u/Known_Window_1901

Last week I posted a rough video of a project I’ve been building.

The idea is simple: physical record sleeves for Spotify. Place a record on the stand and the album starts playing. Remove it and the music pauses.

I’ve now put together a small website with better photos and a bit more context:

absence.audio

I’d love some honest feedback. I’m not selling anything — I’m genuinely trying to understand whether the concept is clear.

What’s the first thing you think this product is?

And after browsing the site for a minute, what’s still unclear?

I’ve been building this object for myself over the past few months.

I own a lot of records, but I found myself spending more time browsing Spotify than actually listening to music. I also missed having album artwork visible in the room instead of being shown on a small phone screen.

The idea is simple: place a record on the stand and the album starts playing on Spotify. Remove it and playback stops. (It’s basically NFC tags, WiFi and Spotify. Each record sleeve contains a tag linked to an album. The stand reads the tag and tells Spotify what to play.)

I realize this may be mildly offensive to vinyl enthusiasts. The whole project started as an attempt to reduce technology until it almost disappears. No screens, no menus, no apps once it’s set up. Just a physical object and a record.

Part of the appeal is practical. Anyone in the family can start or stop the music without touching my stereo, finding the right input, or setting the correct streaming device in Spotify.

Still prototyping different designs, but curious what the vinyl crowd thinks: completely missing the point, or does the physical interaction make some sense?

I’ve now made a wall mounted version of the “vinyl player”, but need advice on the width – it’s currently just below 14” wide (vs the 12” record).

… still iterating designs for my “vinyl streamer”. Version 3 is finally working (no, that wobbly table isn’t part of the design 😂).

Still unsure about the proportions though.

Should I:
– increase the height
– or reduce the visual weight of the ”foot”
– keep the proportions?

I’m choosing between a wood lip and a thin glass lip for holding a record. ( … also building a third prototype with thicker smoke grey glass as the shelf).

Wood feels warmer and more forgiving (LED-light beneath the lip).

Glass is visually cleaner and almost disappears (LED within the backpanel that lights up the glass).

Which direction would you take, and why?

More images of the wood-version: https://absence.audio/progress.html