Behold the world’s smallest vinyl record. And I meant SMALL.

January 12, 2023January 12, 2023 Alan Cross 0 Comments

Some Danes had a little fun with the NANOMADE (Nanoscale Materials and Devices) section at the Technical University of Denmark. They created the smallest “vinyl” record ever. Okay, so it’s not made of polyvinyl chloride, but it does play like a full-size record–in stereo, even. Capacity isn’t great (25 seconds). And the song it holds, Brenda Lee’s “Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree,” is a dubious pick.

Then again, it’s a neat achievement. You need a microscope to see it, but it’s got some nice artwork on the label.

The record is just 40 micrometers in diameter, which is really, really small, almost half the width of a human hair. That’s 0.00157 inches or 0.004 cm. Grooves are just 450 nanometres (0.000045) apart.

Yet it’s playable–if you have the right gear, of course.

Alan Cross

is an internationally known broadcaster, interviewer, writer, consultant, blogger and speaker. In his 40+ years in the music business, Alan has interviewed the biggest names in rock, from David Bowie and U2 to Pearl Jam and the Foo Fighters. He’s also known as a musicologist and documentarian through programs like The Ongoing History of New Music.

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