipster street cred.
To test the theory, England has invented what he calls the Universal Record, “a device which allows any audio to be played through a contemporary turntable.” It works by linking a Bluetooth audio receiver to an acoustic tranducer, which then vibrates the vinyl disc that the needle sits upon. So essentially you can play a 240p Youtube video with the character and “kinetic spectacle” of vinyl.
The Universal Record is just a concept at this stage, so it remains to be seen whether it will become a commercial product; but as it stands, the tech is an interesting piece of art that raises questions about the way we consume music. Check it out in closer detail below.
