Retro Thing

Making Dymo-mite Labels One Letter at a Time

If you scan the ads inserted in your Sunday paper in the coming weeks — you do subscribe to a Sunday newspaper, right? — you'll notice many stores holding sales on organizational gear like storage bins. I assume that's either because people buy a lot of that stuff after receiving too many Christmas presents or because "getting organized" is a common New Year's resolution. Either way, it's fair to say we're entering the organization season. And if there's one thing a competent organizer needs, it's a labelmaker.

Dymo has been making and selling labelmakers since 1958. The company started out making them for industrial and business clients. (In its old ads, Dymo said its reps would happily come to your place of business and label "any six items" to show off how useful the labels were.) The technology is dead simple: Select a letter on the font wheel, squeeze the trigger and the raised letter is pressed into the malleable plastic or metal substrate. The plastic would turn white from the stress of being stamped, making the label easy to read.

The firm lays claim to introducing the first personal labelmaker and it democratized the gizmos with inexpensive embossers. It sold a range of machines, from simple plastic ones for home use to metal "executive" models with carrying cases and multiple font wheels. Other companies got into the game and soon seemingly everyone had the ability to punch out labels for things that clearly needed no marking. (I mean, did anyone actually put their phone number on their sunglasses?) In the 1970s, the company sold 7 million embossers per year.

Though they might seem slightly antiquated in this age of customizable print-your-own labels, I have noticed that embossed labels are still relevant. The Dallas Cowboys continue to use the labels to denote which helmet belongs to whom. You can get fonts that look like the embossed labels, so that your next PowerPoint presentation can have that extra pop. And of course the embossing font motif pops up in logos: The NBC show "Chuck" uses it, presumably because the labels were once a staple of retail nametags, and the Paramount Vantage movie imprint relies on it too.

Dymo is now a unit of Newell Rubbermaid and primarily a seller of printer-style labelmakers with keyboards and screens and a zillion options. But it still makes a couple of embossers, including one that goes for about $10. They seem aimed at scrapbookers now, though the company also manufactured one recently for kids that actually spoke the selected letter. You also can also find vintage ones without much trouble. (If you're looking for old ones, a vertical font wheel is a nice option.)

I find them fun to use but also finicky and occasionally laborious. My model seems to regard the font baseline as mere suggestion; spinning the font wheel in same direction sometimes helps. The key to consistent lettering is even finger pressure on the trigger, which is a challenge. Then again, those innate errors are definitely part of the charm. And surely charm is what you're after when you label your new storage bins.

Worst Retro Joystick Ever?

The Vic 20 computer made chunky 8 bit waves in the history of video gaming. Commodore offered a joystick that was an albino version of the ol' Atari CX-40 [see smaller photo]. The C64 hit the scene later, and became a gaming classic despite Commodore's issue of possibly the crappiest joystick ever - the notorious 1311.

An initial look at the Commodore 1311 might make you think it's got some interesting ideas in the design. It's smaller profile fits in the hand a bit better, and that centered wide fire button seems like it would work for lefties too. The your eyes fall on the triangular joystick. Wait, what?

Corners on a joystick? Three angles to dig into your vulnerable hand during a marathon gaming session? Why not just put razor blades in there? It doesn't just look nasty, it IS nasty. I remember being really excited when my best friend got a C64, and tried really hard not to weep at the hideous pain from this joystick. Oh yeah, and that narrow profile thing is the bunk too. I find diminished stability, making me push harder, bringing the pain faster.

Retro gamers have strong opinions of which is the worst joystick ever, but you haven't been to the front lines until you've suffered through this gaming abomination.

There Is Such A Thing As Too Many Records

With all the trouble this guy's million strong record collection is causing, it makes me glad that I stopped at just a couple thousand.

Lights Out For Incandescent Bulbs - Hoarding Begins

Reports are coming in that folks are snapping up remaining stocks of incandescent bulbs before the end of the year. January 1st marks the start of the Federal phaseout of traditional light bulbs in the United States. While many are unaware of the upcoming ban, 13% of U.S. residents are reportedly stocking up on the 130 year old symbol of American ingenuity and invention.

Home Depot has reported higher than normal sales in these last few weeks as they blow out their back stocks. I'll admit, I picked up a couple dozen bulbs myself. Yes, I too have joined the Incandescent Underground. I have mostly replaced the lights around my apartment with CFL and LED lights, but there are a couple of old lamps that just don't look right with new style bulbs. There's also a fixture in a dark and cold corner of the apartment (where I tend to write Retro Thing posts, coincidentally) where I actually rely on the little bit of extra heat kicked off by the bulb.

