Lenco’s transparent portable CD player will have you swapping CDs like it’s the 90s

Forget Bluetooth streaming, party like it’s 1999

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What did we do before music streaming services and Bluetooth-enabled smartphones? We owned CDs. Books of them. We made “CD mix-tapes” and some of our friends were a bit naughty and got their music for free on LimeWire.

Obviously, times have changed. But the Compact Disc’s relevance and quality (16-bit/44kHz, so a lot better than your Spotify files and the resolution now recognized as the gateway to hi-res audio) has not. And products such asYamaha’s five-disc changer, thehigh-end Hegel Viking,Arcam’s CD5,Pure’s C-D6(a DAB radio with a built-in CD player), andB&O’s hugely expensive vertical six-disc CD playerare all proof that the format’s enjoying no small renaissance.

And it gets even better because this particular Lenco CD player not only marries our love for all things see-through (helloNothing Ear (a)earbuds,LG’s OLEDsand even this massivetransparent horn-speaker system) but it’s also portable – and cheap!

The Lenco SCD-24TR (for that is its name) is a portable CD player and FM radio that can be powered by mains or batteries and its striking transparent design is perfect for seeing your CDs whir into motion and spin your tracks.

You spin me right round baby (right round)

It’s hardly new technology (the CD was actually first unveiled in 1979, the year I also made my debut) and you won’t find Bluetooth audio or charging out to your phone here. But I maintain that the joy of sharing CDs and of listening to an entire album, from start to finish together, is something that will help you better know your friends or partner – and above all, it makes music tangible again.

Yes, thebest music streaming servicesoffer easy access to music, but you often bypass the album artwork – and music platforms can make you swerve off course a little when trying to listen to artists and acts you love. Also, not all bizarrely namedSpotify Daylists or Blend mixeshit the mark.

I recently found an excellent cache of CDs in my mum’s car. They were a musical time capsule – many of them covered in my own Sharpie scrawl from back when I used to make her Eric Clapton, Cream, and Jackson Browne albums from iTunes. I’ve lost that skill (or at least, I’ve lost that laptop with a CD drive) and I’ve lost that time with her, but the music we used to sing together on road trips is a lovely reminder.

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The Lenco SCD-24TR is available for around £59.99 in the UK (which is around $76 or AU$115), and honestly, it seems like a lovely idea for summer…

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Becky became Audio Editor at TechRadar in 2024, but joined the team in 2022 as Senior Staff Writer, focusing on all things hi-fi. Before this, she spent three years at What Hi-Fi? testing and reviewing everything from wallet-friendly wireless earbuds to huge high-end sound systems. Prior to gaining her MA in Journalism in 2018, Becky freelanced as an arts critic alongside a 22-year career as a professional dancer and aerialist – any love of dance starts with a love of music. Becky has previously contributed to Stuff, FourFourTwo and The Stage. When not writing, she can still be found throwing shapes in a dance studio, these days with varying degrees of success.

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