Thursday, April 22, 2010

What's the Deal With USB Turntables?

What's the use in getting a USB turntable?  The whole premise has never made any sense to me.  Most people threw out their record players for CD and, later, iPod.  But they still have all their old records sitting in the attic.  So they go out and buy a new USB turntable...so they can digitize their albums and play them on the iPod?

How weird is that?  You've already got a turntable.  Why don't you just, I dunno...play the records?  Anytime I mention this idea to someone, I'm met with blank stares.  The very idea just doesn't cross their minds.  But Brawndo has electrolytes!

The deeper issue is that the greater public has bought into the idea of throwing out the "old" and buying the "new."  Planned Obsolescence is the gospel of today's consumer electronics industry.  And most just follow along, mindlessly, spending hard-earned money on some cheap, plastic USB turntable that is never used to actually spin records.  "You can only play digital music on iPods" is not chisled in stone.

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