Tag Archives: music player

DIY music box design lets users compose their own nostalgic melodies in three simple steps

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The Make Your Own Music Box is a music box design from Kikkerland Design that lets users compose their own melodies for the music box to play.

There’s nothing quite so nostalgic as a music box. One look inside grandma’s old jewelry box that plays “Over The Rainbow,” or even at big coin-operated music boxes in train stations and bars can bring us back before our time. Music boxes have been around for centuries, but they’ve managed to hold onto their charm. Since 1922, Kikkerland Design has been producing toys and memorabilia to fascinate the masses and bring us back to simpler times. Today, they’ve released a music box that allows users to compose their own tune.

Designer: Kikkerland Design

Click Here to Buy Now!

Kikkerland Design’s Make Your Own Music Box Kit comes with everything you might need to compose your own tune and listen back to it. Complete with strips of lined music paper, each user has the opportunity to make their own music by hole punching the music paper with melodies and harmonies for the music box to capture and reproduce. Describing the process, Kikkerland design notes, “The easy to use Music Box hole puncher allows you to create your own melodies on lined paper strips and play them on the mechanism provided.”

To help get the ball rolling, Kikkerland Design provides the sheet music for “Happy Birthday,” allowing users to get a feel for what melodies look and sound like on the sheet music and music box. Along with that, the Make Your Own Music Box comes with a music box hole punch, sheet music strips, and a music box mechanism that works together to play newly composed music. Users simply hole punch a sheet music strip with a melody and insert the strip into the music box before winding it up and hearing it in real-time.

The post DIY music box design lets users compose their own nostalgic melodies in three simple steps first appeared on Yanko Design.

Sony Walkman music player docks your smartphone like a cassette player, reviving nostalgic memories

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This cool Sony Walkman is a modern audio player that doubles as a digital detox gadget for audiophiles who keep staring at their screen.

Who can forget the nostalgia of rewinding the same song over and over again on the good old Walkman cassette player? That’s one thing every millennial as a kid would relate to. Fast-forward to the present day, and we have the smartphone tending to all our music listening needs (unless you’re a hardcore audiophile) – virtually having all the music out there in the world just a finger swipe away. Such is the drastic shift in technology ever since the popularity of cassettes and cassette players in the late 1980s.

The analog side of gadgets has almost faded away in modern times and the digital age has overshadowed the charm of most classic stuff. But analog is not a fad – rather an ever-blossoming culture – and that’s a fact proven all these centuries when applied to any kind of domain. The Walkman SSS (Smart Sound System) by Ja Heon Lee proves it alright, mashing up the modern digital with the old classic to satiate the lust for music in a niche form factor. The Sony Walkman opens up like any analog cassette player and docks the smartphone with the screen facing outwards. The information screen of the compatible music player app displays the music information through the animation which resembles the look of a cassette tape.

On top of the music player, there is the detachable multi-controller which acts like an interface to control the music, take important calls or view lyrics on the fly. All this while your smartphone sits snug inside the Walkman. This is like a digital detox for all the screen time with a bit of added fun seeing the music being played out of the pseudo cassette player. It will surely transition you to good places in your subconscious memory, reviving old times when less was more!

Designer: Ja Heon Lee

The post Sony Walkman music player docks your smartphone like a cassette player, reviving nostalgic memories first appeared on Yanko Design.

Spotify launches its first hardware device, a touchscreen player for your car called the “Car Thing”

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While its name probably makes it sound like something an executive at Spotify thought of overnight, the Spotify ‘Car Thing’ has been in the works for years. It honestly makes sense, considering every one of Spotify’s competitors is in the hardware space too – Apple has the HomePod Mini and the AirPods complementing its Apple Music, and Amazon has the Echo series of smart speakers tying in with Prime Music. The Car Thing helps Spotify enter the hardware space too, and solidify its position in the one area where the market still remains untapped, and where honestly people require music/radio/podcasts the most… the car.

Picture this… you’ve got a long, 30-minute drive to work. A decade ago, you’d switch the radio on and listen to the news or some music. Now, you’re most likely to tune into your favorite podcast episode, or play music from a playlist on your streaming service. The software has evolved, although the hardware’s still playing catch-up. Not every car comes with a smart dashboard, and it can be a nuisance to constantly lift up your phone and unlock it to pick a song or a podcast episode… especially when you’re driving. That’s where the Car Thing comes in.

