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Yeah, especially if you have one of these over-priced badboys

Well, it might not be a burner but you can make vinyl records at home:

http://www.vestax.com/v/products/recorders/vrx2000.html

It's a bit more expensive than a blu-ray burner at £8,500. Also I'm not sure about the smell...

Is there a system for transfering digital data to vinyl?

Sure is!. However, I wouldn't bank on a long lifespan from vinyl you cut yourself. There is a lot more to producing quality vinyl than meets the eye. I looked into doing my own 12" releases in the early 90s when I was big on live remixing (I used to fancy myself a dj at one point). The quality is extremely difficult to maintain without extremely expensive equipment (and proper masters). Still, cutting your own records from something that'll fit on your desk is pretty nice, and you can't beat the sound of fresh vinyl through a good stylus!

Record vinyl from any external audio source.

Or, if you're lazy and don't want your mp3's as vinyls, just use a Winamp plugin? :-)

You could always use this: Vestax vrx-2000

There was the Kingston Dubplate cutter that was manufactured by the same guys who made Final Scratch which was another cutting aparatus which utilzed a PC, but I think they no longer sell it. Final Scratch is really an amazing product, but you can't beat the "feel" of real vinyl beaneath the needle.

a rotary pot (sliders haven't been used on real hardware for 20 years!)

what?!

what?!

what?!

If you're just wanting to play records for the sake of recording them, a belt-driven Numark 1550 will do you just fine. Less than $100.

That seems entirely tangental to the point I was making, that the de-facto DJ turntable. Certainly the most common turntable for most hobbyist DJs does not go anywhere near supporting 78rpm. If I choose to get some flashy deck from vestax the 50% "ultra" pitch control on 45rpm will only take me to 67.5rpm. And I'm sure it'd be incredibly infrequent for the DJ to bust out his old 78s anyway.

The technology required to burn these things is rather bulky and expensive.

Sorry, but Vestax have devised a rather cheap, portable, and excellent vinyl cutter to duplicate this newfangled analog vinyl technology of which you speak.

Come on, you need a really good turntable.

Having said that I own a pair of 1210 Mk II's and am not planning on changing any time soon.

As a occassional professional DJ a few years ago, an occassional professional soundman with my room shaking EV's, co creator of Quicktime Turntablefrom 1997 and as an owner of Final Scratch, I can tell you with fairly expert opinion that the $250 pricetag this new piece of hardware carries puts it smack dab into the "way too expensive toy" category.

Pro CD turntables that accurately simulate the platter of a vinyl turntable are anywhere from US$800-$1500. Technics 1200's (the 30+ year gold standard for dj'ing turntables) run anywhere from US$400-$750 each depending on who you get them from... a excellent mixer will cost you between US$50-$1000 or more.

FinalScratch is $500. It is a professional grade piece of equipment. It is not a toy. It's complex and responsive. It does what you expect it to. It costs that much money because it's worth it.

I dunno about this $250 new item. Who IS it for anyway? Obviously not pros, and at that price you can alternatively buy a console and a few games to occupy your time.

So hard, that such a device has existed for at least a year now! :)

"We are also confident that no-one is going to be able to produce pirate copies in this format unless they use this [vestax.com]. from the vestax website: "The VRX 2000 is a real time acetate cutting machine, allowing any audio source to be duplicated on to vinyl."

It goes without saying that tube-favoring audiophiles will use external devices for playing music. However, the tube amp is still be desireable for system beep tones.