TDK’s Life on Record range audio gear revisits the ’80s for inspiration
Ziba
TDK, a company better known for analogue cassette tapes, is launching Life on Record, a glossy black range of products made with the help of Portland-based design house Ziba. “Digilog” — a mixture of “digital and analogue” — is the term coined to encapsulate the design philosophy of these retro-tinged products.
This gear is, in the marketing-speak of Ziba, targeted at “music prophets”: record-buying fans who “love the convenience of digital music… but miss the warmth of analogue.” You can see this mixture of new and nostalgia in the range’s flagship product, the three-speaker Boombox.
You can see this mixture of new and nostalgia in the range’s flagship product
The Boombox, which also comes in two-speaker form, unmistakably resembles an ’80s ghetto blaster, but there’s no tape deck in sight. Instead, it has an AM/FM radio, plus USB, 3.5mm and auxiliary jacks for connecting MP3 players and flash drives.
In a stylistic nod to old-school stereos, the Boombox’s features a digital equaliser besides its input display.
“The power of creative thinking” is TDK’s slogan and the firm’s certainly been creative with its reworking of iconic hi-fi.