The company ought to bring out a Bluetooth speaker with the same design for nostalgia. Maybe including an SD slot and the songs it originally came with too, as well as reduced versions of the books.
Same here! Then I thought maybe it was a speaker and microphone that recorded sound when attached to an accompanying camera so you can play ambient noise from a scenic photo location.
Ha i guessed "Some kind of portable karoke machine." And honestly this thing for its time seems like an amazing idea. I bet you it's things like this that really helped make the east-Asian karaoke culture what it is today.
I did not guess what it was with any success. As a photographer, I kept getting hung up on the name: pana pic, (panarama picture.) I kept thinking it somehow shot 35mm film images in a circle that you put together to make a panoramic scene. I failed, lol. Anyway, that sure is a heck of a neat idea, and ahead of its time, a 40-yr old palm-size karoake device+.....
i was really hoping it projected 360 degree panoramic pictures in a room somehow.... wasn't a let down however. we still have digital kids read along books today!!
What a wonderful idea! Absolutely love it! The songs are nice and nostalgic, the book is beautiful as well. I kinda' need one now, but they seem to be rare and pricy... :-/
Really is an audiobook that is haha! I thought it was gonna be a portable karaoke lol oh it is 😆 is it magnetic? What happens when you need to hold the lyrics up while using the mic? Yeah not greatly though through!
Was SMEG a thing before Red Dwarf? I thought Doug Naylor and/or Rob Grant made up bad words to get around sensors. Nice reference if it's related to RD.
I'm guessing from some of your other clips/shows that you are based in the UK. I've noticed you use 'Kirkland' batteries. In the U.S. that's the house brand for a chain of large-lot family discounts stores, 'Costco.' Just wondering if Costco has a footprint in the UK.
As soon as you showed the underside of the speaker I had assumed it was high quality photos with audio captured on-site as a sort of immersive experience.
Seriously impressed by the photos in that book more than anything. The quality is superb and the way they’ve been taken, they wouldn’t be out of place in some “Arty” magazine in 2020
Same. I also think it's a really cool idea. The idea of putting little records in a book is a really interesting invention. I wonder if anyone has digitized all the recordings. o:
What an interesting device! It reminds me of scanning a QR code but, instead of using a phone, you use the Panapic, place it over one of the discs, and voila.
Same here. Then he showed the book with the pictures and records and I thought it was ambient sounds for meditation. When it played music instead, I was completely lost.
I'm dying to see some behind the scenes footage of Techmoan filming the puppet parts. He's always so professional, imagine seeing him bent under a table with his hand up some puppet's ass doing silly voices. That doesn't sound weird, right?
I'm sure someone may have mentioned this but National is Panasonic's home brand. So basically anything like lights, fridges and other home electrical devices that are not A/V come out under the National name. Even now they do. :) all the light switches in my house are National as is the doorbell :)
Senpai Kei surprisingly they don't release products under the Matsushita name or at least not for general public consumption. In the past (80s) there were TVs and such with the National branding but they soon decided to go with Panasonic for all their A/V stuff. I think now they may even use the Panasonic name for fridges and Microwaves although my Fridge say National since its about 10 years old.
Marcus Santos yes, that's probably about right. In the 80s Matsushita did use the National brand on TVs and music equipment. This trend was replaced by the Panasonic name during the 90s as it had a stronger brand appearance.
I'm from China, and when I was a child I've seen a similar device in the home of one of my classmates, who lived in a wealthy family. It's the same combination, a hard-covered picture book (larger though), and a hand-held device. Inside that book there were the same plastic discs, and with the hand-held device put on that disc, it reads the story on that page. Used to think the sound was stored magnetically on the disc like floppy disks, but after watching video I believe it could be the same concentric circles technology.
Touka Lucsiro It's a spiral (one long spiral from beginning to end). Concentric circles are best for random jumping around with precision mechanics (like computer discs, except the CD/DVD which are based on audio-video spirals).
Touka Lucsiro This is basically how phonographic records are made. Vibration on grooves allow for sound to be reproduced through a player like that to play records on.
Rune International - I just wasn't clear; I was referring to retro tech, not new inventions. Wasn't really serious either; it's clear Techmoan has an innate ability to sniff out vintage gadgets and obscure formats. Let the Muppetry continue ad infinitum.
