Company Aims to Make Music a Magical Mystery Tour
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Julie Kalista Roughly the size of a magazine (8 x 10-in.), the pages of Soundscape are flexible while the spine and back cover are rigid with a clear lens showcasing the artist name and album title for bookshelf placement. Listeners navigate the content by selecting touch-sensitive conductive traces embedded in the paper. There is a grid on each page with interaction points, a photovoltaic cell for power, and a flexible transmitter for wireless Internet access. Music and content streams from the Web to the user's cell phone or other listening/storage device, so no solid-state memory is required. Record stores will also have Soundscapes so consumers can check them out before purchasing with music streaming through the listener's earpiece as he or she views visual artwork and reads liner notes for an enhanced music experience. The manufacturer says that this will be a collectible item, priced in accordance with other competitive forms of music distribution. Unfortunately they did not have a timeframe for when this will be available other than it will be in the near future. More Information: This web-only article appears in The Machine Design Tech Insider e-mail newsletter. If you enjoyed this article and would like to read more like it sign up today for our free e-mail newsletters! |