There are those who are turning this into a political issue, unhappy that the government is regulating what they can and cannot stick into their sockets. The Republican House has blocked the funds that were originally allotted for enforcing the January 1st ban (make of that what you will), and enterprising bulb sellers have come up with all kinds of strategies to keep you filled with filament fired light. One outfit has gone so far as to relabel their incandescent bulbs as mini-heaters. Yup - that's how we'll save the planet... why address a problem head-on when we can just relabel it?

I'm sure that the news will feature those outliers who will only defy the darkness with old fashioned bulbs, and we will certainly hear many stories of folks who have their garages packed to the ceiling with old fashioned bulbs. Maybe we'll see an inflated future market for light bulbs the same way as we've seen for high flush toilets (Hard to believe, but yes... I recently read about an older high flush toilet changing hands [ewww] for $600 on Ebay).

Here's another question that no one seems to be addressing. A lightbulb floating over someone's head has ong been the symbol of a bright idea. What'll it be now? A CFL? An LED? I'm going to look pretty weird walking around with a diode floating over my head.

Merry Christmas, All

Christmas always makes me realize just how short a year is. It seems like only a couple of months pass before the decorations come back out of storage and the presents go under the tree.

This has been a fantastic year for the Retro Thing gang. You might have noticed that Bohus was scarce most of the spring and summer, and it was with good reason. He was instrumental in putting together a clever and irreverent morning TV show for Tribune Broadcasting. The good news is that things are now a bit less hectic in his world and he's excited about once again pushing the frontiers of all things vintage.

I've been hard at work designing consumer electronics gear, and I'm looking forward to a slightly tamer year to come. Hopefully one that doesn't involve quite so many blinking LEDs or as much assembly language programming.

Even though we didn't have as much time to dedicate to the site this year, our readership remained strong with about 3,550,000 page views. One thing's for sure -- we've enjoyed reading your comments, insights, emails and story ideas in 2011.

Thanks and Happy Holidays.

Last Minute Retro Gift Ideas

It's getting down to the wire, so here are a few "Argh! I left it until the last second" Christmas gift ideas with a Retro flavour. 

Seiko 5 Wristwatch - Forget batteries and back-lit displays and get a mechanical watch with 21 jewel automatic mechanism and clear back. They're beautiful, practical and affordable. Priced from $60

Korg Monotron - A handheld analog synthesizer for under $60. The Monotron features the same resonant filter circuit as the classic Korg MS-10, along with a tiny membrane keyboard and built-in speaker.

A Decent Budget Turntable - The Audio Technica AT-LP120 isn't the cheapest turntable on the market, but it's one of the best you're going to get for under $250. Includes a digital USB port along with standard stereo RCA jacks, 33-1/3, 45, and 78 rpm playback speeds with quartz-controlled variable playback. The Spin-Clean record washer is a great way to clean your vintage vinyl, too.

Alesis MMT-8 MIDI Sequencer - Bringing The Beats Since '87

I found this sequencer among some of my older music gear in storage (i.e. the closet of broken dreams). The Alesis MMT-8 was born in 1987,when it's features and low price combined to make it a wildly popular piece of gear. Surprisingly, this is a piece of retro gear that still gets interest. Even with all of today's cool laptop music, there's still room in the studio for the old MMT-8.
The spec sheet may not exactly impress today. The unit can hold 100 songs - as long as you don't go over 10,000 notes. There's internal storage in the form of a built-in battery. You can also export data either via MIDI or by recording sequence data out to audio cassette (and I can tell you firsthand what a hateful and tense way that was to save your precious songs.)

One aspect keeping interest in the MMT-8 alive is that this unit is an interesting link between MIDI and older devices that came before - you can use the "click out" jack to drive ancient drum machines. Despite these limitations, the MMT-8 still fascinates musicians and retains a cult following, more than 20 years after its release - there's even an online fansite at MMT8.com.

The MMT-8 has an interesting pedigree. It was designed by Marcus Ryle (of Line 6 fame) of Fast Forward Design (who also did the even more famous Alesis HR-16 drum machine) around an Intel 80C31 microcontoller. Up 'til that point, Alesis had mostly been an effects company, and the success of this slope-faced pair paved the way for widely diversifying what they offered musicians. Ryle went on to design Alesis' Quadrasynth and their famous ADAT digital recording system.

