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Couple Sends Record Player Wedding Invitations

Posted by samzenpus on from the music-makers dept.

kfogel writes "Karen Sandler (a lawyer at the Software Freedom Law Center) and Mike Tarantino (a professional musician) are getting married in May. They've sent out the coolest wedding invitation ever: a beautifully packaged flexidisc record where the invitation itself is the record player. The song was written by Mike, is performed by Karen and Mike together, and FTW is released under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike license. The person who designed the invitations — a friend of the couple's — has blogged about it."

64 comments

  1. Slashdot the wedding by suso · · Score: 2

    I think this is an invitation for all of us to crash this wedding.

    1. Re:Slashdot the wedding by clang_jangle · · Score: 1

      The miniature player is interesting, what I can see of it. In FF4 on linux the gallery stuff doesn't work at all. Probably one would need to enable javascript for some external site, but there are so many (including facebook and twitter js) I didn't bother looking into it, and instead just zoomed the thumbnails. It's a pretty cool little device.

      --
      Caveat Utilitor
    2. Re:Slashdot the wedding by tautog · · Score: 1

      I think this is an invitation for all of us to crash this wedding.

      Hmmm... Is there a precedent for /.'ing a physical real-life event??

    3. Re:Slashdot the wedding by Golddess · · Score: 1

      Would this count?

      --
      "I'm not sure I like the fugnutish tone you used in your post!" -RogL (608926)-
    4. Re:Slashdot the wedding by simoncpu+was+here · · Score: 1

      Hmmm... Is there a precedent for /.'ing a physical real-life event??

      You mean crashing the 90 year-old war vet William J. Lashua's birthday? Yeah.

    5. Re:Slashdot the wedding by oldmac31310 · · Score: 1

      Exactly what I thought. And, also what whores these people are. The couple and the designer!

      --
      http://www.acetonestudio.com
    6. Re:Slashdot the wedding by karnal · · Score: 1

      You had me wondering what the hell Final Fantasy 4 on Linux would have anything to do with this article.

      --
      Karnal
    7. Re:Slashdot the wedding by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The invitation itself was the viral meme that ensured its own delivery into anonymous hands.

    8. Re:Slashdot the wedding by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The miniature player is interesting, what I can see of it. In FF4 on linux the gallery stuff doesn't work at all. Probably one would need to enable javascript for some external site, but there are so many (including facebook and twitter js) I didn't bother looking into it, and instead just zoomed the thumbnails...

      Javascript is required. I use NoScript and had to allow mashable.com and mshcdn.com to get the images to load. I have had this issue on many pages and have discovered that sometimes if I right-click the image and then select 'View image info,' then I can see what needs to be (temporarily) allowed for it to work properly.

    9. Re:Slashdot the wedding by clang_jangle · · Score: 1

      I prefer not to allow js for anything, second choice is at least restrict it to the actual domain the site I'm looking at is hosted on. Obviously banking, netflix, and amazon require exceptions, but there's not much else I care enough about to bother with. If they're too lazy to make the content work with HTML and they're so into advertising that eight different domains want to run scripts, I stop investigating right there. The web is huuuuge, you know. :)

      --
      Caveat Utilitor
  2. Perhaps by redemtionboy · · Score: 3, Funny

    I might get a-round to replying to this one.

    1. Re:Perhaps by nitroscen · · Score: 4, Funny

      I might get a-round to replying to this one.

      This may the worst pun on record ever.

    2. Re:Perhaps by guppysap13 · · Score: 3, Funny

      You really turned the tables on him.

    3. Re:Perhaps by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

      As puns go, he barely scratched the surface.

    4. Re:Perhaps by snspdaarf · · Score: 2

      Stop needling him.

      --
      Why, without your clothes, you're naked, Miss Dudley!
    5. Re:Perhaps by SeaFox · · Score: 2

      We'll hear more once he gets his groove on.

