The Plastic Player Makes Digital Music More Physical

UK-based designer and artist Brendan Dawes is a big fan of digital music, especially Spotify. However, this modern-day medium lacks the physicality of vintage turntables and vinyl.

In an effort to bring both new and old-school tech together, he has built the “Plastic Player,” a playful analog interface for digital music. The system consists of two main parts: a Raspberry Pi running Pi MusicBox connected to his 50-year-old stereo, and an Arduino Yun with an NFC shield.

The “records” are created from a box of slide mounts with tiny NFC stickers on the back to identify each album or playlist. When Dawes drops one in place, the Arduino identifies the tag, matches it to a specific album, turns on a backlight, and then begins to play the tunes over Wi-Fi via the Pi MusicBox API.

Taking out the album pauses that track and placing it back on the device resumes play. There also three buttons along the side to control next and previous song, as well as an additional stop function.

I’ve found it’s really satisfying choosing what I want to listen to in this way; no need to fire up an interface to Spotify — I just visually pick an album and place it on the device, much like placing vinyl on a turntable.