A Beautiful Italian Micro Record Player

French synthesist Johannes Roussel spotted Pete Verando's Commodore micro turntable a few days ago and wrote, "I own a record player that is very similar but made in Italy by a company named Mo-El in Milano. Mine can play 45 and 33.

It has the same kind of small wheel that drives the record from below. It has no amplifier but instead includes an AM transmitter that works in the 250 to 300 m range. You have to put a radio next to the record player in order to play the music. This appliance is powered with batteries but unfortunately the size in not available anymore so I didn't have the opportiunity to see it running."

He did a bit of digging and discovered that its oddball 2R10 Duplex 3V batteries are still available in Germany. Apparently, they were popular in the 1960s for German flashlights. He ordered a set on eBay, but reports, "When I turn it on the motor barely runs and has not enough power to drive the record. There must be some electrical issue with the regulator."

Ah, well. This little machine is worth having just to admire and I'm still utterly astounded that they managed to get something so small to play LPs, and that they thought of including a radio transmitter (basically a prehistoric iTrip) decades before such things became commonplace.