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vinyl cds

Otis_FunkmeyerOtis_Funkmeyer 1,321 Posts
edited November 2007 in Strut Central
http://blog.wired.com/music/2007/11/vinyl-cds-groov.htmlTesting Vinyl CDs: Groovy Up Top, Optical Down BelowBy Eliot Van Buskirk EmailNovember 06, 2007 | 4:54:05 PMCategories: Gear Cdvinyl The idea for last week's Listening Post column, which examined the strange demand for vinyl records in the digital age, was inspired to a small extent by Optimal Media Production's vinyl/CD hybrid, which is just like a normal CD except that on the top, it has vinyl grooves etched in. Place a VinylDisc on your turntable, drop the needle at the start of the track, and you'll hear up to 3.5 minutes of music at 33 RPM.Since CDs have a hole at their center that's too large to fit on a vinyl spindle, you'll need to use the little rubber adapter that comes with each disc to center the disc on your record player; otherwise, it'll go off-center and you'll hear the music speed up and slow down with each revolution.As for the overall sound quality, I just finished giving the vinyl side of a Sonic Kollectiv VinylDisc compilation a spin, and it sounded decent -- not as good as 180 gram, but certainly good enough to warrant consideration from bands and labels looking to offer something new to their customers: a CD that everyone can play, with a secret bonus track in the grooves on top for those who have record players.Other weird offerings from Optimal Media Production include etched vinyl, perfumed CDs, and a partially metallized disc that makes "specially chosen images float through the room, seemingly three-dimensional and extraordinarily vivid."

  Comments

  • BsidesBsides 4,244 Posts
    Or you could just buy the record and throw in a cdr copy. Seems alot easier.
  • johmbolayajohmbolaya 4,472 Posts
    This is a great idea. In fact, so great that it was used about 14 years ago:



    This was by a band from somewhere in Massachusetts called Lint, a CD I had reviewed sometime in 1992 or 1993 called Cold Scene[/b]. It was an okay album, but the cool thing was that the top surface was playable on a turntable. This is what you would get:

    http://www.sendspace.com/file/ea2qp3 (played at 33)
    http://www.sendspace.com/file/vbee59 (played at 45)

    The insert card said to play it at 33, but as you'll hear, when on 33 the music sounds great while the vocals sound too slow. When played on 45, music sounds too fast but vocals sound normal.

    Nonetheless, it's about a minute of audio on this @ 33, and probably could go another 30 seconds.
  • kwalitykwality 620 Posts
    That could be an interesting idea though - to be honest anything to place a bit of 'value' back to music would be good. Even if it's just novelty value to start with.

    How the hell do they get pressed though?
  • johmbolayajohmbolaya 4,472 Posts
    That could be an interesting idea though - to be honest anything to place a bit of 'value' back to music would be good. Even if it's just novelty value to start with.

    How the hell do they get pressed though?

    The one I have looks like nothing more than a flexi-disc glued nicely onto the CD surface. Then again, isn't there a place that sells those miniature record players that can place grooves on any plastic surface, including butter dish covers?

    I would hope it's a bit more complex than that, but maybe it isn't.
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