Crosley Radio is one of the premier manufacturers of retro-styled audio turntables today, as their affordable brand of analog record players has enabled curious music fans to dip their toes into the often snobbish world of vinyl collecting and listening. So it should come as no surprise that the company based out of Louisville, Kentucky has teamed up with the annual music holiday known as Record Store Day this spring to provide music fans with a new “Mini Turntable” capable of actually playing three-inch vinyl records.
The new model of mini turntables will be sold exclusively in various record stores across the country for this year’s Record Store Day on April 13th. The product will reportedly sell for a manageable $70, and will include a moving magnet cartridge by popular audio brand Audio-Technica. The player can be powered by batteries as well as a USB cable, and can be listened to by way of headphone/line-out jack, or the tiny device’s own built-in speaker.
Unfortunately, this device won’t be able to play the full-sized vinyl, as it only has compatibility with smaller discs that hold a maximum of four minutes of music.
Rock guitarist Jack White and his crack team of audio-heads over at Third Man Records have planned their own customized Record Store Day release with a vinyl that can be played on the smaller turntable. One of White’s bands, The Raconteurs, also announced recently that they will release a three-inch single exclusively on RSD.
The single is actually a smaller reissue of “Store Bought Bones”, one of the tracks from the band’s 2006 album, Broken Boy Soldiers. White did the same thing back in 2005 when he released a series of three-inch White Stripes albums on a Triple Inchophone. Fans can check out the video below to see and hear the mini 2005 album in action.
The White Stripes – “Seven Nation Army” – Played Via Triple Inchophone
[Video: Keel Allen]
Speaking of The Raconteurs, the rock band announced late last year that they plan on releasing their first new album since 2008 at some point in 2019. The album’s first two singles, “Sunday Driver” and “Now That You’re Gone”, were shared back on December 19th.