For my digital archaeology project, I decided to learn about how a record player is made. I originally wanted to do a phonograph, but a phonograph and a record player are essentially the same thing. I decided it would be easier to research the record player rather than the phonograph. I have a great love for music and play multiple instruments, so I wanted to choose a technology that was related to music. I often pass by records for sale whenever I go to the bookstore, and I always thought they were cool. I would love to own a record player one day once I have enough money to buy one.
I started my project by looking up how record players work to get a general understanding of it. I was quite fascinated by how vinyl records work, but I was only supposed to choose one piece of technology to talk about and I had already chosen the record player. I was originally an engineering major, so one of my favorite things to do is to take apart technology to see how it works. I don’t own a record player and didn’t have enough money to buy one, so I decided to try to look up a deconstruction video of a record player on YouTube. I had a very hard time finding videos that actually took apart the record player and described what each components were. There were mainly just videos about the basics of how record players work.
I ended up looking up record players for sale to try to find out what the components were made of and where they were manufactured. I found success when I came across the company Dual’s website. They were showcasing their newest turntable, the primus maximus. The website had detailed information on what the components of the turntable were and what they were made of. It also had information on where the turntable was manufactured. So, I mainly used this website for the breakdown of a record player. It was a lot harder than I thought to figure out what components were made of and where they came from. I would have loved to actually take apart a record player, but I had to make do with digital breakdown of one.