Dave Compton I know, but my point was, that every day from that quote more than hundred years ago, people have created junk world wide. There is sadly no way techmoan will ever run out. And in 30 years he can show todays junk
I reckon a little cleaning/lubing of whatever mechanism the stylus moves along would clear up that skipping problem. I thought 'camera or viewer of some sort' as well. Very interesting curio. There's something delightfully tactile about records.
Maybe that voice at about the 7:30 mark translates as; "Sorry squire, I've scratched your record....Sorry squire, I've scratched your record.....Sorry squire, I've scratched your record....." ?
A fantastic old (paper) & new (stylus) technology combination. I'm fascinated with this little cute device. These technologies let you interract with them. 07:25 as an example : hit and correct :D
Stunning! Here in Germany similar technology was used to boost the BERTELSMANN LEXIKOTHEK encyclopedia to a multimedia experience. There were some of the books provided with engraved foils and a similar kind of player could be dropped on them so you could hear the sound of historical recordings. As a young lad I found that highly innovative. Was in the early 90s when I remember correctly. My brother-in-law keeps a collection of that encyclopedia so I can enjoy this retro tech from time to time.
Not sure why but this is one of my favorite crazy gizmos from your site. You always find odd music stuff but DANG, I would have wanted one of these back in the day. I think I was in junior high school back then so probably never could have gotten one and since getting proprietary stuff from Japan in the 70's isn't like it is now it wouldn't have been likely either. p.s. WOOOHOOO! The puppets are back! Sorry I forget their names and I'm way too lazy to figure them out right now. Those puppets ALWAYS feel EXACTLY the same about stuff as I do. Amazing. It's like they crawled into my head and are rummaging around in there for content.
I was kind of expecting the Outro Music to get stuck before the end like the Panapic discs, just as a little joke. :P I did sit through the puppet joke, though. It was like watching a more sophisticated closing joke from The Vicar of Dibley. I enjoyed the punchline.
Don't know why anyone would not like the puppets I look forward to them at the end of every episode, it's a bit humour after watching a great informative video and caps it off nicely
This brings back some memories.. My friends dad had a whole encyclopedia (several books in dutch) that had a similar device with wich one could hear explainations, sounds and other stuff. I can't recall what it was called, but it might be worth your while to look into. Might aswell be there was an English version of it too.
Yes, I remember that such an encyclopedia was available in Germany too at that time. Although the playback device was not as good as the Panapic: ua-cam.com/video/0KMWLV_5mTY/v-deo.html
Man, if I was an entrepreneur in the 1970s. I would've probably made this like it's own audio format to compete with 8 Track or cassette. I would've probably lost the format war, but still. Would've been cool.
I bet something is physically adding resistance or the motor's a bit knackered or summat. If it was easy to take apart, it could be a reasonable project, but if I had to guess I'd bet it's not. Really neat little thing, though! Sometimes I wonder how you even find out about about this stuff.
Techmoan at his finest! Gorgeous piece of retro-tech (want one!!!) with an inspired slow-reveal, and the funniest puppet dialogue yet. You, sir, are the Emperor Of UA-cam.
I had something like this as a kid in the 80s called Fisher Price Talk to Me but it looked different. The books were kid stories, and you put the device one each page and it would read the story. The premise was the same, but the device was more clear and you could see the needle spinning inside.
My grandparents had one of those. The clear bit had an aligning ring to make it easier to get into place which looks to be a bit of a problem with this device. On the other hand, this Panapic looks positively modern compared to the Talk-To-Me.
Thank you - I was thinking of exactly the same toy, and I couldn't find *anything* searching things like "childrens book with record" or "children book flexisheet". This thing was awesome! Easily one of the toys I remember most from being a little kid.
I had one of these when I was 3. Mine was different, though. It was rectangular and had a clear section where you could see the needle spinning around. After I got bored with the book, I tried to play the walls and carpet with it. It broke. My parents were mad. I had fun.
The tracks starting at 4:11, 4:33 and 9:57 reminded me quite a bit of the types of songs the Ventures used to play during their Japanese period (they were very popular in Japan). But then, they were doing their best to sound "Japanese" at the time, playing Japanese tunes softly in a "ballad-like" style. Very nice music, some my favorite Ventures songs were done in that style. They released more than a few LPs (later re-released as double-CDs) of this kind of music.
