4 ms·

I remember playing with the original, although it wasn't mine. A friend must have had it. It would be interesting to know the cost in 1980, and compare it (wit

I remember playing with the original, although it wasn't mine. A friend must have had it. It would be interesting to know the cost in 1980, and compare it (with inflation) to the current cost.

mbreese 5y ago
That’s a good point. I wonder what kind of tolerances were needed to make the original records? It probably wasn’t terribly tight, but still necessary to make a playable record. Versus a simple microcontroller that can play any number of songs and very limited physical tolerances. The electric version might actually be cheaper to produce.
- Jtsummers 5y ago
  "any number of songs" = 10, in this case, and up to 16 but the extra 6 can't be delivered since there's no update mechanism. Versus the original which could play a much larger variety of songs based on the records themselves. Presumably using a music box like mechanism, not a vinyl record style mechanism, which greatly loosens the quality constraints on the records (based on listening to a recording of the original).
  - pronoiac 5y ago
    The original is very similar to a music box. It's likely doable to make your own disc for the original using 3D printing.
    - deleted 5y ago
      [deleted]
    - Symbiote 5y ago
      Yes, [1] is an instructable from some years ago. It should be achievable on a recent hobbyist printer nowadays, e.g. [2]. [1] https://www.instructables.com/3D-printing-records-for-a-Fisher-Price-toy-record-/ https://www.instructables.com/3D-printing-records-for-a-Fish... [2] https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:4648393 https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:4648393
mdorazio 5y ago
I, too, was very curious about this and was able to find out that when it launched in 1971, the record player was $6.85 [1]. That’s about $46 in today’s money. So I guess the question is how many parents today would pay that much for the “good” version of this toy in comparison to how many will pay $10 less for the fraud version. I’m guessing the business case points strongly toward the latter being revenue maximizing. [1] https://christmas.musetechnical.com/ShowCatalogPage/1971-Sears-Christmas-Book/0068 https://christmas.musetechnical.com/ShowCatalogPage/1971-Sea... Side note: like others here, I loved the hell out of this thing as a kid and I’m pretty sure we got it as a hand-me-down from my older cousin. It still worked like a champ after many years of abuse.
- Aeolun 5y ago
  > It still worked like a champ after many years of abuse. Maybe they found this to be a problem, so they made an updated version that is easier to break.

I remember playing with the original, although it wasn't mine. A friend must have had it. It would be interesting to know the cost in 1980, and compare it (with inflation) to the current cost.

mbreese 5y ago

That’s a good point. I wonder what kind of tolerances were needed to make the original records? It probably wasn’t terribly tight, but still necessary to make a playable record. Versus a simple microcontroller that can play any number of songs and very limited physical tolerances. The electric version might actually be cheaper to produce.

Jtsummers 5y ago
"any number of songs" = 10, in this case, and up to 16 but the extra 6 can't be delivered since there's no update mechanism. Versus the original which could play a much larger variety of songs based on the records themselves. Presumably using a music box like mechanism, not a vinyl record style mechanism, which greatly loosens the quality constraints on the records (based on listening to a recording of the original).
- pronoiac 5y ago
  The original is very similar to a music box. It's likely doable to make your own disc for the original using 3D printing.
  - deleted 5y ago
    [deleted]
  - Symbiote 5y ago
    Yes, [1] is an instructable from some years ago. It should be achievable on a recent hobbyist printer nowadays, e.g. [2]. [1] https://www.instructables.com/3D-printing-records-for-a-Fisher-Price-toy-record-/ https://www.instructables.com/3D-printing-records-for-a-Fish... [2] https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:4648393 https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:4648393

mdorazio 5y ago

I, too, was very curious about this and was able to find out that when it launched in 1971, the record player was $6.85 [1]. That’s about $46 in today’s money. So I guess the question is how many parents today would pay that much for the “good” version of this toy in comparison to how many will pay $10 less for the fraud version. I’m guessing the business case points strongly toward the latter being revenue maximizing. [1] https://christmas.musetechnical.com/ShowCatalogPage/1971-Sears-Christmas-Book/0068 https://christmas.musetechnical.com/ShowCatalogPage/1971-Sea... Side note: like others here, I loved the hell out of this thing as a kid and I’m pretty sure we got it as a hand-me-down from my older cousin. It still worked like a champ after many years of abuse.

Aeolun 5y ago
> It still worked like a champ after many years of abuse. Maybe they found this to be a problem, so they made an updated version that is easier to break.