Issued as a limited release, Spotify’s Car Thing provides a bridge between your car’s speaker system and your favorite online streaming service. Available for free to a select group of applicants (you can sign up on Spotify’s Car Thing microsite), the Car Thing is a nifty little dashboard that brings Spotify to life in your automobile. It runs a version of the streaming company’s Car View, a simple interface that’s easy to use and navigate while driving, and while the device DOES have a touchscreen, it comes with physical dials and buttons that you can instinctively operate with your hand as you keep your eyes on the road.

The Spotify Car Thing is built to be compatible with vehicles regardless of make or model and displays a home screen with a touch-sensitive navigation dial slightly overlapping the screen to make the device look visually dramatic. The device comes with voice-controlled search too, and you can simply summon songs, artists, and playlists by using the command “Hey Spotify” before your query. Alternatively, you could rotate the dial to navigate the dashboard, increase or decrease volume, or press it to select songs or play/pause music. A button right below the dial lets you go back to the home screen, and 4 preset buttons on the top let you instantly play songs, stations, podcasts, or playlists of your choice.

Ultimately, the Car Thing works as a bridge between your phone and your car’s speaker system. It doesn’t sport a speaker of its own, instead, it connects to your car’s built-in speaker system either via Bluetooth or an aux cable. It still requires your smartphone too, given that it can’t connect to the internet independently. Sure, that sounds like a bit of a drag, but what Spotify is betting on is a much more intuitive and easy-to-use interface that lets you listen to your favorite talk shows and music without fiddling with your phone as you drive. The Car Thing ships with three mounting accessories for connecting it to a vent, the dashboard, or the CD player, and can be powered either by the USB port in your car, or a USB adapter that fits into the lighter socket. Sadly, the Car Thing isn’t quite available to the general public yet. You need to sign up on the Car Thing website and Spotify states that the device will only be available to “select” Spotify Premium members. To make up for that, the company is giving the Car Thing away at a 100% discount on its $79.99 price-tag. All you really need to pay is a nominal $6.99 shipping fee.

Designer: Spotify

The Car Thing sports a 4-inch touchscreen, with a durable construction and matte-textured rubber controls that are responsive and easy to use.

A rotating dial lets you quickly cycle through elements on your interface, and you can simply push the dial to select an item within your menu or press the home button below to go back to your home screen.

The upper edge of the Car Thing spots 5 buttons – 4 for dedicated presets, and a recessed button on the extreme right lets you either quick/mute a song, or access your settings. The device even comes with 4 microphones on the top, laid out in between each of the buttons, that run Spotify’s adaptive interference cancellation technology to help tune out the background noise and focus on your voice commands.

Each Spotify Car Thing ships in a kit that includes a USB cable to power the device, a 12V adapter for your car’s lighter socket, 3 different mounts to choose from, and a rubber cover for extending the primary dial’s lifespan.

This smart speaker introduces kids to tech without getting them addicted to screens

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As controversial as this statement is, hear me out, and let me know what you sincerely think. Things that can have a detrimental effect on humans often come with a set of guidelines. Certain TV shows and movies have warnings for adult content, alcoholic establishments enforce a strict age rule for patrons, but there’s nothing stopping harmful addictive technology from getting into the hands of a two-year old. It’s incredibly simple for a child below the age of 13 to make a Facebook account (even though kids below 13 aren’t allowed to be on Facebook), and your smartphone or smart-speaker doesn’t explicitly stop kids from exploring the internet and getting hooked to tech that was built to be addictive.

While it’s much more difficult to hold big-tech accountable and actually have them build these parental controls into their devices, two young parents are setting the record straight by designing tech that’s made for kids. Founded by Andy and Julie Liddell, Ellodee doesn’t alienate kids from tech, but rather gives them a healthy introduction to it. Designed to be a smart-speaker without an addictive interactive display, or privacy-infringing hardware like cameras and microphones, the Ellodee is a smart speaker that allows kids to listen to music, stories, playlists, and even podcasts using a medium that’s designed to be child-friendly and non-addictive.