I have to sheepishly admit that I really never used this. I have much more time logged in as a digital drummer with the HR-16 drum machine mentioned earlier. I kept it around in hopes of messing with its novel approach to creating music (Especially after digging up lots of info online about the sequencer). I guess I'll just leave that up to Orbital, Moby, Jimmy Edgar, Higher Intelligence Agency, Autechre, and Carl Craig who all still use the MMT-8 for live performance.

Build A Christmas Tradition With LEGO

These days Lego has a ton of Christmas specialities every year. You can always count on a fresh advent calendar, or even a wintery village. The bricky pickin's haven't always been so good. In fact the overall line of Lego models didn't change all that much years ago. Some models would stick around for a couple years. For example, in 1989, this was pretty much it in the Christmas category. There were a couple of other simple yuletide models back then, but nothing like today's elaborate holiday offerings.

You'll also notice that this model is made up of very simple shapes rather than the more detailed (and often less versatile) pieces you get today. There are also none of those pieces consisting of one big chunk that you could have built from smaller bits. Adult Lego fans humorously refer to these single piece abominations as "POOPS": Piece Out Of Other Pieces. Check out how versatile this 20 year old set is thanks to the variety of simple pieces.


I like these little Holiday sets as they're terrific stocking stuffers, and fortunately Lego still offers these litte sets for a buck or two. They even offer special limited-edition random minifigs for you collector types out there. Kids love these sets, and don't forget... it's okay for grownups to like Lego too.

Bootleg Portable NES Hides Behind Pompous Naval Rank

At first glance, the Game Theory Admiral looks like a first generation Game Boy Advance. It's around the same size too - it even has a pretty solid build. The cart slot is a little different, so what goes in there? Oh... the crazy adapter thing that was bundled in the box.

Then what? Looks like the right kind of slot for a Famicom cart. That's the original Japanese release of Nintendo's video game powerhouse. The cartridge is pretty small, so maybe this oddball arrangement can kind of work? I powered up the very peculiar setup, and yes - it does work. The screen is a backlit TFT - not the worst screen I've seen, but at this low resolution it's hard to make out the elements of the many games I tried. Audio is weird too, but that's common to most NES clones out there.

The Game Theory Admiral was alleged to include (mine didn't) small pigtail leads that adapt a full sized NES controller to connect to the portable. Two people trying to share a single tiny screen wouldn't work too well, but the GTA can output to a full sized TV. Kinda neat, but pretty much defeats the whole purpose of having a pocket sized game unit.

This is the cousin of a notorious portable NES bootleg called the Game Axe (which still trades hands for unreasonable money - pictured here.) The GTA is neat for a collector, but I wouldn't recommend it for really enjoying a game. The GTA is unusually sturdy for a bootleg (with the controller buttons and d-pad getting a special mention for being well executed), but the loopy design just invites trouble. Having that Famicom cart flopping around is just asking for a lost connection during an exciting game session.

The question you might ask is whether an American NES cart can play on the Game Theory Admiral. The answer is yes, but you wouldn't want to. Not only do you have to contend with the much larger NES cart, but there's extra height added when plugging in the Famicom slot adapter. Promising start, but really... this thing is just ridiculous.

Just stick with one of the newer portable NES units by Hyperkin or Yobo with better screens and (hopefully) better design overall. You'll also not run into the danger specified in the Game Theory Admiral's manual.

"Relevant Crazy Warning! When take a look at in the usualenvironment inside usually a certain flashlight that appear or a certainpattern, minimum amount the part of people will or crazy disease go into actionis take placed to temporary lose the consciousness".

You just can't afford to ignore a warning like that.

Two Lost Episodes of Doctor Who Rematerialize!

This weekend, fans of the classic Doctor Who thrilled to hear that two more lost episodes have been recovered on 16mm film.The British Film Institute holds an annual event "Missing Believed Wiped" where they spread the word about Britain's lost TV history, and at this year's screening surprised fans with these two missing episodes (as well as a lost Peter Cook & Dudley Moore show from the 60's), not seen since their original broadcast nearly 50 years ago.

The BBC was never good about keeping an archive of their broadcast material before the 70's. It was regular practice to erase the video masters of shows in order to erase and reuse the expensive video tape. In fact, the incredible Monty Python series was nearly destroyed, but troupe member Terry Gilliam stepped in an bought the original edited video reels at 90 pounds a piece.

