There’s no denying that it’s considerably bigger than the ubiquitous iPod, but when it comes to playing your favourite tunes, the Tasting Music table pictured below takes some beating. Both in the cool and ease of use departments.
How the machine does what it does is beyond my meagre comprehension, but by simply placing a CD — that’s still in its case — over the sensor in the middle of the table, the album’s track list appears. Allowing songs to be easily selected and played. Plus this illuminated list can be moved around the table’s surface, making it viewable wherever people happen to be sitting.
Unfortunately such a poor explanation doesn’t do this ingenious device justice, but by clicking here you can see a video of it in action.
As for its uses and the idea behind it, the designer of the table says this of his invention:
It is almost impossible to talk about a sound of a piece of music with your friends if you can not hear the sound of the music played. This table is meant to be situated in a cafe or a music shop, where people can eat, drink and chat with friends. These are all comfortable situation, and listening to music also helps to create a comfortable situation.
All well and good, but forget cafes and music shops; how cool would it be to have one these little beauties at home?
Tedokun says
what a interisting company. I’d personally like to get my hands on of those talking cups.
Scott says
Now that is just plain and simple crazy talk.
Michael Wells says
Erm… I would assume it’s reading the UPC barcode on the back? If not, Scott has hit the nail on the head — just plain and simple crazy talk.
Personally, I think the idea ROCKS. Most music stores now have headphones, but you can only hear a small selection of titles, maybe a top 20 or the store’s top 50 if your’re lucky. Plus, I’ve bought disks after listening, only to discover they had the wrong CD in the player – how was I to know? I say ditch the players, introduce a central MP3 server and barcode readers. You could wander the store with a scan wand plugged into a headset; just too sweet.
Then again, I can’t remember the last time I actually visited a music store…
Tom Canty says
nice reference to umami!!!! Im impressed, someone obviously has kept up with contemporary taste
Tom (taste scientist at large)
Rachel says
Oh. Wow.
vodoqc says
Dude, I tried this table, and it didn’t taste good at all
M0 says
I’ve searched around looking for any technical info on how this table works (and there is precious little of it out there). As far as I can tell, this has nothing to do with reading the CD itself. What it does is it reads the CD Cover and then tries to match it with what is in its (one hopes to be an extensive) database. Thereby coming up with the list of songs in that album and the audio to match. Quite ingenious, the down side being however, it is limited to actual CD Covers, which means your Mix CD will not work unless you create a cover for it and add it to the database. But I really like the idea of having it in music stores (someone call Richard Branson).
Coincidentally a similar device arrived at roughly the same time, check out the “Audiopad” by Localfields. This device looks much more impressive.
http://www.jamespatten.com/audiopad/index.php
bimbotopia says
ohmigod. the audaciousness of the technology. i want one.
wait a minute. i already have one.