The Ellodee comes with a design that makes its features and functions instantly apparent, with an aesthetic that seems well in line with the smart-home tech already on the market today. Designed by Fred Bould, founder of Bould Design – the design studio which gave us the GoPro and the Nest Thermostat), the Ellodee looks incredibly contemporary, and features 6 colorful buttons and a rotary knob to access the speaker’s library. An Ellodee app for the smartphone (used by the parents) lets them select the audio libraries a kid can listen to, and once you set the library, it instantly gets stored offline on the Ellodee speaker, so a child doesn’t need the internet to use the speaker. Kids can navigate through content using the colored wheel of buttons, and alternating between options using the rotary wheel. A small circular screen helps display album art, and Ellodee’s library of 60 million songs, podcasts, and audiobooks ensures kids have an entire world of parent-approved educational and entertaining content to browse through… that too in an audio format which has proven to be incredibly effective at helping children grow smarter, without the side-effects of screen addiction.

The Ellodee smart-speaker is designed to be entirely operated by kids, but moderated by parents. The fact that it doesn’t itself allow children to connect to the internet means parents can rest assured knowing that their kids are within a safe-space, and Ellodee’s ability to download selected libraries onto the device means kids can use the speaker anywhere without needing an internet connection or a hotspot. The Ellodee’s design, as contemporary as it is, considers children as its prime audience, with a rugged body that can take being accidentally dropped, and a handle that allows kids to carry it around wherever they go. Moreover, the Ellodee deliberately comes without any cameras or microphones too, allowing kids to interact with tech, while ensuring their data is never mined or privacy infringed!

Designers: Fred Bould & Ellodee

Click Here to Buy Now: $199 $297 (33% off). Hurry, only 6/67 left!

The Ellodee Sound Companion

Designed by Fred Bould, the award-winning designer of the Nest Thermostat, the Ellodee is a screen-free audio platform that gives kids of all ages a fun way to independently explore millions of songs, podcasts, and audiobooks.

Designed to be used by kids as young as one and enjoyed by kids into their tweens and beyond. The Ellodee hand-curates the best music and stories from their library of 60 million songs, podcasts, and audiobooks. The Sound Companion gives families a fun way for kids to independently listen and play their favorites again and again.

There are no screens, no cameras, no microphones, and no unpredictable algorithms, so you can trust that your kids are safe. Offline listening lets kids take their music and stories on the go, wherever they may roam. The Sound Companion works everywhere, every time.

Worried About Your Child’s Screen Time?

Parents everywhere are worried their kids are spending too much time on screens, and it’s hard to set limits. Experts are urging parents to help their kids unplug whenever possible. They recommend podcasts and audiobooks as healthier alternatives to screen time. But today audio lives on screens, which makes it hard for kids to listen when and where they want without supervision.

Ellodee Changes the Game

Ellodee empowers kids to enjoy music and stories independently in a way that parents can feel great about.

Ellodee is Expert Approved

Ellodee is working with experts to make healthy tech for kids. Dr. Libby Doggett, Ph.D., served as the former Deputy Assistant Secretary for Policy and Early Learning at the U.S. Department of Education, where she authored the influential “Guiding Principles for Use of Technology with Early Learners.”

The Ellodee Journey

Here’s How it Works

Kids listen to their favorite music and stories using the interface called the Wheel. The Wheel is made up of 6 colorful buttons that link to an album, playlist, podcast, or audiobook, or even a single song.

A simple display helps kids of all ages find their favorite music and stories.

Kids love the knob! Push it to power on, turn it control volume, hold it down to manage settings.

For even more choices, select a new Wheel. Each Sound Companion holds 4 Wheels, giving kids just the right amount to explore. Music and stories are stored locally on the Sound Companion. Once it’s set up, there’s no phone or Wi-Fi required to listen. Kids can listen anytime, anywhere.

Browse, Tap, Listen – Tap a button to view its content. The central display shows cover art and track information. To make a selection, simply press the button again. Now your kids can easily browse hours of audio and find exactly what they want to hear.

Enjoy 3 Ways to Listen:

– Browse the curated collections that are updated every month.
– Have Ellodee deliver music and stories.
– Choose your own music and stories.

The Ellodee membership unlocks their library of hand-curated Wheels and more than 60 million ad-free songs, podcasts, and audiobooks. That’s as big as any of the other major streaming services.

