It’s the time of year for saving money!
Audiophiles who believe that the industry will be only be saved by the
revival of the long playing phonograph record will be delighted to learn that
there’s a new 3-D printing process that claims to be capable of printing photograph
records.
Yes, that was PRINT LPs, just as you would print a letter. On
Instructables web page you can even see what workflow the printer’s creator
used for his conversion from digital file to LP record.
Don’t expect that you can now transform that DSD music file
into an audiophile-quality LP that’s indistinguishable from the original. Currently, according to the author, “the
audio output from these records has a sampling rate of 11kHz (a quarter of
typical mp3 audio) and 5-6bit resolution (mp3 audio is 16 bit), it is still
easily recognizable.” That may be better than Edison’s original wax cylinder,
but it ain’t gonna make anyone’s superdisc list. It’s still a long way from
reconizability to audiophile quality.
But, if this process could be developed further, it is
theoretically possible that audiophiles could begin to make their own LPs
without the need of a record-cutting lathe or in-house mastering engineer. And
that would be fun…but in the meantime, you could always make some records for
your Fisher-Price toy record player using a CNC mill…
Love it, my audiophile journey began with one of those little ‘record players’ (pre Fisher-Price), and colored records of “Davy Crockett” and “Alvin and the Chipmunks”. At about 7 years old I decided to cut through the the power cord with a pair of scissors, sparks flew and I was hooked! Now I can print some new copies!
My two-year-old daughter loves her 35-year-old Fisher-Price disc spinner. She prefers changing records to actually listening to them, though. A future gear-head?
My 4 year old alo has a 35-year-old Fisher-Price disc spinner, She loves it…
Going to CES on Monday, anyone know about new products that I should keep an eye out for?
It all depends on what you’re looking for…
But seriously, CES is HUGE. I do the Venetian towers and ballrooms in 2 1/2 days. The Show is another day. My last half-day is either the convention hall or the Mirage.