    6. Re:Perhaps by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You all sound like a broken record.

    7. Re:Perhaps by madskyllz · · Score: 1

      If Austin Powers were reading this, he would be B-Sides himself.

    8. Re:Perhaps by Critical+Facilities · · Score: 1

      It's comments like this that just make me want to skip the comments altogether together together together together together together.

  3. Coolest wedding invitation? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    ---Slashdot

    Shark

  4. The nerds.... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    ....they're breeding...

    1. Re:The nerds.... by acedotcom · · Score: 1

      even worse...these arent nerds...THEY'RE HIPSTERS!

      --
      they say it is often more relevant then the comment above, all we know is its called the Sig!
    2. Re:The nerds.... by oldmac31310 · · Score: 0

      worse still, they are hipster WHORES!

      --
      http://www.acetonestudio.com
  5. OMFG WFT *is* that? by gr8_phk · · Score: 2

    Everyone on slashdot under 30 is having a crisis right now, having never seen such a thing. Many under 20 have probably never even heard of a record player.. OMFG how does it make sound without electricity?!?!?! Ahhhhhh.

    1. Re:OMFG WFT *is* that? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I'm 29 and owned a record player in my youth.

      I have destroyed your theory on the glorious field of Slashdot, and shall now dispense its lands and women to my supporters!

    2. Re:OMFG WFT *is* that? by The+Grim+Reefer2 · · Score: 0

      This just seems a little silly. I'd rather get a song on a cheap USB stick.

      I remember when I was a kid taking a pin and attaching it to a paper/styrofoam cup and playing records with it. The sound quality sucked, which is the case with this too.

      Don't get me wrong, I'm not anti vinyl, I still have several hundred vinyl records(none of the ones I destroyed as a kid) and a fairly decent turntable. But this thing is going to make any song sound like it was sung by Mickey Mouse on a 5 day meth & vodka bender.

    3. Re:OMFG WFT *is* that? by h4rr4r · · Score: 3, Funny

      My record players always used electricity. Sorry grandpa but the handcrank is for chumps and old geezers.

    4. Re:OMFG WFT *is* that? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Grampa you know that a quick search to wiki and im already ahead of you in knowledge? Now get off my room!

    5. Re:OMFG WFT *is* that? by Splod · · Score: 3, Insightful

      this thing is going to make any song sound like it was sung by Mickey Mouse on a 5 day meth & vodka bender.

      Way to get the point...

    6. Re:OMFG WFT *is* that? by need4mospd · · Score: 1

      OMFG how does it make sound without electricity?

      You can't explain that.

      -Bill O'Reilly.

    7. Re:OMFG WFT *is* that? by FallinWithStyle · · Score: 1

      Record spins around, sound comes out -- never a miscommunication

      --
      Does this smell like Chloroform to you?
    8. Re:OMFG WFT *is* that? by Posting=!Working · · Score: 1

      OMFG how does it make sound without electricity?!?!?!

      It's a miracle. You know, like magnets.

      --
      This sentence no verb.
    9. Re:OMFG WFT *is* that? by jDeepbeep · · Score: 1

      I recall having a fisher-price turntable. It didn't have the Grado cartridges like my father's upstairs did, but we used it daily for years.
      full disclosure: I'm 25 years old (in base 16)

      --
      Reply to That ||
    10. Re:OMFG WFT *is* that? by SeaFox · · Score: 1

      This happened just yesterday to me at work. My coworkers were talking about movies they used to watch all the time as kids and the topic of Sergei Prokofiev's Peter and the Wolf in the fully orchestrated audio recording came up. "Ah, I used to have that on LP when I was little" I said.

      My supervisor said "What's an LP?"

    11. Re:OMFG WFT *is* that? by Rogue+Haggis+Landing · · Score: 1

      Everyone on slashdot under 30 is having a crisis right now, having never seen such a thing. Many under 20 have probably never even heard of a record player.. OMFG how does it make sound without electricity?!?!?! Ahhhhhh.