There was another reason for this besides clearing up shelf space, the actor's union Equity placed a limit on how many times a show could be re-run. This together with the move to color (sorry... "colour") broadcast in the 1970's made the BBC's black and white TV history fodder for the rubbish tip.

These recovered Who episodes are kinescope copies; 16mm film prints made of the original videotapes. With so many video standards worldwide, it was easier to make 16mm film copies of shows for international sale and distribution. These episodes were aired in Australia, and instead of being destroyed or returned to the BBC, they ended up at a rummage sale where they were bought by a film collector in the 80s.

One recovered episode features the first ever Doctor in the adventure of "Galaxy Four" from 1965, a story that has only existed thus far in the BBC archives as a 15 minute clip. The story features squat robots called Chumblies, clearly an attempt at another Dalek-mania craze (the Chumblies canister vac looks to the Dalek's pepper shaker silhouette), but this time without having to split profits with the creator of the Daleks, Terry Nation.

While grateful for any return of a missing episode, fans were a little less interested in seeing another installment from the second doctor's notorious "Underwater Menace" broadcast in 1967. The bland title gives little indication of the"arch" overacting of the lead bad guy. Seriously, this sort of over the top acting didn't tend to happen in Who. Another existing installment of this story features a bizarre underwater ballet by the fish people. Uh, yeah, it's a weird one...

So we're down to 106 missing half-hours of Doctor Who. While there's little chance of all of the shows ever reappearing, it's hopeful that even at this late date more cans of film marked "Doctor Who" can find their way back to our TVs - even if it has taken a half-century.

related:

Found tapes prove 60's Doctor Who musician may have invented techno
Doctor Who the computer salesman?
Classic Doctor Who figures in black and white

70's TV News And The Dangers of Dart Guns

This may look like a typical TV news clip from 1977 (from Chicago's WGN Channel 9 as it happens). It's a fairly standard TV news theme from around the holidays. First, spook viewers with the possible threats posed by popular toys, then pit the poor reporter against these perilous playthings.

In this clip, our hapless correspondent shows us the dangers of a suction cup dart that refuses to stick to its target. Many, many times. Okay, that's kind of funny... but stay tuned past the bloopers to see the outrageous 70's newsroom and the atomic yellow blazers on our three correspondents. If anything, Ron Burgundy went too subtle.

Don't touch that dial yet... Channel 9 used to show the local weather in lieu of closing credits. The footage underneath the weather text is test footage of the notorious Shogun Warrior toy. Watch one of the missiles aimed on purpose at the eyes of a goggle wearing kid. These vinyl robots were a massive 2 feet tall - and were massively popular back then. They were super-colorful with wild designs not typical of American robo toys... but the main feature was always the sheer number of projectiles the robot could deploy. The results of tests like the one featured here declared the toy too dangerous to children's eyes and respiratory systems. It's hard to disagree.

The Shogun Warrior is, sadly, a mostly forgotten toy of the 70's, the ban of the toy led to its rarity. I'd actually kind of like one now for my shelf as they are so outlandish and huge, but they command real money on Ebay. You may recall that we featured a Shogun styled Stormtrooper limited edition figure a while back. I've since seen it in person, and it's amazing. Hopefully more Shogun styled toys are in the pipeline. Now that we're adults maybe we can just play with our toys responsibly, and avoid ending up on the evening news.

[Sharp eared Retro Thing readers may recognize the unusual music from the closing credits. The bleeps and bloops are from the seminal electronic music album "The In Sound From Way Out", featuring synth pioneers Jean-Jaques Perry and Gershon Kingsley.]

Thanks to Fuzzy Memories, the amazing online museum for classic TV fans from Chicago and beyond.

related:
Collectible stormtrooper style Shogun toy
Memories of the Zanbots
Qonto: another forgotten late 70's Japanese toy robot

Free Retro Thing T-Shirt Bundle

8-bit Dinosaur is our latest limited edition pixel t-shirt. It's yours free when you buy a Retro Thing Clear Classic USB joystick for $29.95.

But be warned - this bundle is only available for the next seven days. Try to get it after Wednesday, December 14th and I'll just peer mournfully over the top of my scratched old spectacles, mumble something inaudible and shuffle off into the kitchen in search of a late-night Popsicle.

When you plug the limited edition USB joystick (one of only 500) into your Mac or PC, it lights from inside with a brilliant red glow. It's the perfect partner for the Stella Atari 2600 emulator (free download) and is also compatible with Atari, Amiga and Commodore emulators. It even supports the MAME arcade system and modern games that work with a standard USB D-pad.

