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Comment by smashed | Hacker News Reader

As an 80's kid I have fond memories of this toy. Being all mechanical you could explore and marvel at it.

I remember trying to get the spin faster/slower, stopping the spring, etc.

Since it required no batteries it was always working, even when you found it at the bottom of toy bin after months/years.

This modern version is a complete scam, especially since the outside look seems absolutely identical to the original. I'd be very disappointed if I bought one for a toddler, only to realize when unboxing it's crap.

By the way, we still have the original toy from my childhood. It's been passed around to relatives, but last I heard, it still works after what must be almost 40 years.

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> This modern version is a complete scam

This. It preys upon the childhood memories of parents and grandparents. Literally everything that made the original such a fond memory is gone and what you're left with is a cheap trick that had none of the lasting appeal of the original.

Of course by its very nature selling a kids record player in the age of streaming music is preying on the parents childhood memories.

Well giving them a spotify gift card or the printed out specifications for mp3 isn't going to make them very happy after all.

You can say whatever you like about vinyl, but it is tangible.

Maybe, but I think a kid can appreciate a record player for itself. It's arguably the most grab-able music format (cassette tapes are a close contender) and it's a very visual and tactile way to experience music.

I have an old phonograph cabinet and my toddler is always trying to turn the crank, then wants to be held up to see the record spinning while it plays. He doesn't care that it's an obsolete relic of generations past, he just wants to turn a crank and watch it spin.

> This modern version is a complete scam

Applies to pretty much 90% of everything I use and buy. The world is getting shittier by the day.

This should be a proxy measure for inflation. (If only it was quantifiable so easily…)

Instead of prices going up in this case, quality goes down.

There used to be an awesome blog site called consumerist that had a "Shrink Ray" section where they would try to track all the consumer products that were secretly degraded in some way. The blog shut down a while ago. Guess big industry got to them.

[1]:https://consumerist.com/tag/shrink-ray/index.html

The life blood of any independent site is advertising. Who would advertise on such a site?

Good point.

I also spent many hours futzing with one of these. The music-playing mechanism in the arm was particularly interesting, for some reason. I remember spending time plucking out songs using a screwdriver.

> 's been passed around to relatives, but last I heard, it still works after what must be almost 40 years

I think this is the reason for the new version. Fisher Price won't earn any money if the toys never breaks and never have to be replaced, to the detriment of everyone (including the environment) except the stakeholders.

The new version is much more suspicable to breakage and hence, a better chance at profits for the company.

If you’re ever in the market to sell that thing, it sounds like my kids could use the mechanical version…

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