      The interesting thing is that this isn't necessarily true. In 2010 sales of vinyl records reached their highest level since 1991, and grew by 14% last year, while overall industry sales were down 13%. You can buy turntables and LPs in youth-focused places like Urban Outfitters, and club and party DJs are far more likely than 6 or 7 years ago to have actual vinyl on their decks rather than just a couple of CD players and a laptop. An American 20-year-old today is, strangely, more likely to own a turntable than is a 35-year-old, who came of age in the 1990s, when LPs were supposed to be a dead form.

      And it makes sense, in a way. We're in a post-physical era, in which most people don't see a lot of point to owning your music in a physical format. So owning physical music is a luxury, a quirk, even an affectation. In that case, why not vinyl? It has bigger cover art, more space for liner notes -- if you're going to do something unnecessary like purchase physical music, why not get the package that most highlights the advantages of consuming music in a meatspace package?

      In the 1990s there were endless arguments about the "fidelity" of CDs vs. the "warmth" of vinyl. At this point people are so conditioned to listening 192 Kbps mp3s on their crappy iPod earbuds that the sound quality arguments sound quaint, and the advantages of CDs seem a lot less relevant. Vinyl certainly sounds better than an mp3 on an iPod. So why not?

    12. Re:OMFG WFT *is* that? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      everyone i knew in college had record players and that was in '06

    13. Re:OMFG WFT *is* that? by Jarik+C-Bol · · Score: 1

      what is weirder, is the fact that somewhere, back in my youth, i had a book with one of these hand turned record players in it. think it played 'Mary had a Little Lamb' or some such nonsense.

      --
      I've decided to Diversify my Holdings. I've divided my cash between my left and right pockets, instead of all in one.
    14. Re:OMFG WFT *is* that? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      MP3s are the best thing that happened to the vinyl fetishists in a long time: Not only do you have to get over the fact that discrete sampling provides enough information to recreate a continuous signal better than a "continuous" groove on a vinyl record, you also need to understand why you can throw out most of that data, create a completely different wave form and still get a better representation of the original signal. That requires either a deep understanding of mathematics, physics and biology or a hell of a lot of faith. It's no surprise that people prefer to believe in something where they at least understand the concept. When this concept also provides lots of tunable parameters that can never achieve perfection but cost increasing amounts of money for an increasingly better result, you have a winner: Vinyl.

    15. Re:OMFG WFT *is* that? by XCondE · · Score: 1

      Even so, a simple one will *still* work without electricity if you spin the record yourself. Plus you mean to tell us you have never seen a gramophone? Not even on TV or a movie?

    16. Re:OMFG WFT *is* that? by The+Grim+Reefer2 · · Score: 1

      this thing is going to make any song sound like it was sung by Mickey Mouse on a 5 day meth & vodka bender.

      Way to get the point...

      I still don't get the point. Please explain it?

      TIA

  6. Van by Errol+backfiring · · Score: 3, Interesting

    I once saw (on TV) a record player that was shaped like a van. You would put the record on a table, and the van would drive over it in circles, playing the record. That was way cool, but I never saw it again...

    --
    Nae king! Nae laird! Nae yurrupiean pressedent! We willna be fooled again!
    1. Re:Van by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      http://gizmodo.com/#!116909/record-playing-vw-van

    2. Re:Van by gknoy · · Score: 1

      Holy cow, what the hell did Gizmodo do to their site!? It went from something that loads fast to something that makes my poor browser want to cry while it tries to load the page.

      Cool gadget, though.

    3. Re:Van by corisco · · Score: 1

      I have one of those !

  7. Quick! Someone tell the Senate mailroom! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    What if someone makes these things with a Lady Gaga song on it, then sends them through the mail to our favorite Senators? They'd be all arrested and hauled off for accessory copyright infringement, those damn thieves! Oh wait, it's 2011 not 2021...

  8. Technically cool, by tchdab1 · · Score: 1

    ..but lacks a bit: it gives Rebecca Black some competition in the song department.