FYI (information of song titles and singers) 4:11 Yokohama Tasogare (lit. Yokohama twilight) originally sung by Hiroshi ITSUKI 4:33 Tsugaru Kaikyo Fuyu Geshiki (lit. Winter scape of Tsugaru Straight) by Sayuri ISHIKAWA 9:57 Nagasaki ha Kyou mo Ame datta (lit. It rains again in Nagasaki Today) by Hiroshi UCHIYAMADA and Cool Five these all songs belong to Enka (演歌) category.
That is so interesting, and just think, it has been over 40 years since that lady's voice was recorded for the instructions. I can't help imagine all the people involved with designing, building, and even buying/using this device. So very interesting.
The microphone that had been included with the machine might have been a crystal or carbon-granule mike that produced its own signal like a ceramic phono cartridge does, as opposed to a magnetic cartridge or dynamic mike, which works by varying resistance from a pre-amp signal. This may be why your mike didn't seem to work with it, since it was probably a modern-day dynamic mike that uses a coil and magnet. Probably the machine's cartridge is also a ceramic type that produces its own signal using the piezo effect, and so the machine did not need a pre-amp to hear the sound, and thus the mike was probably the same kind of "self-powered" component that connected to the same circuitry on the amplifier as the cartridge was connected to.
The design is quite modern, considering it's 40 years old. It almost looks like a bluetooth speaker.
I thought it was actually a Bluetooth speaker
Derevirn yea that's what I was thinking xD it looks like a Bluetooth speaker
The company ought to bring out a Bluetooth speaker with the same design for nostalgia. Maybe including an SD slot and the songs it originally came with too, as well as reduced versions of the books.
Derevirn just plug a phone into the mic input and it basically is!
I thought it was a 1970s Amazon Echo. "Alexa, play Engelbert Humperdinck"
At first I thought it was some kind of rotating device to take PANoramic PICtures.
Mato da Costa - me too
I guess it's because it's made by Panasonic. Not sure what it has to do about pictures though...
Same here.
Same here
Same here! Then I thought maybe it was a speaker and microphone that recorded sound when attached to an accompanying camera so you can play ambient noise from a scenic photo location.
Design looks like something you could get yesterday. Quite amazing, how lack of wear and tear on the device takes away 'retro' factor.
Sounds like Russian movie soundtracks from the 70s and 80s. Love it :).
You can find this kind of Japanese pop songs for searching the words such as 歌謡曲(Kayokyoku) and 演歌(Enka).
Ha i guessed "Some kind of portable karoke machine." And honestly this thing for its time seems like an amazing idea. I bet you it's things like this that really helped make the east-Asian karaoke culture what it is today.
I did not guess what it was with any success. As a photographer, I kept getting hung up on the name: pana pic, (panarama picture.) I kept thinking it somehow shot 35mm film images in a circle that you put together to make a panoramic scene. I failed, lol. Anyway, that sure is a heck of a neat idea, and ahead of its time, a 40-yr old palm-size karoake device+.....
That outro bass tho👌👌
wow, didn't expect this good quality from a forty year old gadget.
This gadget, from the design and the idea, amazing, hopefully something like this comes back soon
Wasn't expecting that. Very unique item.
Fisher Price (I think) sold a similar gizmo in the US that was used for talking children’s picture books.
i was really hoping it projected 360 degree panoramic pictures in a room somehow.... wasn't a let down however. we still have digital kids read along books today!!
What a wonderful idea! Absolutely love it! The songs are nice and nostalgic, the book is beautiful as well. I kinda' need one now, but they seem to be rare and pricy... :-/
Really is an audiobook that is haha! I thought it was gonna be a portable karaoke lol oh it is 😆 is it magnetic? What happens when you need to hold the lyrics up while using the mic? Yeah not greatly though through!
I had a National short wave receiver back in the 60's. US market.
Was SMEG a thing before Red Dwarf? I thought Doug Naylor and/or Rob Grant made up bad words to get around sensors. Nice reference if it's related to RD.
www.wikiwand.com/en/Smeg_(appliances)
Bill Schlafly - I always thought smeg was supposed to be short for smegma, but yeah, it was basically supposed to be a censor-friendly curse word.
Smegma is dick cheese
Monty Python's Flying Circus also mentioned a Mrs B. J. Smegma (this got past the BBC censors in 1972).
Red dwarf it was always smeg head. A greate serie. Nice to see I'm not the only one who have seen it.
The Google home that does not spy on you
best one till now!
I've never wanted anything more in my life.
Wait, guessing at 2:45, is it one of those record players that you put directly on the record and it moves along the surface as it plays?
