Album wall art that plays itself.
Most wall mounted CD players are hampered by copying a design Muji introduced in the 20th century. The km5 CP1 gets a lot more right by taking a different route.
This was something I spotted on Amazon Japan while getting screen grabs together for the Patreon exclusive Yellow Sound Burger video. It took five days to arrive and there was no duty to pay.
Behind the scenes...
Some of my recent videos have felt bloated. As a result on this video I returned to my original shooting style to make this one a snappier viewing experience.
This involved recording everything I might need first, assembling the clips into a densely packed story and narrating over the rough edit while condensing the footage to match. It takes me a lot longer to edit a video this way, so can only be used with simple subjects. The benefit though is that I can really compress a video down in a way that's impossible whenever there's live dialog to incorporate.
Hopefully the end result provides a smidgen of entertainment - take care.
UPDATE
Did a couple of tiny tweaks to make it visually clearer as to how the CD booklet fits in the front of the case. Adjusted a couple of audio levels etc.
Comments (63)
Got mine today. I love it! I think it's especially interesting how the disc will stop spinning once the buffer is filled, then start up again a couple minutes later. I think this white unit will pair well with a white SoundBurger. Maybe get some white Bluetooth speakers too.
That'd be a neat system that covers all the formats most would people need.
Thanks for the video, that second one is quite nice with the CD cover in it. One question, and it's nothing to do with the video, but, what's the framed David Niven photo? Cheers.
https://youtu.be/nhXzn5kJE8U
Shop over time & get something beautiful & retro. I got a Sony D-5 from eBay like the one I had in college. It's real history.
I got excited thinking the Japanese unit would have something cool like a transparent LCD screen that would display the cover art or something like that. £130/$160 seems expensive for a discman in a fancy suit, but the same price with a 5" LCD would've been a neat trick.
Picked mine up. Thanks Mat!
Interesting little thing. When I first saw the thumbnail, I had assumed (and probably hoped) that it was a smart device that looked up the album cover from CDDB or something and displayed it digitally. That would be a neat device.
I love the cheerful little fella that pops in at the bottom right to update or correct Matt.
THANK YOU FOR CALLING OUT THOSE HIGH MOUNTED TV PEOPLE! I can’t stand that.
It seems we’re destined for a generation of people who will be unable to look straight in old age. They’re either hunched over a smartphone or craning at a TV.
Of all the comments no one wants to mention the Pete Rock & CL Smooth along with Eric B & Rakim CDs. It never ceases to amaze me of the musical tastes. :)
A while back someone commented on YouTube how they can't believe someone "old enough to be their dad, listens to Dr Dre". I replied "Dr Dre is 58".
Pretty cool gadget. I was checking the one (and so far only) Japanese Amazon review: so it keeps playing for a while after the disc stops spinning as it has a builtin buffer (because of its discman origin)? That must be a bit odd to watch. My (analog) mind expects the sound and spinning to start and stop (more or less) simultaneously.
Neat idea. It would have made it probably too big, but would have been nice if you could slide the whole jewel case into the front section. Less fiddly and less liable to damage the booklet, and would save having to find a place for an empty case with no CD or booklet when you are playing it.
It makes more sense to me to use it as a personal CD player than to stick it on a wall. I like the design! The video is pleasant, flowing, nothing to say.
The cool thing about your channel: watching silly things that I don't want to buy anyway ;-). But I always like to see the concepts and definitely, there is some creativity behind, and, as always, thank you for showing it to us!
To quote dialogue from a sky diving scene in a movie from 1991- "Amazing" ... "F c k ing Amazing" - I don't mind your longer videos- but get the heavily edited audio bitesize snapshot quickie ones catered to crowd too I guess, so to sum this video in word. Amazing. Thank You Matt.
I get the appeal of the old-timey wall mounted music centres such as the Sharp VZ3000... but I'm struggling to see the appeal of putting either of those two players on the wall. That being said, the expensive Japanese CD player would make a very fashionable - if somewhat impractical - current year Discman alternative.
Cool! The CP1's a nice-looking unit! As a fan of physical media, and a regular purchaser of music CDs (yeah, I know, 'still', in this day & age!), I really would like to have one of these hanging on my wall. Thanks for sharing! 💿
Oh hey, I had one of those Muji players when I lived in Japan in the early Oughts!
