The Repeater – CP-33 Repeat Card Player
I found this thing in the Akihabara Hardoff store. I had no idea what is was but figured for 540Yen (~5USD) it was worth a look. From the limited information I’ve been able to find it appears to be part of a card based learning system. The user swipes creditcard like cards through the device, which reads the magstrip and plays back an audio recording. As far as I can tell the device is used for flashcards. Perhaps a Japanese word might be written on the card and the user would have to guess the English. They can then place the card in the device to hear the audio.
The player pulls the card through the read system at a constant speed. It then reads the card and samples the audio, as the name suggests it can repeatedly replay the audio track.
I though this was an interesting analogue storage/digital playback device designed right at the cusp of our transition from analogue to digital media. I’d guess this particular player was built in the early 90s, though I couldn’t see a data code. It’s also interesting the it uses a TI part (TMS3477NL) this appears to have been specifically design for audio recording and playback.
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