I d like to hear Macintosh plus on that
I'm guessing from some of your other clips/shows that you are based in the UK.
I've noticed you use 'Kirkland' batteries.
In the U.S. that's the house brand for a chain of large-lot family discounts stores, 'Costco.'
Just wondering if Costco has a footprint in the UK.
I also saw a similar device that does baseball.
Man, I was waaaay off
This is nuts for how old it is
Haha, me neither.
The Industrial designs seems more like the 1990s than the 1970s.
haha yes lordie!
Wag1
Man like Lordie watching techmoan 👍👍
"Hey Panapic, whats the weather today"
It looks remarkably modern. At first glance, I'd have thought it was a cheap Bluetooth speaker.
*"all the best stuff is made in japan"*
--marty mcfly, 1990
my AIWA portable cassette recorder still works today even it has been over 20yrs
@@Tadfafty 1985 Marty said that in 1955 to 1955 Doc who then gave an authentic 1955 expression
NO!
All said, it looks quite modern for a device from 1977.
My first thought was that it looked like a fairly cheap aux speaker you'd get at radioshack in the late 90s. Surprising design for 77.
I like it, a lot. It makes me think of a Bluetooth Speaker or something. Wonder if we could pop it under a 45? Probably too wide :(
Oh and the plastic wrap. Good as the day it left the factory. Beautiful.
That said, the book makes it for me. So romantic for the time.
It is stuck on this phrase: 7:32 使い方では、・・・ = tsukai-kata de wa, ... = About how to use, ...
As soon as you showed the underside of the speaker I had assumed it was high quality photos with audio captured on-site as a sort of immersive experience.
lol me too!
Splendid. That's one for the record books! ;)
Record. Books. I see what you did there, and I'm a little bit jealous.
LOL
Get out !
Absolutely-4sure.Good on-ya...
Very punny.
I saw "Panapic" and a book of photos assumed it took panoramic pictures.
Me too; figured it was some sort of motorized tripod head...
Same.
I thought it was a projector.
My first thought was that it might be some sort of panoramic projector hehe
Hahaha same, I thought I was very clever by guessing it within a second, but no, was completely wrong.
I'm always shocked by the quality of the plastics from the '70s. Those things were made to last.
When the player was stuck and he slapped it, I laughed. I almost expected it to say after being slapped "domo arigato!"
I expected the Panapic to say, "Ouchhu! sore wa itai!"
Percussive Maintenance!
Gomen de sumeba, keisatsu iranai!
Seriously impressed by the photos in that book more than anything. The quality is superb and the way they’ve been taken, they wouldn’t be out of place in some “Arty” magazine in 2020
wow! this is a really cool device! absolutely love it!
Same. I also think it's a really cool idea.
The idea of putting little records in a book is a really interesting invention.
I wonder if anyone has digitized all the recordings. o:
The instruction disk woman: "nationaru panapikku" :) :) Oh my that made me laugh.
The suspense was killing me! Ha ha. Nice one. Another amazing analogue moment.
What an interesting device! It reminds me of scanning a QR code but, instead of using a phone, you use the Panapic, place it over one of the discs, and voila.
That is probably the most charming piece of technology I have ever seen ;)
When I heard that it was Japanese and has a microphone input some little part of my brain thought karaoke.
And...... You were right !
Same here. Then he showed the book with the pictures and records and I thought it was ambient sounds for meditation. When it played music instead, I was completely lost.
Ms, too!🙂🎙
I'm dying to see some behind the scenes footage of Techmoan filming the puppet parts. He's always so professional, imagine seeing him bent under a table with his hand up some puppet's ass doing silly voices.
That doesn't sound weird, right?
Josh Griffiths nah. some people do it for a living
Your comment needs to be upvoted so that Mat would read it.
It would be weird in the middle of the night at 2am, but nah...its like Ashens, you don't expect them to act silly but they do
Josh Griffiths Man, I was so looking forward to that!!
*7:51* sounds vaporwave-like lo-fi music.....
ａｅｓｔｈｅｔｉｃａｌｌｙ ａｐｐｅａｌｉｎｇ ｔｏ ｍｙ ｅａｒｓ .
I'm sure someone may have mentioned this but National is Panasonic's home brand. So basically anything like lights, fridges and other home electrical devices that are not A/V come out under the National name. Even now they do. :) all the light switches in my house are National as is the doorbell :)
Ahh I knew I recognized it before but I didn't know it was their home brand. I figured they just went be Matsushita
That's weird, I had a National tv back in the 80s. In Brazil of all places.
