About this deal
The original didn’t have a music box in the base; there was a spring motor to turn the record, but the actual music-box part was in the head (running along the record, which had detents in the plastic to pull the tines for the notes)—this is why you could get different songs by changing the disc. If someone is going to develop creativity and tech skills using a smartphone it'll be despite their device not because of it.
Originally introduced in 1971, this endearing classic comes with 5 “playable” records for a total of 10 songs. One of the deadliest fires in US history was the MGM Grand fire in Las Vegas and iirc all of the fatalities were due to the fumes from the burning pvc carpet and none were heat related. BNPL is an interest-bearing option that allows you to delay payments on your purchases for up to 12 months depending on how much you spend. I aim to fix that by publishing each repair I carry out in the hope that others will be inspired to repair their things and keep them for longer.I, too, was disgusted that it took batteries but you still had to wind the knob, but I was even more offended by the awful staticky sound from the tiny speaker. It’s a great little toy, and completely mechanical: you wind a knob on the front to compress a spring that powers the turntable, and the music is encoded in bumps on the record which trigger a music box in the “needle” area of the tone arm. I too recently rediscovered my FP record player; my 15 month old is enjoying it some 35 years after I did. What a thing it was to behold, an authenticity that the child in us could always appreciate and be impressed and moved by. Tangential to this thread, I listened to Carmacks keynote[0] for the Facebook Connect event, and it’s very refreshing to hear him push back, in ways that just make sense , instead of towing some corporate line that’s part fantasy and snake oil.
They might start to find them dumb if they find out that the strenuous repetitive movement is in fact unnecessary. The music box was only missing the comb (the part that makes the sounds when the tines are plucked). Presumably using a music box like mechanism, not a vinyl record style mechanism, which greatly loosens the quality constraints on the records (based on listening to a recording of the original). Which is a much better thing for kids than something that can only ever play 10 songs, and which they cannot alter in any meaningful sense.The modern "classic" one requires you to crank it up, because it won't start playing until you've cranked it up. They've hyper-optimised their brand's goal/mission to the point where the product is unapproachable and unaffordable for most consumers. The new records don't have the nubs to activate the notes, they have smooth rings around the whole disc. And Benn says in the video that he could stand to make a lot of money if he sold out and had vinyls of his work manufactured.