The frame seems to have a Polaroid look to it, so it's like double nostalgia. Mat, is there a vertical turntable on the market that could be mounted similarly (somehow)? I am thinking it would be neato to have the full 12" recorde sleeve on display with a playable record behind it? A long way to go for a party, but I immediately wondered if there is a vinyl solution to this non-problem. ("Vinyl Solution" sounded like a cool record shop name but I suspect it would just attract neo-Nazis)
Nothing quite like that exists yet - but all it takes is one ‘entrepreneur’ with a $5 Aliexpress mechanism shoved in a cheap housing backed by a clueless genius off Dragons Den/Shark Tank and you’d have the next breakthrough product.
So based on the last video we are running out of traditional locations to play our CDs so I assume the only rational conclusion to this video is to buy one of the Japanese players for each of the CDs in my collection. Two of them for a double album. Never be stuck looking for a player again!
It makes perfect sense to me.
Your thumbnail has caused Tina Turner's 'The Best' to repeat in my brain, thanks. 😅
Not entirely unintentional. I couldn’t find a way to add the ‘than all’ in the middle, but for many their brain will fill it in whether they want it to or not.
Liked this video a lot. Missed your physical appearance in it though. Believe it or not, I quite like hearing and watching you talk :). The ‘bad neck?’ detail in this video cracked me up :)
Glad you noticed that - it was ‘borrowed’ from an advert for a clinic.
Can't help but notice that cd isnt very concentric. Maybe you need to shave the outside? :)
I was also concerned it might be a bit too magnetic.
Very enjoyable video, thank you! At 1:40 one can see the unmistakable sign of cheap OEM chinese stuff: connector or controls labeled in Times New Roman (or another generic font with serifs).
Yes it’s never a good sign when you see text like that.
The 2nd CD player just looks like a Polaroid. Looks much better than a (slide in) jewell case.
Let's celebrate a DVD shelf with room for both Derek Flint movies and "Bubba Ho-Tep."
Totally agree, that second one is fantastic. Really quite stylish
I thought that it was going to connect to the Internet and grab the album art and display it on a screen! This probably works OK with simple cardboard sleeves, but not with digipaks. You have reminded me that I ought to get my Bubba Ho-Tep DVD out for another viewing some time soon.
While I certainly enjoy a long, rambling Techmoan video, some of these topics lend themselves quite well to an old school, condensed review, good work, Mat😃
I remember when I was just a lad that one of my favorite things about records was watching them spin around. I was mesmerized. Watching that CD spinning at 300 rpm just makes me a bit nauseous. Interesting that this Patreon exclusive came out on today. I just received the Soundburger which I ordered on Amazon.jp today based on your recommendation. It arrived looking almost identical to the one in the video, bucked-up outer box, but the S.B box in pristine condition. But as far as this Japanese offer, I'm going summon some restraint and pass on this one. (My wife isn't as forgiving on my buying gizmos and gadgets as yours appears to be, [although you seem to make a pretty good living off of them]).
I buy a lot of things just to show them - I wouldn’t recommend anyone else buy all of these things - it just wouldn’t make sense.
A pleasant surprise after work. Thanks for that. Would be interesting to know if new mechanisms were used for these or if they were from old stock that couldn't be sold off. Are there any date codes printed on them?
The CD mechs? There’s definitely people still making these. But they’re made so cheaply you can imagine that a fluctuation in component costs of 10 pence or more might make them throw in the towel.
At first glance, I thought this was going to have an LED display on the front displaying the album artwork. Which would probably be silly. A better idea for displaying the booklet may have been to have a slot holder for the entire jewel case to slide in and out.
That’s the consensus so far. It seems like the designers missed a trick.