Same, I had a TV and a boombox by National bought locally in India. This was in the 90s.
Senpai Kei surprisingly they don't release products under the Matsushita name or at least not for general public consumption. In the past (80s) there were TVs and such with the National branding but they soon decided to go with Panasonic for all their A/V stuff. I think now they may even use the Panasonic name for fridges and Microwaves although my Fridge say National since its about 10 years old.
Marcus Santos yes, that's probably about right. In the 80s Matsushita did use the National brand on TVs and music equipment. This trend was replaced by the Panasonic name during the 90s as it had a stronger brand appearance.
That thing is 40 years old.... I genuinely thought up until the end this was a modern gimmick and was wandering why there wasn't a USB connector.
How could you still have that thought 'till the end? He literally said at the beginning it's from 1977 🤦♂️
@@farhanatashiga3721 no need to be condescending, unless that’s how you like people treating you when you don’t hear or miss one detail.
@@doubtful_seer
One detail …
Matt mentioned “the seventies “, “1976” and “1977” several times…
7:23 - _A 40-YEAR-OLD MACHINE THAT MAKES VAPORWAVE?!_
....You got me. I lol'd
V I N T A G E. A E S T H E T I C
Kind of a Avant-garde Vaporwave tho.
Was convinced it was a 360-degree camera
I want that music soundtrack desperately.
I'm from China, and when I was a child I've seen a similar device in the home of one of my classmates, who lived in a wealthy family. It's the same combination, a hard-covered picture book (larger though), and a hand-held device. Inside that book there were the same plastic discs, and with the hand-held device put on that disc, it reads the story on that page. Used to think the sound was stored magnetically on the disc like floppy disks, but after watching video I believe it could be the same concentric circles technology.
Touka Lucsiro It's a spiral (one long spiral from beginning to end). Concentric circles are best for random jumping around with precision mechanics (like computer discs, except the CD/DVD which are based on audio-video spirals).
Touka Lucsiro This is basically how phonographic records are made. Vibration on grooves allow for sound to be reproduced through a player like that to play records on.
*hears 1970s Japanese pop instrumentals*
[[[MACROSS FLASHBACKS INTENSIFY]]]
Terrific! How many more obscure and fascinating gadgets are there out there for Techmoan to showcase? Seems there can't be much left!
I think that every time he uploads a retro-tech video and then he manages to find something new to amaze us. :)
Dave Compton you Sound so like the guy who wanted to close the patent Office in early 1900's, because there was no way, more stuff could be invented.
Rune International - I just wasn't clear; I was referring to retro tech, not new inventions. Wasn't really serious either; it's clear Techmoan has an innate ability to sniff out vintage gadgets and obscure formats. Let the Muppetry continue ad infinitum.
Dave Compton I know, but my point was, that every day from that quote more than hundred years ago, people have created junk world wide. There is sadly no way techmoan will ever run out. And in 30 years he can show todays junk
Rune International - Awesome thought; all presented on UA-cam VR™ and watched by billions as they commute on the global hyperloop network.
this is one of my favourite things you've covered.
So what we have here is an early V A P O R W A V E device. It does the skips for you!
also, a e s t h e t i c s
I reckon a little cleaning/lubing of whatever mechanism the stylus moves along would clear up that skipping problem.
I thought 'camera or viewer of some sort' as well. Very interesting curio. There's something delightfully tactile about records.
I lolled at ‘big fan of Smeg’...blame the Red Dwarf fan in me
I still have my Y2SMEG t-shirt, but sadly its condition is not really good enough to allow repping the boys from the Dwarf in public any longer.
@@sixstringedthing Surely that's more authentic to Lister's style though, right? How many curry stains does it have?
New meaning to "Record Album" ey?
Today's price: between $133 and $150, depending which country's inflation rate you use.
"You must be a big fan of smeg"
woah wait what
Actually, Apple Smegphone does have a nice ring to it. ("Ring", geddit?)
Red dwarf never copyrighted "smeg"? What smegging smegheads!
Blazephlozard smeg's a brand of fridges made to look retro
+lightdark00 i think Red Dwarf got it from the word 'smegma'.
why would they name their brand after the shorthand for dickcheese
Nashonaru Panapikku! :D
Maybe that voice at about the 7:30 mark translates as; "Sorry squire, I've scratched your record....Sorry squire, I've scratched your record.....Sorry squire, I've scratched your record....." ?