Upload Wheels in a Snap – Loading the Sound Companion is easy. Using the Ellodee app, load the Sound Companion with music and stories for your kids to enjoy. Change content with a single swipe. Once your selections are uploaded, they’re available for your kids to enjoy whenever they want–no phone or WiFi needed.

Click Here to Buy Now: $199 $297 (33% off). Hurry, only 6/67 left!

This Dieter Rams-inspired speaker lets you focus on the music and without any smartphone distractions!

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This Dieter Rams-Inspired Speaker Brings the Simplicity of the 1950s to Bluetooth

Music is sometimes the only company you need, whether you’re listening to your favorite artist with your ears perked up beside the speaker or letting jazz fill in the background while you work. With quarantine, however, it can sometimes feel difficult to just let listening to music be an activity in and of itself. The list of distractions and temptations is literally endless – the timeline never runs dry. Instagram’s feed is ever-changing and endlessly refreshable, as another text message rings and more unread emails pile up, and Twitter has the latest and most accessible updates out there. But this new Dieter Rams-inspired Bluetooth speaker design encourages you to click the lock button and stow the phone away if only for a song.

The design’s concept is visually approachable and inviting, with a single speaker on the product design’s right-hand side, a roomier pocket for your phone on the left, and self-explanatory player controls on top. While the visual and compartmental design makes the music device easily portable, it also motivates you to end the constant scrolling and just enjoy the music. Since the speaker works with Bluetooth, the space to stow away your phone is more of a light suggestion than a prerequisite for operation. However, if you do decide to use the suggested space for your phone, the product’s design becomes user-adjustable. Since the speaker’s screen, which encases your phone, is transparent, that means you can transform your screen into a compact cassette or any other background, invoking your favorite musical memory within any room.

It’s admittedly hard to put the phone down when you’re spending a lot of time in the same space every day – the timeline isn’t the only thing that could use some refreshing. If anything, quarantine has awakened many of us to the relief that design can provide by reigniting in us simpler, warmer energy from yesteryear. Inspired by Dieter Rams’ widely-celebrated TP-1 transistor radio and phonograph, this new speaker design offers exactly that. The elemental structure and visually friendly presentation echo the early years of sound recording, back when listening to music was more coveted and less instantly gratified.

Designers: Linda B

This minimal turntable gives retro lovers a chance to flaunt modern furniture!

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There is this thing about vinyl, only someone who owns a collection – big or small – would know. Yes, the glorious sound is one of them and you would agree to that, but this is only the tip of the iceberg. It is actually the overall experience with these fragile records that you just cannot have enough of.

If you know what we mean, you would be anything but lured by the fine lines and details of this luxurious gramophone. You’d be yearning for one to play your collection! Designed by Moiless, a studio that believes designing is like writing a novel – it’s about telling a story and expressing feelings. The atelier thrives on designing and manufacturing emotional items and their record player does just that for fanatics who cherish the conventional way to replay the sound of music. Featuring a seamless design it comes integrated into a wooden rack, which houses a speaker system right under the player, and has an opening to stack your vinyl collection below.

From how it appears, the deck here is pretty much plug-and-play. Moiless has it complete with a tone-arm and needle. All you would need to do is, fit in your favorite vinyl, balance the tone-arm, set the counterweight and let the built-in speaker engulf you in mesmerizing audio.

Designer: Moiless

World’s first mechanical music box to play any song using your smartphone!

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Music boxes bring the tunes of nostalgia back and how! Back in the day they were considered a thoughtful gift and played one song over and over. The intricate details of the music box made it a collectible for years, it came in so many playful themes like horses on a carousel or a piano and I always loved watching the strings pop up and down when it played songs. While music boxes have gathered dust and music streaming apps have taken over, we don’t have to choose between the past and the present – Muro Box, the first app-controlled music box, brings the best of both back to you!

Not only does Muro Box play any song you like, but you can also make your own songs. Think of it as a cross between a speaker and a music box that can be synced to your playlists to give you a unique experience that will bring back memories (and make new ones!). It is the world’s first mechanical music box that can be controlled via your smartphone. All you have to do is upload your playlists to the Muro Box app and the music box will turn it up. Compose your own tunes or get guided lessons by musicians on the app. Apart from helping you compose music and store your playlists in an unlimited free cloud service, Muro Box also serves as an alarm clock and who wouldn’t like to be woken up by the soothing string chimes instead of your blaring smartphone?