• Nice DVD and CD (and/or game) collection. 😃 • Apologies for not knowing who the man with the pistol is in the poster, but he seems to have a clear feeling about the Amazon Basic devices. • TV hung very high and dangling cables are also my top pet peeves. • An ideal place for the second one might be an office waiting room or a lobby - to drive employees crazy until they change the CD. • As always, love the peel. 🤍 • T̶h̶a̶t̶'s̶ a̶ b̶r̶i̶l̶l̶i̶a̶n̶t̶ i̶d̶e̶a̶ i̶n̶c̶l̶u̶d̶i̶n̶g̶ t̶h̶e̶ d̶i̶s̶c̶ c̶a̶s̶e̶ h̶o̶l̶d̶e̶r̶ -̶ n̶o̶t̶ o̶n̶l̶y̶ d̶o̶e̶s̶ i̶t̶ l̶o̶o̶k̶ l̶i̶k̶e̶ f̶r̶a̶m̶e̶d̶ a̶r̶t̶w̶o̶r̶k̶, w̶h̶e̶n̶ y̶o̶u̶'r̶e̶ d̶o̶n̶e̶ l̶i̶s̶t̶e̶n̶i̶n̶g̶ y̶o̶u̶ w̶i̶l̶l̶ k̶n̶o̶w̶ w̶h̶e̶r̶e̶ t̶h̶e̶ c̶a̶s̶e̶ i̶s̶. How solid are the brackets that hold the CD case? I can see myself snapping those off with my clumsy fumbling. I do like this video editing format but I do miss seeing ole blue eyes, too. I hope you're done, or almost done, babysitting the construction workers. Take care 🤍
Wasn’t that photo featured in the Techmoan Christmas Lectures?
I didn’t realise you’d bought the Amazon Basics player when it was stupidly discounted. Was that my fault? Mine is fine if connected to external speakers but that’s an extra wire if the minimalist look is important to you. I think my Mum has adopted it. I bought the Trettitre portable one that looks like a fancy smoke alarm last week. The weird rotating lid is far more robust than expected and it seems to work well with Bluetooth speakers, which was what I bought it for. The ergonomics are a bit rubbish, with buttons on the back and display on the front but I can’t complain as I already knew.
I don’t know how I heard about it - but I’d have to imagine someone told me, so I’d be happy to blame you in absence of any other volunteers.
I don't know if I'd agree that your recent videos were bloated, but I will say that the editing on this one is very snappy, very tight. Quick, but it doesn't feel hurried. As for the device itself, I assume you can't slot a whole (standard single CD) jewel case in the front of it? If I owned this I couldn't see myself bothering to take the booklet out of the jewel case, put it in a separate holder and put it into the player more than once or twice for the novelty of it. If I could put the whole jewel case in there that'd actually be handy. Occasionally when I play a CD I manage to lose track of the case while the disc is in the player - I absent mindedly sit it down somewhere unobvious or sit something like a book or some mail on top of it. Silly of me, but it happens.
You and me both. Yes it seems the whole CD jewel case slot should be the next evolution.
Well that looks neat, but I have too many CDs in cardboard cases (gatefold, digipak, etc.) to make much use of it. Maybe if you could just drop or slide the entire case inside
That’d be a great idea. A CD toaster. Perhaps it could read the barcode on the back and play a stream from an online repository.
Classic Mat is back - I have fond memories of many a keychain camera review I've watched in this style. Thank you so much for brightening up my day, I never knew these players existed. 💖
That editing style was originally adopted as a necessity due to having nowhere to shoot a to-camera talking head shot. So everything had to take place in a laptop and be voiced over late at night when the Mrs had gone to bed.
I never understood why these are a thing. Who wants to put a CD player on their wall? But then again, I don't understand hanging vinyl records on your wall and never playing them, either, but that's what half of the people who buy new vinyl are doing...
On the plus side you’ll always remember where you left that CD. I’ve currently got an empty jewel box and I know the CD is somewhere inside one of a few dozen CD playing devices.
Excellent - one of those kind of things I would love to want, but am now old enough to know better. Great video, Mat. Hope you're keeping well!
If I weren’t doing this I’d be happy to ignore this too. No one really needs any of this stuff.
Smidgen received and enjoyed. Thank you, Mat.
"CD is old or broken. Use another CD" Thanks, troubleshooting guide
That did make me laugh too. Why would a CD being old make you need to use another CD 🤣
The one on the right of the picture I got on Amazon UK after spotting it on hotukdeals. It was £11 and I still feel ripped off. It's awful.
Love getting a new Mat video. Always makes my day.