14 DAY TRIAL // These days you can never be too sure that the things you might be looking at are really what you think they were. "The owls are not what they seem" was a line in a weird movie... and they weren't!
More and more, as we are rapidly approaching a new technological edge (and we are eager to see what's behind it); people's minds are becoming more and more interested in design; and design they do, as each day brings new shapes and new materials, most of them highly unconventional, and embed the tech we use daily in the most intriguing contraptions.
And even though there might be some people to claim that the CD has lived its life fully and hasn't gotten anything more to deliver, to our surprise and pleasure, I am simply sure things are not like this and you'll see why... never say never when it comes to design!
One good example was Bang & Olufsen with their BeoCenter AV5 (1997-2001) whose CD player was in open air at 2 ends (should we admit as possible a circle with ends). It looked weird and at the same time alluring, even mesmerizing. You must admit that seeing a disc spin at high RPM counters is more than the usual CD player...
Now it's time to present another piece of gear dedicated to CDs... the wooden CD player!
Can you imagine music out of a table saw? I mean music, like in your fav tracks, not music as in "I am recording some samples for my newest noise-core album".
Well, it's time you started thinking seriously about the table saw because Joseph Graceffa actually did it: he made a look-a-like wooden CD player! A block of wood, out of which about half a spinning CD is popping out like the cutting blade of the lumber-tool. Popping out from a blade-groove, that is! Actually, the CD slot is located inside the long cutting mark especially made in the player and looks like the disc is going to cut apart the block; it obviously won't, but the sight is almost disturbing... in a good way.
The design is minimal and this is one of the reasons, which make the Spinning Disc so cool: there are no "modern-age" signs, except for the even more minimal three operational buttons. The two speakers that equip the player are also made of drilled wood and everything is wireless and battery-powered: no wires, nu plugs, no fuss and total freedom. I had a very pleasant feeling seeing this player: designed by a free mind and offering also total freedom, what else could one ask for?
The three buttons serve to command the unit, and they regulate play/pause, track forward and track back on the disc. Nothing else is present and I actually think that nothing else was truly needed! It's the sheer simplicity which makes this walnut CD player so warm and so interesting: it definitely is a piece of wood that could easily decorate almost any room in the world; and play as well!
Still, it remains to be seen whether the Mr. Graceffa's Spinning Disc will ever enter a mass-production era and we'll get to see and buy this radically-simple CD player in stores. Issues related to safety are still to be dealt with as the spinning half-CD in the open isn't by far the best method for a player to interact with the ambient and the inhabitants of the house (and I think about children and pets). Nevertheless, this is the living proof that the CD has not spoken its last words and I am quite confident we'll all see a lot of further compact disc-related novelty!
Photos credited to Joe Graceffa
