Blog - 8-ban Portable Player
8-ban Portable Player
First of all, thanks to my friend Antonin for pointing this out on his blog (via Mr. Motokick), because I had no clue that such a thing was out!
This is the portable player for 8-ban records by Bandai. It's a miniature player for 8cm analog records (same size as the small CD singles that were popular in Japan in the 90's), a special format designed by Bandai and called "8-ban" ("8-record").
The player's controls consist of an off/on/volume button, and a pitch button! Get two and you're ready to DJ! The big down side however is that there's no output of any kind, so the only way to listen to the records are through the player's tiny speaker.
Other cool features include that the needle can be replaced when it gets old (it's also sold separately from the player) and the turntable can be removed to reveal its strap. The player's retail price is 2980yen but I got mine for 2380yen at Sofmap.
The record is real vinyl, about 1mm thick, can contain up to 4 minutes of mono sound (A-side only), and — I had to count them to believe it — it spins at 331/3rpm!
This being just a toy for collectors, all the available music will be what Bandai releases on its label EightBanRecord. So far there are two series, "Asahi Sonorama Selection Part 1" (total of 16 plus 3 secret) and "Onyanko Club Single Memories Part 1" (16 plus 2 secret).
The Asahi Sonorama Selection consists of anime songs that used to be released as sonosheets. Out of the ones I got so far, there's Hutchi! (昆虫物語みなしごハッチ, "konchū monogatari minashigo hacchi"), a tragic anime series I used to watch as a little kid but which I had completely forgotten about until I saw the single's cover!
Do you know him?
Something that sucked is that when I first bought the player, it was broken... when placing the arm on the record, it seemed that the arm's weight was stopping the record from spinning. I had to go back to the store to exchange it for a new one, but this new one is fine! By the look on the guy's face at the store, it didn't seem like it was the first time someone was exchanging one of these.
Posted on March 11, 2004 at 22:20 | Tweet
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8-ban Records Nu-Music Sampler Softly! Edition
Now isn't this the coolest stuff ever! Label Softly!, teaming up with other indie labels, is releasing a series of eight 8-ban records and also an original Softly! color 8-ban player! Featured artists include Aprils, EeL, Hazel Nuts Chocolate and...
September 17, 2004 at 10:28
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very cool thing ... and .. can you download / burn / rip / napster with it ... NO ???? :) he he .. the end of piracy is finally here :)
Posted by Peter on March 13, 2004 at 07:03
Gotta wait until they make an 8-ban-ROM drive! :)
Posted by Patrick on March 13, 2004 at 12:08
what a cool player!
i think they show hutchi on tv here, or some cartoon that looks a little similiar, but i'd never seen it before.
Posted by william on March 15, 2004 at 13:43
picked up my player in tokyo, love it.
anybody know a mailorder source for additional records?
i could buy 4 records in total - that was all.
thanks,
thaddi
Posted by thaddi on July 18, 2004 at 21:03
Sadly I don't know of an online mail order shop that ships internationally and sells 8-ban records.
Currently I've got spares of the following, that I could sell for ¥350 each (+ packaging and shipping), payable by PayPal.
Boxes have been opened to check what's inside, but the records haven't been played and are just like new.
Series: Asahi Sonorama Selection Part 1
#03 oraa guzura dado
#04 akakage
Posted by Patrick on July 18, 2004 at 21:29
just saw this player in Cutie magazine, did a search & hey presto! found this site. can you tell me is it possible to play normal 45s on this?
thanks
Posted by wendy on September 23, 2004 at 21:13
Hi Wendy! Glad you found this site.
No, this player only plays the special 8cm (3", tiny) records made especially for it. The player itself is even smaller than a 7" (45rpm). :)
Posted by Patrick on September 23, 2004 at 21:17
hi patrick
3" records? my god! i need this! very much looking forward to having a root around this site for more essential novelty items. have you by any chance a link to a list of all these 3" records.
thanks
Posted by wendy on September 23, 2004 at 22:59
There's a list of all released official series at the official site here: http://8-ban.com/
Also there's a new series released by indie label Softly! coming out at the end of the month.
http://www.chipple.net/mt/agenda/archives/001296.php
Good luck!
Posted by Patrick on September 23, 2004 at 23:04
these things are totally sweet.
Posted by jacob on October 26, 2004 at 10:48
Hi
how can i buy the 8 ban player on Sofmap? I can't find the player on the site! Please help me!
Posted by MAZE on December 19, 2004 at 02:17
If you're outside of Japan, you can get the player and records from the Oldies series at http://www.funkyzilla.com/
If you're in Japan (or know someone who is), you can get it from Toys'Я'Us.
http://www.toysrus.co.jp/electronic/cat_detail.sp?ITEM_ID=878952&SUB_ITEM_ID=000&TAB_ID=3&CAT_ID=0&TABLE_NAME=TAB_TOP_0001
Lately I have no clue where to get records though.
