If Apple Designed a Turntable, This Is Probably What It Would Look Like

[bluecoast]

You can imagine that Jony Ive uses a Linn turntable and the use of plastic in it really bugged him.

So he did a little bit of pro bono free work to end up with his perfect turntable.

All in a few days work when you are one of the world's top industrial designers!

 

[MNJohn]

The time when you still had to put a physical device on or into a machine was magical. Our way of consuming music today does not have any magic any more. And I will never pay for a file made out of zeros and ones. A record collection was something you could give to your children or grand children, but decades of Spotify subscriptions will cost you a lot of money without leaving any value.

I think most heirs would appreciate the cash more a $60k turntable.

 

[WarmWinterHat]

Most “rich” people are rich because the don’t waste $60k on a depreciating asset like a turntable.

My girlfriend's father owns a very high-end audiophile shop, and rich people absolutely do spend an insane amount of money on such things. He was recently flown to India (his shop is on the east coast) to setup and calibrate a $180,000 stereo system that he sold to someone. This wasn't a home cinema, which he doesn't work with, or the like; strictly audio.

Edit: Just messaged him and he said wouldn't carry or recommend this turntable.

 

[MacWiz_007]

Why? It's not an unusual price for a piece of high-end hi-fi.

Because this record player isn't worth $60k to anyone who actually knows high-end hi-fi.

 

[bluecoast]

We call it 'iTurns'.

 

[Feek]

What's the betting if a company such as ifixit did a teardown of the turntable they would find it was made from many cheap parts

No chance.

 

[WWPD]

Looks like a poor copy of Dieter Rams design.

 

[arkitect]

Jesus wept!

“This project has been so life-affirming and so joyful to work on… LoveFrom has worked together with brilliant, kind people at Linn who share our obsessiveness to make something wonderful and without compromise. And at the same time, we have been able to play a small part in celebrating fifty years of an icon.”

Sir Jony Ive, LoveFrom

You'd think they were digging wells to provide villagers in Sudan with fresh water! Working on a cure for, oh I dunno, cancer or HIV.

But, no, designing rich men's toys is what Ive thinks is life-affirming and joyful.

What an utter tosser.

 

[MacWiz_007]

Looks like a poor copy of Dieter Rams design.
View attachment 2229335

Dieter Rams and Jony Ive should never be mentioned in the same sentence, outside of a post like this of course. Rams is so superior it's almost sickening.

 

[tomtad]

Space grey lives. 😂View attachment 2229291

Now we know who came up with it!

 

[Fromthehiptothehop]

Just looks like an overpriced dust collector. Ive should just go away!

Why should he go „away“ and not you?
Do you really believe, Ive decided the price tag?

 

[miric]

It would be nice to redesign his company's name. 🤷🏻‍♂️

 

[timber]

What's the "thing" then?

Probably the experience and emotion.
Audio from vinyl is so satisfying and after all isn't getting happiness out of music what it is all about?

 

[B.A.T]

Can you describe what a $60,000 turntable (plus god-knows-how-much extra for preamps and amps and speakers) sounds like compared to a decent $300 turntable and decent cartridge connected to decent consumer electronics? Hard to imagine the grooves on the piece of plastic hold such magic.

I remember, back in the day, having purchased an electronic gadget for my rack of equipment (I think it was from Dolby) that removed the pops and clicks from records. It didn't really work

I'm pretty sure that gadget in the 80s was called a CD player

 

[Razorpit]

It's interesting how people spend so much money to reproduce music from a piece of vinyl that is far from accurate to the master recording. Imagine not only $60K for the turntable, but what pre-amps and amps and speakers this is connected to. The total price tag is unreal. To play music from a piece of plastic.

Back in the 80’s I would “master“ my own cassettes from vinyl. I had an old diesel Rabbit (Golf) that would destroy cassettes. All my friends laughed at me for buying records. Now it’s the “cool thing” to do and those same friends are dropping serious money on something I did as a necessity ~ 35 years ago. 😂

 

[t0rqx]

I am not seeing anything extraordinary here. It is mostly material changes and colour.

 

[DEMinSoCAL]

I'm pretty sure that gadget in the 80s was called a CD player

Ultimately, yes. But before that there was a device that did it. It basically sampled the music before and after a pop/click and averaged out and filled in the pop/click with that averaged sample.

 

[doc james]

I see there's no headphone jack

 

[anthogag]

The red clown nose should come with this record player.

 

[t0rqx]

“Ive describes the LP12-50 as "a very gentle and modest project for us”

The price certainly is not modest.

Compared to iPhones this is.

 

[MNJohn]

Jesus wept!



You'd think they were digging wells to provide villagers in Sudan with fresh water! Working on a cure for, oh I dunno, cancer or HIV.

But, no, designing rich men's toys is what Ive thinks is life-affirming and joyful.

What an utter tosser.

Bill Gates and Jony Ive, polar opposites of how they view “paying forward” after making their fortunes: Gates to improve the human condition and Ive to design conspicuous consumption trinkets to validate his ego and improve his wallet. Disgusting!

 

[ignatius345]

The thing about high-end audio is you get exponentially increasing diminishing returns after a certain price point. Yes, a $2000 turntable is going to be more solidly built and sound better than a $500 one. But if you buy a $60K turntable, you’re paying for the privilege of owning a rare, boutique item, not because it sounds 60x better than a $1K table.

That same law of diminishing returns holds up in a lot of products. I used to ride road bikes (bicycles, not motorcycles) a lot, and the first $1000 you spent at that time would get you just incredible gains in frame rigidity, component quality and weight over your basic department store bike. Like, a universe of improvement -- barely in the same category of machine. Then the next $1000 would get you more Italian components, a little lighter and stiffer frame, gorgeous paint, etc. But then any thousands past that would just get you tinier and tinier grams shaved off the bike, more esoteric details, some more exotic components. Nicer than that $1000 bike, but really a fraction of the tangible difference between that and the department store bike.

I think audio gear is the same thing. If you've turned it into your hobby and you have a lot of money to throw at it, you can spend thousands chasing vanishingly audible little reproduction details. All I'll say is: not for me, thanks! I'll take some half-decent audio gear and call it a day. But if someone wants to drop thousands on a work of art turntable, I really couldn't care less. Also, kind of amused at how angry people get that something they don't want to buy exists.

 

[smaffei]

Frankly, I don't get the whole vinyl obsession of late. For years in the 70s and 80s we (my family) suffered from pops and hisses in our music because of the imperfections introduced by vinyl and magnetic tape. Then came CDs and eventually digital losses music. These times are a godsend to people who have suffered through that stuff in the past. Why go back?!?

 

[tomtad]

It would be nice to redesign his company's name. 🤷🏻‍♂️

I know. I always thought it was LoveForm which kind of worked but it’s LoveFrom! Sounds like a company that does speciality valentines cards.

Love from Jony xx

 

[Xand&Roby]

I didn't understand how much you'll have to make fun of him and hate him, I mean before all the authors of MacRumors.
He left Apple years ago, what do you need to bullise him?

To understand, because you seem quite ridiculous with these articles made specifically to incite hatred.