MrWombatty Sorry squire, it says "how to use" like it's going to give you instructions.
Don Wald, you're obviously too young for the Monty-Python joke reference!
MrWombatty Obviously 🙄
I will not buy this picture book; it is scratched.
Brillemeister Know what I mean?
A fantastic old (paper) & new (stylus) technology combination. I'm fascinated with this little cute device.
These technologies let you interract with them. 07:25 as an example : hit and correct :D
The origin of the bluetooth speaker :-D
Was anyone else reminded of Kill Bill at around 06:00?
Techmoan's good enough to be on TV late at night.
Doug Chase Just strange enough for interdimensional cable tbh
TV is not good enough for Techmoan though
Stunning! Here in Germany similar technology was used to boost the BERTELSMANN LEXIKOTHEK encyclopedia to a multimedia experience. There were some of the books provided with engraved foils and a similar kind of player could be dropped on them so you could hear the sound of historical recordings. As a young lad I found that highly innovative. Was in the early 90s when I remember correctly. My brother-in-law keeps a collection of that encyclopedia so I can enjoy this retro tech from time to time.
please be a camera that you hide in side of a pineapple.
you can also put it under the sea.
Pine-O-Ramic
Color Me Twisted Pineapple Pen umm
Color Me Twisted a
old meme
I always stay for the puppets.
Never!
After a few sake, you wont care that it skips on every song.
That was a state of the art technology it was way ahead for his time, I wonder techoman grandkids will un open a ipod and do a review in 2070
This would be awesome as an educational multimedia tool. Pitty it never took off. Perhaps in an alternate universe...
Japanese lessons are really paying off, I was able to read karaoke on the box
I knew it wasn't all for nothing
How do you get Japanese lessons?
@@ash_aiden ua-cam.com/video/vp4nGx3uRlE/v-deo.html
@@ИльяВитцев ok
Not sure why but this is one of my favorite crazy gizmos from your site. You always find odd music stuff but DANG, I would have wanted one of these back in the day. I think I was in junior high school back then so probably never could have gotten one and since getting proprietary stuff from Japan in the 70's isn't like it is now it wouldn't have been likely either.
p.s. WOOOHOOO! The puppets are back! Sorry I forget their names and I'm way too lazy to figure them out right now. Those puppets ALWAYS feel EXACTLY the same about stuff as I do. Amazing. It's like they crawled into my head and are rummaging around in there for content.
Would be interesting to cut out one of the records and play it on a record player.
Panasonic's (National) slogan for years was "Just slightly ahead of our time", Indeed, they often were!👍
I was kind of expecting the Outro Music to get stuck before the end like the Panapic discs, just as a little joke. :P
I did sit through the puppet joke, though. It was like watching a more sophisticated closing joke from The Vicar of Dibley. I enjoyed the punchline.
What an absolutely gorgeous and aesthetic lofi marvel. Meshing physical and digital media flawlessly
Don't know why anyone would not like the puppets I look forward to them at the end of every episode, it's a bit humour after watching a great informative video and caps it off nicely
I agree! I also enjoy the puppet show.
I like 'em too, and if I'm not in the mood for them I can always close the video a little early.
Ethan Ansell hasn't it always been like that
but it's all true! Go to any gadget website to see it.
Normally they're p. good, but they were a bit shite this time after a great and informative video.
While I admire your Kirkland batteries from Costco, you should give Eneloops a go. Best rechargeable batteries I've ever used, by far.
This brings back some memories.. My friends dad had a whole encyclopedia (several books in dutch) that had a similar device with wich one could hear explainations, sounds and other stuff. I can't recall what it was called, but it might be worth your while to look into. Might aswell be there was an English version of it too.
Yes, I remember that such an encyclopedia was available in Germany too at that time. Although the playback device was not as good as the Panapic: ua-cam.com/video/0KMWLV_5mTY/v-deo.html
Emina Đonko Don't suppose Matsushita licensed out this technilogy to other companies for their devices?
my guess was a combination speaker/slow-cooker.
Well, this is a treat. I rarely catch them this early!
0:46 radio?
1:55 Karaoke speaker?
3:08 mini-record player!
That music is very Japanese.
I'd watch an hour long episode of the unfunny, childish & irritating puppets.
Man, if I was an entrepreneur in the 1970s. I would've probably made this like it's own audio format to compete with 8 Track or cassette.
