You like your vinyl records but don’t like the fact that you’re killing them? The new EIP Laser Turntable plays records without touching them… The catch: a $15,000 price tag.
“The Laser Turntable employs patented technology that produces phenomenal fidelity while never physically touching the record, thus eliminating the deterioration to the album’s surface inflicted by conventional turntables. The laser’s precision allows you to pick up audio information that has never been touched or damaged by a needle. This virgin audio information is then reproduced without digitization maintaining true analog sound as close as possible to when the master tape was recorded. The Laser Turntable even allows you to play records that have been severely warped or damaged over years of wear and tear.” – EIP
via Decode Magazine
I seem to recall that RCA had a similar record player in the 1950’s, but obviously it did not use lasers!