There's also the new Softly! edition.
http://www.chipple.net/mt/agenda/archives/001296.php
Good luck!
Posted by Patrick on December 19, 2004 at 11:06
Hi
thanks for your fast Answer! I come from Germany! I want to buy the Softly 8-ban Record Player and the other from Bandai! and I want a 8-ban Record Catalog!Can you help me? Please! I can pay with paypal or Creditcard! thanks!
P.S: sorry for my bad English!!!
Posted by MAZE on December 20, 2004 at 08:37
I'm sorry I can't help you. Try http://www.funkyzilla.com/ as I pointed out.
Posted by Patrick on December 20, 2004 at 08:54
Well, I just got my player and the oldies box set from Funkyzilla. Being a rabid vinyl-o-phile, I found that the little records will play with better fidelity, though not great, on my nice linear tracking turtable with the good cartridge. They are cut at 33 1/3 RPM, are mono, at least the only one I have opened so far, though interestingly enough, though the player is mono, it has a stereo cartridge. I will have to open another and play it first on the good turntable to see if the distortion I heard was from the little player mis-tracking it when I played it on that first. In which case I would say it would be good to play them on a good turntable and rip them to mp3s before the little player destroys them with repeated playings. All you need is to carefully center it on a turntable, preferably one with a good cartridge and ideally linear tracking, since it is so small and cut so close to the center, where the label would be on a conventional record. The turntable should also be one that can play right up to the center spindle without mechanical interference or lifting off the record automatically.
I have heard old 45s that sound worse though.
Posted by Steve on February 4, 2005 at 06:31
2 things I forgot. One is that the hole, at least on the oldies box set which uses the players little "adaptor" is the same size as a cd, but a normal size cd is too large to fit the player. The other records shown that use the basic spindle size of the little player will not be able to be played on a conventional turntable because the hole is smaller than the spindle on a normal turntable, unless you have one of the ones where it is removable altogether. The second thing is my friend, who is a vinyl disc mastering engineer, is working on being able to cut records of whatever you want for the player.
Sorry about the double post. There was no indication it had posted.
Posted by Steve on February 4, 2005 at 06:58
Hi Steve! Thanks a lot for your post and all those details!
I find it very interesting that they can be played by a regular turntable. The series I collected were mostly ones with a tiny spindle hole, so I hadn't thought of the possibility.
One thing I dislike about these records is that I found several where the grooves aren't perfectly centered, resulting in the sound going slightly slow-fast-slow-fast.
If your friend gets the pressing to work, I'd be interested to know more!
I'll think up something to make it more obvious that your comment has been posted (when posting from an individual entry page). Sorry for the trouble.
Posted by Patrick on February 4, 2005 at 08:44
Hi, Re your comment about off center pressings, With the large hole mini cdr sized records I noticed that there was some slop between the adaptor and the record and you could minimize the wow (gosh a real actual old analog audio term!) by carefully centering the record. I dont know what the tolerence is on the small hole records. If it is too bad you could always enlarge the record hole slightly and re-center. I also noticed some flutter (other old analog term used with wow, meaning a faster speed variation) from my player giving vocals a slightly "gargally" quality, no worse than your average cassette but not there when played on a good turntable. If you could find a turntable with a removable center spindle, and no automatic return at the end of the record, which is a pretty unlikely combination, as most players with removable spindles were record changers where you couldn't disable the return feature about where the beginning of one of these records is, you could play the small hole records. It is interesting to note the large hole records are exactly the dimensions of a mini cdr disc except the records are slightly thicker. My friend working on cutting records does one off lacquer "dub plates" for djs and 45s for jukeboxes etc. I don't know if there is enough of a market to actually press plastic copies from a master and there are the copyright issues. So he will probably just be able to make you an origional record, playable on the little player of your own music for your own use. I will try and keep you posted or refer to a website when he is ready to go.
I could by the way, send you an mp3 of what one of these oldies records sounds like played on a good turntable.
Posted by Steve on February 4, 2005 at 11:12
That would be great if you could send me the sample MP3! Please use my email address found on the contact page (http://www.chipple.net/contact.php).
Unfortunately, the only turntable I have currently has automatic return so no luck playing even the 8-ban records with a large hole.
Posted by Patrick on February 4, 2005 at 11:23
hi !, found your site 'cos I was looking for "hutchi"'theme.I'd like to know if you got it in mp3 forma ?, and where and How to get it?
Thanks a lot. (it seems i'm not the frist one to look for it 'cos the serie was quite sade and they don't play the whole series.As i'M adopted I think this speak to me)
Thank U again ;-)
Posted by esteban hatmann-ehrhard on February 16, 2006 at 19:42
wow this is an old topic i know
but the 8ban site is gone now
and im wondering where i might
be able to find the oldies box set?
any help is appreciated!
email me at
3blackjackdavey3@gmail.com
Posted by Sean on March 21, 2007 at 07:54