The 8-bit Dinosaur design is available on adult and kid's "cardinal red" shirts. Each pixel tee is screen printed on a heavyweight 6.1oz Gildan Ultra Cotton shirt in Milwaukee, Wisconsin by a genuine American named Rick. There's no digital tomfoolery here, nor are our shirts made by 3-week-old kittens slaving at gunpoint in North Korean sweatshops.

The 8-bit Dinosaur Joystick Package is a great way to declare to the world that you're an 8-bit gamer. Includes a clear Atari-style USB joystick with red circuit board + bright red LED and a screen printed 6.1 oz Gildan Ultra Cotton tee. $29.95 + shipping. Don't see an 'add to cart' button? Click here

Size: Kids S (Age 6-8) Kids M (Age 10-12) Adult S Adult M Adult L Adult XL Adult XXL Adult XXXL

We've also brought back our incredibly popular 8-bit Invader design for this special. These black shirts are available in adult and kid's sizes.

The 8-bit Invader Joystick Package pays tribute to the evil monsters that made video games so addictive during the early years.   Includes a clear Atari-style USB joystick with red circuit board + LED and a screen printed 6.1 oz Gildan Ultra Cotton tee. $29.95 + shipping. Don't see an 'add to cart' button? Click here

T-Shirt Size: Kids S (Age 6-8) Kids M (Age 10-12) Adult S Adult M Adult L Adult XL Adult XXL Adult XXXL

The USB joysticks will ship to you within 24 hours for US orders. Rick will print the shirts late next week, so they'll ship separately the week before Christmas and likely won't arrive in time to go under the tree. International orders will ship as a single shipment.

So what are you waiting for? This is the best deal ever on Retro Thing schwag.

The Most Affordable North American Collector's Car

Here's a guest post from Michael Posner:

"This year marks the 100th anniversary of the Chevrolet brand. Many models are being feted as part of the celebration, but one model that is often overlooked in the hoopla is the Chevrolet Corvair, the first and only air cooled, rear engined mass produced car made in America. Produced from 1960 to 1969, the Corvair was the subject, in part, of Ralph Nader's seminal work, Unsafe at Any Speed, which claimed that the original 1960 car was prone to violent unpredictable oversteer. While somewhat true, handling improved after 1960, and by 1965 in the guise of a second generation car, became one if the best handling cars made at the time (with a new corvette-based independent rear suspension).

Initially, the Corvair was sold in a plethora of models including coupe, sedan, wagon, and van, but most were abandoned by 1966 as sales dropped 50% due to the publication of Nader's Book and the introduction of the Mustang. GM carried on with the coupe and convertible until 1969, mostly to spite Nader, despite ever-declining sales. 

The Corvair was GM's response to the small car import threat, especially from VW. Fuel economy was over 20 mpg, and due to the engine layout the interior was as roomy as many larger cars with a wide, flat floor and a folding rear seat for added luggage. Despite its economy car roots, the Corvair was soon adopted by.the sporting crowd as a poor man's Porsche. GM responded by up horsepower from 80 to 180 by turbocharging the car.

The engine was a unique design, a horizontally opposed six cylinder boxer engine with aluminum heads displacing 2.3 to 2.7 liters, supported by two or four one barrel carburettors producing 80 to 140 horsepower and a single side barrel carb feeding the dual intake turbo. Three and four speed manual transmission were available, along with a powerglide two speed autobox. 

Since the Corvair was an economy car, it lacked power steering or brakes, but options included bucket seats, air conditioning, am-fm stereo and full gauges. Prices started in the low $2,000s up to a fully loaded model that barely topped $3,000. Two specialty versions were also available, the race-bred Yenko Stinger and the sport luxury Fitch Sprint, both of which are highly sought in the collector market. 

Over nine years, GM sold 1.75 million Corvairs, but the stigma of being unsafe made the car less desirable than other 60's collectibles. Today the Corvair is part of a vibrant collector car community and has earned the title of the most affordable collectible. As a new owner of a 1966 Corvair coupe, I have found it to be easy to drive, easy to work on, with a ready supply of parts availability and online and local support. For those looking for a cheap fun collector car, the Corvair cannot be beat.  -- Michael Posner"

Thrift Store Score - 85 CDs For $6.90

It's got to be pretty obvious by now that I'm very fond of going to thrift stores - so much so that it's greatly affected my idea of what stuff is worth. If you're a retro fan, and a cheapskate, the thrifts of this nation are pretty much one stop shopping. But even this deal knocked me on my heels when one of my local haunts decided to ditch CDs.

