Messers Van Zoelen and Owensby both wrote to point out the significantly remodeled CD player by Yong Jieyu and Ama.  By taking a normal portable CD player (which are most likely available for next to nothing these days) and reforming it in the style of its spiritual ancestor the gramaphone/phonograph, it aquires a new elegance that it didn’t quite have in its sleek plastic crysalis.  Of course, it’s far less practical now – hardly portable and I cannot see where the buttons may be situated, but that doesn’t stop me liking it!  It looks like the trumpet may have been handmade for the job too – good grief, it even sounds like it might be possible to construct one of these yourself.

Also, I didn’t know that in the 1890’s apparently most American cities had phonograph parlours where you could pay a nickel to speak down a tube and request a piece of music that would then be played up a seperate tube to your table.  That somehow strikes me as wonderfully old-fashioned (music piped to your table!), and yet somehow reeks of modern parallels.  Thank you, gentlemen.