That said, there is obviously no way that I could still fit a vinyl record player on my desk to listen to some old-time classics to unwind after a long day. You could argue that I could just find an mp3 file of the tracks and listen to them on my iPod, but I tell you, it’s just not the same.

And it’s probably folks like me that the guys over at Ion Audio are thinking about when they came up with the Vertical Vinyl record player. It’s a huge space saver and lets you play your records while being stealthily perched on your wall. It’s priced a bit steeply though at £79.99 (~$131 USD), but if you’re interested, you can get one from Firebox.

[via Slippery Brick]

The concept design was created by designer Olivier Meynard, and at first glance just looks like an old-school record player. But look to the right of the silver-platter and tone arm, and you’ll see a built-in iPhone dock.

With a press of the surface-mounted button, the turntable would play and then send its audio to the iPhone to record it into a digital file. The design also calls for a built-in amp and speakers, so it could work as a standalone audio system. At this point it looks like the iPhone turntable is just a design concept, but from the looks of the photo below, we can only assume that Olivier is working on a functional prototype.

[via Yanko Design]

This steampunk record player really adheres to what steampunk really should be: powered by steam! It was made by Simon Janson from Auckland, New Zealand, who mated steam-power with an Arduino processor. The engine was cobbled together from bits and pieces. The boiler was made a copper water pipe and a bespoke platter and base is used to spin the records. Simon says that the software still needs a few tweaks, but the hardware is solid.

Click to View Embedded Video Clip

Of course, all the sound from the steam pump and mechanism sort of interferes with the music the turntable cranks out, but I don’t think he built this for  audiophile sound quality.

[via Make:]

This old Bakelite Zenith record player has even had its turntable replaced with a visible DVD-ROM drive – which looks absolutely perfect with those Verbatim simulated vinyl CD-Rs. Modder Alvin Barber (aka “Mach”) completely refurbished this old 1951 Zenith H664 Cobra-matic phonograph, and filled its guts with the brains of a modern computer. The Bakelite shell and glowing accent lighting give the Cobra-matic a wonderfully retro feel that makes it look like something you might find somewhere in Rapture the next time you play Bioshock. Come to think of it, you might even be able to play Bioshock on this thing.

Now you might notice that some of the photos show a different interior configuration. That’s because Mach wasn’t satisfied with his original attempt, and recently rebuilt his original Core 2 Duo-based mod to run on a more powerful Core 2 Quad CPU, and added a RAM cooler to keep it from overheating. After you’ve checked out the pics above,  head over to The Best Case Scenario to see a full worklog for this amazing casemod.

[via Case Mod Blog]

The Tokidoki watch is presented in a much more tongue-in-cheek rendering than this other turntable-lookin’ watch. It features a black and orange display and is stainless steel with a leather strap. The record face rotates as the second hand, and the time is displayed on a faux radio dial. It comes in an attractive black box.

You can buy one of these beauties for $175 at fredflare.com. The only downside: no actual scratching can be accomplished with this watch. For pocket-sized scratching you’ll still probably have to go the iPhone route.

DJ bonus: if you prefer your turntable references a little sweeter and more delicious, check out this turntable cake by Ashley Holt.

[via GeekAlerts]

Japanese company Razy-Works is selling this pint-sized VW bus that contains a needle, amplifier and speaker. The tiny bus has the precise turning radius and speed required to play a 33RPM record.

Prices range from 7,800yen ($67 USD) to 8,200yen ($70 USD) for the plastic and metallic versions, while a super-deluxe Swarovski crystal-encrusted version is available for 58,000yen ($500 USD).

I wonder if it leaves tire tracks?

Vendor Site (site may be slow loading, be patient)