Do you remember the Senic Muse blocks? The magnetic NFC cards in a beautiful design can quickly start a stored playlist or execute Siri Shorcuts. The company behind it, which also offers a Friends of Hue switch, now wants to bring the record player into the 21st century and is again using Senic Muse blocks to do so. At the end, we’ll also tell you about some HomeKit alternatives.
If you’re all about the signature sound of a record player, the new Muse Play isn’t for you. If you are more interested in browsing through the records, the new device might be interesting.
The new Muse Play is already visually reminiscent of a record player, even though the device is much smaller. But instead of spinning records, in the middle is a holder on which fit the Muse Blocks. If you place such a block on the device, the stored playlist is played on a connected Sonos speaker.
In order that you really don’t have to get your phone out of your pocket, you can pause and resume music, change the volume and switch between songs on the device itself.
A very exciting concept, but one that also comes with some drawbacks. First, you can really only connect Sonos speakers and not other AirPlay 2 speakers. On the other hand, the Muse Blocks are now only available in different colors. In the past, you could have them custom printed for an additional cost, which would obviously make browsing through the albums much more realistic. Here you have to help yourself with a printer.
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The Muse Play can currently be pre-ordered in white or black for a deposit of 10€. The full amount of 199€ is only due when the device is shipped in Q2 2023. The first edition is limited to 1,000 devices.
Exciting HomeKit alternatives
If you already own a record collection, we can recommend our Automation of the week “Playing the record collection on AirPlay 2 speakers“. In it, we describe step-by-step how to link NFC stickers to your records so you can easily scan albums with your iPhone while browsing and play them through an AirPlay 2 speaker that way.
If you don’t have a record collection anymore, you can of course build the Muse Blocks yourself. To do this, simply cut or saw out the desired size from cardboard, wood or another solid material, apply an NFC sticker there, print out your favorite albums on adhesive labels and stick them over the NFC sticker. You can then use Siri shortcuts to play the albums on AirPlay 2 speakers as well.
Also interesting is the idea of a reddit user. This uses the IKEA TRÅDFRI shortcut button to play a stored album on AirPlay 2 speakers via HomeKit automations. The button has a viewing window that can easily be used to put a printout of the album behind. Unlike the NFC stickers, the albums can be played without a smartphone. However, the costs are also significantly higher at €9.99 per switch.
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