  9. Not new by JerryQ · · Score: 1

    These were around 30 years ago??? Jerry

    1. Re:Not new by KingofSpades · · Score: 2

      I remember seing a german paper record player like this one in the eighties. It was voice only and I was amazed. The sound on this one isn't that great. There is an other design with a paper-cone.

    2. Re:Not new by cwgmpls · · Score: 1

      You're right. Christian missionaries were using "CardTalk" cardboard record players in the 60s and 70s to distribute recordings of the Bible to areas with no literacy, and no electricity to play conventional recordings. I remember donating money for these as a kid. They are described here http://globalrecordings.net/en/cardtalk The missionary who came up with the idea states he got the idea from something he saw first in Ireland.

    3. Re:Not new by Darinbob · · Score: 1

      I definitely have seen a fold out cardboard that becomes a record player with it's own record. I don't think it was designed as a mailable invitation or greeting card though, I seem to recall it was a magazine insert.

  10. Vinyl Killer by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Informative

    That would be the Tamco Soundwagon, also known as "Vinyl Killer":

    http://www.radiomuseum.org/r/tamco_soundwagon.html
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EEwBEcV3gWM
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6de784m8hxY
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I-46fxdLoZM

  11. asd by manitee · · Score: 1

    Like most things, a neat concept and even a clever implementation but the end result (the sound produced by playing the record manually) is jibberish. Before they played the song proper I couldnt even discern what the sound was. But at least you can play the record on a real turntable which, what, 1 in 10,000 households have in 2011.

    Here we go again with people trying to be kewl with this kind of crap. Just send a piece of paper that says date / time / location and spend the extra money on having your reception and ceremony at the same place instead of making people drive and wait between the two.

    --
    Four-digit slashdot ID. Recognize.
  12. I had one of these by oldmac31310 · · Score: 1

    When I was a kid I had one of those cardboard and flexi vinyl 'record players'. It was a 'free gift' from the Tayto crisp company. That was about 35 years ago. Nothing new here except for the troubling increase in people wanting to share their private lives with complete strangers.

    --
    http://www.acetonestudio.com
  13. Collector item. by serialband · · Score: 1

    That will be one cool collector item for those invitees.

  14. Self important chuds by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I hate wedding paraphenalia, and the more clever and cutesy, the more I hate it. WHO CARES THAT YOU ARE GETTING MARRIED? Your "special day"? Give me a break.

    I hate the idea that the time and money involved in doing this was all to advertise a party for a man and woman who want everyone to know that they love each other. Barfolicious.

    1. Re:Self important chuds by Critical+Facilities · · Score: 1

      Soooo I guess we can assume that someone doesn't have any dates lined up this Friday night, huh?

  15. And after the break-up... by SomeoneGotMyNick · · Score: 1

    How are they going to split up all those records after their divorce?

    1. Re:And after the break-up... by Pandur77 · · Score: 1

      Easy, with an axe!

  16. Always and Forever by ddd0004 · · Score: 1

    It can't be as wonderful as Kip Dynamite signing "Always and Forever" at his wedding. Gosh!

  17. Costly invitations by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I wonder who paid for these invitations? The one who is a musician or the one who is a lawyer? lol

  18. sad panda by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    sorry, but the first thing that came to mind was "what a waste of natural resources" (like all wedding invitations). just more junk for the landfill.

  19. Aaww! by Pandur77 · · Score: 1

    This makes me wish I was invited to this wedding. :'(

  20. Better video by XCondE · · Score: 1

    http://karenandmike.us/paperrecordplayer.mov

  21. Paper record players are not so new... by rwwh · · Score: 1

    Nice thing about paper record players is that they last a long time. I have one that is 32 years old, and still works.... That means of course that the idea is not really new..... See http://bit.ly/happy1979 for a recording I made today of this old masterpiece: an audio "Happy New Year" card in 4 languages.