I would've probably lost the format war, but still. Would've been cool.
They could have partnered up with Nissan and Toyota and had exclusive albums on the dashboards of the new cars at the time.
well, that wouldv'e probably failed without A LOT of engineering since records are so finicky
On the plus side, you could be collecting millions in trademarks loyalties from Amazon over the word "Audiobook"
It could only work for singles because of how small the discs are and singles died out when Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band released.
WeirdoTZero 8-track was better at the time
04:13 Sounds like a Sergio Leone western! haha
Or something Tarantino would have used in Kill Bill. Definitely had that very Japanese Flow/Spaghetti Western vibe.
I bet something is physically adding resistance or the motor's a bit knackered or summat. If it was easy to take apart, it could be a reasonable project, but if I had to guess I'd bet it's not.
Really neat little thing, though! Sometimes I wonder how you even find out about about this stuff.
Somebody should release an Album on this format!
each song is one disc
genius
The humble beginnings of the amiibo.
Francisco Gabriel Cordoves-Quijano bruh don't even play lol that's too real
Techmoan at his finest! Gorgeous piece of retro-tech (want one!!!) with an inspired slow-reveal, and the funniest puppet dialogue yet. You, sir, are the Emperor Of UA-cam.
I had something like this as a kid in the 80s called Fisher Price Talk to Me but it looked different. The books were kid stories, and you put the device one each page and it would read the story. The premise was the same, but the device was more clear and you could see the needle spinning inside.
My grandparents had one of those. The clear bit had an aligning ring to make it easier to get into place which looks to be a bit of a problem with this device. On the other hand, this Panapic looks positively modern compared to the Talk-To-Me.
Thank you - I was thinking of exactly the same toy, and I couldn't find *anything* searching things like "childrens book with record" or "children book flexisheet".
This thing was awesome! Easily one of the toys I remember most from being a little kid.
Hah! I searched basically the same terms before hitting on "record playing toy book" image search.
Yes, thank you! I had those as a kid, too. A quick UA-cam search shows the same one I had being demonstrated.
ReviewsTechNow Yep, I had one of these as a kid! I recall it being used with kid books they sold.
Why Panapick? National is Panasonic so maybe Pana + Pick?
old japanese electronics are KING!!!!
So are old Japanese cars (I love any skyline) (ANY SKYLINE)
I had one of these when I was 3.
Mine was different, though. It was rectangular and had a clear section where you could see the needle spinning around.
After I got bored with the book, I tried to play the walls and carpet with it. It broke. My parents were mad. I had fun.
Bloody marvellous!
The tracks starting at 4:11, 4:33 and 9:57 reminded me quite a bit of the types of songs the Ventures used to play during their Japanese period (they were very popular in Japan). But then, they were doing their best to sound "Japanese" at the time, playing Japanese tunes softly in a "ballad-like" style. Very nice music, some my favorite Ventures songs were done in that style. They released more than a few LPs (later re-released as double-CDs) of this kind of music.
FYI (information of song titles and singers)
4:11 Yokohama Tasogare (lit. Yokohama twilight) originally sung by Hiroshi ITSUKI
4:33 Tsugaru Kaikyo Fuyu Geshiki (lit. Winter scape of Tsugaru Straight) by Sayuri ISHIKAWA
9:57 Nagasaki ha Kyou mo Ame datta (lit. It rains again in Nagasaki Today) by Hiroshi UCHIYAMADA and Cool Five
these all songs belong to Enka (演歌) category.
That is so interesting, and just think, it has been over 40 years since that lady's voice was recorded for the instructions.
I can't help imagine all the people involved with designing, building, and even buying/using this device. So very interesting.
4:45 I was expecting Meiko Kaji to start singing at any moment now.
I had a kids version of this that read books sold here in the US back in the 90's. I always thought it was the coolest thing ever.
The microphone that had been included with the machine might have been a crystal or carbon-granule mike that produced its own signal like a ceramic phono cartridge does, as opposed to a magnetic cartridge or dynamic mike, which works by varying resistance from a pre-amp signal. This may be why your mike didn't seem to work with it, since it was probably a modern-day dynamic mike that uses a coil and magnet. Probably the machine's cartridge is also a ceramic type that produces its own signal using the piezo effect, and so the machine did not need a pre-amp to hear the sound, and thus the mike was probably the same kind of "self-powered" component that connected to the same circuitry on the amplifier as the cartridge was connected to.