CDs still hold a futuristic charm for me. Tiny (some might say "compact"), rainbow metallic finish... Drop one into a player, and just stand back as the digital sound roars out of your speakers. I have a large collection of CD's that I've put together since the late 80's, and while my acquisitions have slowed, I figure I'll be buying CD's as long as they're available.

The shift to digital downloads has tilted at an amazing rate. Many of my friends have freed themselves from the pressed aluminum bonds of a CD collection to be completely virtual. Of course I understand the appeal of having all of your music collection on a hard drive the size of a paperback (and of course nothing EVER goes wrong with a hard drive, right?). Still, there's just something in my head that wants to hold CD's and look at the artwork, and all of that.

We've all probably made this point - for or against - at some point in the last few years. My main issue with downloads is the heavy compression. Yeah, yeah, I know... compression schemes have gotten so good that you can hardly hear any difference. I guess it's that "hardly" part that still gets me. CD's are already a lovely uncompressed format that we can translate to our various devices. Why mess with that?

I can't argue with how great downloadble music has been for artists who would never have gotten a recording contract. Now no one has to decide whether you can release your tunes to a large audience or not. You just need a Facebook account. There are several artists I like who have never released a physical container for their music, but I'm still undecided whether the non-physical music world is truly better or not.

One unexpected bonus of the massive change to digital is that used CD's have become darned near worthless. I feel rotten for my friends who own record stores, and I mourn the day when I won't be able to idly troll the aisles discovering new tunes - but right now it seems like if there are any gaps in your music collection you want to fill, the CD format is a really cheap way to do it.

At the thrift, I just bought a binder full of 85 CD's and booklets for $6.90. That's less than 9 cents per album - which last I checked is quite a better price than iTunes. I'm also an album guy whereas the digital world caters to "hit single" listening... so this thrift score is going to be a lot of fun for me. Maybe you should check your local thrift to see if that retro CD technology is going to be on blowout soon. You can pick up a few albums worth of tunes for what you would have paid for a few singles online... and get uncompressed music to boot.

related:
1986 Hitachi portable CD player
Hard Format: The Art Of Physical Music Media
Audiophile Magazine reviews Sony's first CD player
PlayStation 1: An Audiophile Bargain or Fool's Gold?

The Sweet Sounds Of The Classic PEZ MP3 Player

In 2005, MP3 players were still an up and coming thing. 512 Megs didn't seem like a ridiculously small storage space, the iPod wasn't yet the only game in town, and we'd come along far enough to have collectioble MP3 players too. One of the first articles I wrote here on Retro Thing was about an unusual MP3 player - one that fit into a Game Boy Color.... but even that one doesn't approach the kitsch value of the the PEZ MP3 player.

News of this nostalgic MP3 player seemed to hit every gadget "blog" (also a new-ish idea at the time) back then. It wasn't an official product of the candy company - rather it was the dream of online entrepreneur Patrick Misterovich, who licensed the iconic design from PEZ. The player is the same size as a genuine PEZ dispenser, and the plastic boy head on top a duplicate of one of the first collectible PEZ dispensers back in 1955.

When you flip open the head, instead of being greeted by that familiar chalky candy, instead there's a power switch. One side of the player features simple navigation controls (forget any playlists here people - this is just a very basic player), as well as the mini USB player for loading up the built in memory. The headphone jack is in the dispenser's nape, and it's all powered by a single AAA battery.

The player was a limited edition of 1200 (though there are conflicting reports,  there may be more out there), with the promise of more designs to come. As it turned out, the plastic faced boy model was the only style to ever hit the market (which seems odd - all you'd have to do for future models is change heads, right?), so this model became a hot collectible. Even when it was new, the player was on the expensive side at $100 for 512 megs of non-expandable memory. Nevertheless, it apparently made Patrick Misterovich an internet millionaire, at least according to one report. These days, your only hope of finding a player is on Ebay where they are quite scarce, and can command over a hundred bucks.

Sadly with all that MP3 player technology crammed into the dispenser, there is no room left over for any candy. I wish they'd left room for at least one of the candy bricks,,. just for emergency purposes, you understand.

related:
the first mp3 player
mp3 player in the shape of a cassette
Elaborate mp3 system for Game Boy that never got very far