yay: My USB speakers arrived
boo: They're usb-POWERED, not usb speakers. Still got to plug them in to analog audio
yay: Of course my old X200 has a line out/headphone jack
boo: Jack is busted, makes no electrical connection.
Bleh. 
@RL_Dane
I got a mid-grade soundbar super-cheap because they didn't have the power cord. I just ordered a replacement and voila!
Then when I got a record player, it's able to act as a bluetooth speaker too. So now I have two mid-grade speakers. :)
Man, I don't think I've played a record in at least 20 years. Maybe 25+
Kinda miss it. I miss the beautiful sleeve art, and the very delicate, tactile feel of landing on that groove. My 2-3 LPs* were some of my most prized possessions as a child.
* Thriller, Michael Jackson, and a couple LPs by a band named "Triumph" that I got solely because the cover art was pretty. I was maybe six ;)
Have I mentioned that my long-term memory is kinda scary good? %D
@RL_Dane
Records are cool now again, have you heard? XD
Some recent albums have sold over 100k records in the first week.
I actually was planning to get a turntable before I heard that, but it has made it easier to get into the hobby that I'm not alone. Also makes me feel less unique for doing it, though. :P
@benjaminhollon @RL_Dane My family has a record player and perhaps 20 records (thanks grandparents C: for most of them). Most of them are old Christmas-related vinyls but we have a few recent ones too.
@benjaminhollon @RL_Dane One of the things I like about music via vinyl records is it feels a lot more natural – 'human-compatible', I like to say. You don't interact with a single screen or computer to get it working. If you want to listen to something else you get up and physically change the record. Records can be passed down to children or given away (physically, not as a virtual asset).
And your records don't disappear if they get pulled from the store and there are no changes or updates 😀
I'd love to see more mechanical controls become the norm.
Screens are cheap, but that doesn't mean everything has to have one!
@RL_Dane @benjaminhollon Oh absolutely. More robust, manual and "hackable" to list a few advantages.
@benjaminhollon @RL_Dane Oh that's cool.
@benjaminhollon @RL_Dane On a more computerized device, you couldn't do that unless the feature was built-in :( Here's to DIY!
@golemwire @RL_Dane
Haven't tried it yet, but it's a cool idea. :)
Yep, I've thought of something like that before.
I'm also tempted to get an AC timer for the tv, so it auto-shuts-off at bedtime, and doesn't stay silently running and snooping all night.
@RL_Dane @golemwire Any idea where to get something like that? I haven’t used them before.
Oh, they're everywhere. Walmart. Home Depot.
Only problem with them is that they're electromechanical, so if you lose power, the time doesn't have any way of correcting itself. It just resumes as if nothing happened, because it's basically just a teensy motor with a very large gear ratio (downward). The motor has a tiny cog advancing the entire large "clock" wheel. If you even just look at a photo of one, you'll see what I mean.
@RL_Dane @golemwire True, I’ve had that issue with alarm clocks. With my current one, I made sure to get one powered with a cord with a backup battery in case the power goes out.
If it's a 9V backup battery, those usually last a couple hours, tops. I don't know what it is about those alarm clocks (I had one 20 years ago), but the actual clock circuit is electrically not very efficient if it drains a 9V in a couple hours. That would power a #CASIO for decades, assuming it didn't chemically decay (which it would).
@RL_Dane @golemwire It doesn’t power the full clock; it just keeps track of the time. The clock won’t show the time or set off the alarm while on backup power, so I hope the backup would last longer because of that.
Oh, I know. I had one. Several, actually, throughout the years.
No, if you have a longer power outage, that 9V will be *gone*.
Personal experience on that one. AC clocks aren't like watches. I'm guessing they use the AC signal itself as a heartbeat (or base one off of it by division or whatnot), and producing one from a 9V is no mean feat.
@RL_Dane @golemwire True, a lot of alarms do that with the AC power.
I’ve had alarms run off of battery power for years, though, so I know it’s possible to do it more efficiently.
Yeah, it's a matter of whether it's designed to run off of battery or if the battery is there just as a backup.
@RL_Dane @golemwire Well, we’ll see I suppose. Either way it’s useful when I just need to unplug it and move it to a different socket.
I think it's fine for moving the clock, or if there's a typical short outage. I just know I came home one day after an outage and woke up with no alarm because it had reset itself and I didn't notice.
@golemwire @RL_Dane
Speaking of "hackable" I thought of a way to turn my record player into an alarm clock: use one of those electrical sockets on a timer to plug it in! Then when it turns on in the morning it starts playing whatever record I queued up the night before.