For my B-Day in 1981, my Dad offered me Record Runner and my Mom a record of the animated TV series I was watching at the time: Ulysse 31. This portable record player (33 rpm) was cool but had a bad sound. Feature-wise, it was quite basic: on and off! Regardless, at the time, it was so amazing, and watching the little WW making rounds on the LP was magic! Thirty-seven years later, the Record Runner was re-issued. I could not resist buying the new model purely driven by nostalgia, yeah, nobody is perfect. The new model is quite an improvement over the original. Replaceable head, speed fine-tuning, better sound quality, and automatic end of record detection.
I was a bit surprised for the first time, as the antenna disappeared. This antenna was folding up – to start the runner –, and backward – to stop it. You don’t need it anymore, as the player detects that it is in a horizontal position and automatically plays the record. Several versions and editions are available (http://recordrunner.jp/), but I went with the cherry red model, as my toy from the ‘80s.
Besides the blast from the past, the record runner still has one fantastic feature: the perfect demo of the doppler effect! Just for that, it can be an excellent teaching tool in physics classes!!
