Sure, you’re a big fan of MF Doom. You’ve got MM.. Food on vinyl, but do you have MadVillainy on Tefi? Actually, you’ll be hard-pressed to get much of anything on the Tefifon, a German audio player from the 1940s. Tefifons play cartridges similar to 8-tracks, but instead of magnetic tape, the cartridges contain Tefi, or grooved strips similar to vinyl.
Digg posted a video by YouTube user Techmoan, who pays homage to the quirky player. Techmoan’s detailed breakdown of the machine includes taking apart the device and showing the innards of a cartridge. The plastic Tefifon tape looks a lot like red licorice, so it gets points for taste, but it also boasted a playing time of up to four hours. Other features include a push-button track jump that resembles station preset buttons on analog car radios, and a hideous collection of cover artists, owing to the fact that Tefi wasn’t able to attract big name artists to release music on the format. Vintage music player enthusiasts can track down Tefifone players and terrible German cover versions of Tuti Frutti on eBay.