Editor's take: Music used to have the ability to touch multiple senses simultaneously. In the days of vinyl, cassettes and CDs, there was something special about flipping through the accompanying album artwork or simply glossing over the track listing. And if you could get the material signed by the artist, well that was just next-level awesome.
For all of the benefits that streaming and digital music in general delivers (namely the near instantaneous access to a colossal catalog of music at a reasonable cost), one of the biggest strikes against digital is that you don't get any tangible material with your subscription fee or purchase.
Digital album art exists, mind you, but most devices don't prioritize it. On your smartphone, for example, music is often played in the background while you are doing other tasks like browsing the web. The same happens on the computer.
Sleevenote is attempting to replicate that old experience in the digital era.
The brainchild of recording artist and graphic designer Tom Vek, Sleevenote is a digital music player that is bigger than a CD. It'll feature a 7.5-inch 1:1 retina touch screen, a Cirrus HQ Digital Audio Converter (DAC) supporting up to 24bit/96k hi-res audio, a Wolfson 'Class-W' headphone amplifier and 250GB of onboard storage. Wi-Fi and Bluetooth come standard, as do the dedicated music control buttons and "all-day" battery life.
The main attraction, however, is no doubt the display. With it, Vek hopes to once again make listening to music a more visual experience by displaying album artwork and accompany material on the screen.
Sleevenote is seeking funding on Indiegogo. A pledge of around $700 is needed to get your name on the October 2021 estimated shipping docket.
Masthead credit: Asia Images Group