It can play as fast as 4 beats per second for the same note, which is consecutive eight notes at BPM 120. The basic unit of notes in Muro Box is an eighth note (quaver). Muro Box allows 7 notes to be plucked at the same time as the maximum. According to the Music Instrument Digital Interface (MIDI), the scale of Muro Box is between C3 to A5 (C4-A6 in American standard), so it includes about 2.5 octaves and currently features a 20-note version using a diatonic scale which will be upgraded to a 40-note version with more semitones for professional musicians.

“We invented the world’s first app-controlled cylinder for Muro Box to make your dream come true: one music box that plays all of your favorite songs. Our patented design breaks the limitation of a traditional music box but still preserves the resonance and sound generated from a mechanical movement,” says the design team. You can also access 30,000+ music box melodies shared by the 22500+ music box fans around the world, on your Muro Box! The compact form and the warm wooden aesthetic is a timeless look for this nostalgia-inducing music player and I can continue staring at those dancing strings all day. I do wonder how Cardi B’s songs will sound on this.

Designer: Chen-Hsiang Feng & Shiao-Chen Tsai of Muro Box

Click Here to Buy Now: $330 $535 (38% off). Hurry, only 90/500 left! Raised over $251,137!

Continous music

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muro box

This luxurious turntable was made for music lovers of all generations!

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The all-American luxury brand, Shinola, has created its first audio product and it is a beautiful turntable! Right now as we all practice social distancing, it reminds us of the things we did a decade ago when we had free time – reading, dancing to music (or jazzercise?), experimenting in the kitchen and even starting blogs just to express. Having a vinyl turntable reminds me of simpler times and classic products that one must have at some point in their life. Turntables appeal to staunch audiophiles and also to music enthusiasts of all generations. Just as having a Nintendo Gameboy is to a video game lover, vinyl players are to music lovers – it is almost like a rite of passage for your interests and we can all agree having a turntable makes us look like we have our life together with a background score.

Designers: Brett Lovelady, Shinola, Astro Studios, and VPI.

For this Runwell Turntable, Shinola teamed up with Astro and VPI to design a luxurious turntable fit for the revival of the vinyl era. An official press release describes Shinola’s turntable as a “two-speed, belt-driven turntable with an integrated phono preamplifier and will be equipped with an Ortofon 2M blue phono cartridge.” The belt-driven pulley has speeds of 33 1/3 rpm and 45rpm. The turntable also features heavyweight platter and aluminum tonearm that are custom variations of VPI staples that are universally loved.

The Runwell Turntable is crafted to elevate your interiors while upgrading your music collection from just a folder of audio apps on your phone. The turntable is priced at USD 2,500 and will be available at select brick and mortar locations as well as online. Personally, I love the experience of going to an actual store if I can and experience the product myself as we do in Apple stores.

Runwell turntable’s sleek build has all the classics that make for an eternal statement home accessory – aluminum, white oak, and natural leather. Each element and material used is known for its sonic capabilities which are a priority over aesthetics. It looks simple yet polished and fits in almost any decor style. The oak and leather have a warm essence, which adds to the emotion that classic record albums bring much unlike the visuals of steely, robotic products of today.

What makes it a perfect blend of classic and modern is that it can be plugged in and played, this let’s many more enjoy having a turntable without doing a deep-dive into its complexities and hoarding records. Sometimes all you want is a beautiful turntable and play your favorite album without the worry of technicalities and maintenance. The Runwell turntable is made for everyone who enjoys music without forcing them to adapt to old methods. Even the VTF (vertical tracking force) is pre-set so just plug and play!

It arrives in a protective heavyweight box with simplified instructions, so all you need to do is remove the stylus guard, attach the flat drive belt, plug your RCA cables into a line input on your amplifier, plug in the power, and play. You can choose between a rose gold model or the silver and black model, both will be a great addition to your space. Be right back, making a Pinterest board of vinyl turntables right now.

Mighty’s iPod Shuffle for Spotify now works with Amazon Music

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When Mighty arrived in 2017, the device offered the convenience of offline playback for Spotify. In other words, you could take your favorite tunes anywhere -- and you didn't need your phone to do it. Basically, it's an iPod Shuffle for any albums, s...