Here is something cool from Japan for the many vinyl fans still out there: A portable turntable for your old records [JP]. The device, made by a Tokyo-based music and DJ equipment maker called Vestax, not only plays your records but also digitizes them.
Sized at 370×260x97mm, the so-called handy trax weighs 2kg. It’s equipped with a mono speaker (77mm/4W) so that you can listen to your vinyls without having to switch on a computer (if you don’t mind crappy sound quality). Music can be digitized through the USB port (both Windows PCs and Macs are supported). The device can be powered with batteries or an AC adapter.
Vestax is selling the Nippon-only turntable in their official online store [JP] (price: $140) and I don’t think the device will be exported anytime soon. So I suggest you ask Japan Trend Shop, Gizmine or Geek Stuff 4 U in case you need to get one.
There’s a few of these now, and none of them are big sellers really. Are there a ton of people who still use records?
What this company and others like them miss is that if you like vinyl then you are probably somewhat quality aware, meaning you would never buy this POS pile.
Look if you are just some burnt out hippie with a vast collection of vinyl that you play on your “record player” then you will never have the ambition to copy any of it to digital, hell you probably don’t even own a computer. If you are a die hard audio-”pile” then you already have a “turntable” that cost 10 time (or more) what this pile cost. You would also likely not have time to copy your vinyl to computer because you are too busy trying to keep the oxygen out of your cables.
You wouldn’t be able to scratch on this thing, would you?
Vestax is well known for making turntables, mixers, etc, esp in the hiphop/scratching/mixing/turntablism world.
There are plenty of people who are diggin in the crates looking for the right record here and there to sample, who are not old hippies and are also not die-hard audiophiles too.
This isn’t some randomly ill-conceived (although perhaps the design can be questioned) product made for nobody in particular.
why add the usb? the original was just fine for cratediggin
http://www.djdeals.com/vestaxHANDYTRAX.htm