Sony and Panasonic unveiled their new vinyl record players at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) 2016 – the world’s largest tech show which mostly showcases self-driving cars, virtual reality devices, etc. – and they became an instant hit.
This year (unlike any other year), a surprising amount of devices that became popular in the late 1970s were presented at the Consumer Electronics Show 2016: vinyl record players.
Panasonic – a Japanese multinational electronics corporation – revealed the new Technics SL-1200G, an improved, direct-drive turntable based on the Technics SL-1200 series of turntables, which were first manufactured in 1972. Another Japanese multinational conglomerate corporation, Sony, unveiled the PS-HX500. This high-resolution turntable is not only able to play vinyl records, but it can also turn them into digital files.
Unfortunately, there is no word yet on pricing for both the Sony PS-HX500, which will be available this spring, and the Panasonic Technics SL-1200G that will come out this summer. Although Panasonic, formerly known as Matsushita Electric Industrial, has not made an official statement about the turntable’s price so far, some representatives have estimated that Technics SL-1200G could retail for about $4,000.
For the past ten years, the sales of vinyl records have continued to grow. The Nielsen SoundScan, a system that tracks sales of music and music video products in the United States and Canada, found that the sales of LP records reached a new high in 2015, with almost twelve million sold. (note: LP stands for long play)
That may be because vinyl sounds more authentic and warmer than digital files. Also, there is a tactile quality to a vinyl collection, like having the ability to flip though the albums or view the beautiful album art on the front record cover. It gives a feeling that cannot be topped by any Spotify subscription of iTunes library.
Sony wants to give music lovers the best of both worlds with its new PS-HX500 turntable, since the device can convert songs on vinyl into a digital format. Apart from the vinyl record player, Sony also presented a light bulb that plays music, as well as a glass Bluetooth speaker, at the Consumer Electronics Show 2016.
Music streaming will not be replaced by vinyl any time soon, but record collectors and music lovers should feel optimistic given the fact that even after seventy years from the introduction of LPs, the format still has a place at CES, the greatest technology show in the world.
Image Source: geekwire
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