A new Beatles mini turntable is launching for RSD2024
Record Store Day has announced a new themed 3” mini turntable for Record Store Day 2024, celebrating The Beatles iconic appearance on the Ed Sullivan Show which is historically considered the beginning of Beatlemania in the US.
The new turntable, which is characterized as “revamped”, includes a Bluetooth transmitter, like the Crosley Mini Cruiser. It also comes complete with Beatles branding, a Beatles mini record carrying case, and four 3” singles featuring songs that the Beatles performed during their February 9, 1964 appearance. Those songs are:
“I Want to Hold Your Hand”
“Till There Was You”
“Saw Her Standing There”
“She Loves You”
The new turntable will be available for Record Store Day on April 20, 2024. Each of the four 3″ Beatles singles will also be available individually. Check with your local record store to see if they will be stocking these items for RSD this year.
The RSD3 is Crosley’s attempt to make a “serious” mini turntable for the 3” vinyl format. On it’s initial launch, it retailed for about $70 with an exclusive Foo Fighters single. Today it sells as low as $58 on Amazon with just the turntable only.
I wrote an extensive feature for Ars Technica detailing the history of the 3” vinyl format, which I highly recommend. But this is what I had to say about the RSD3 back in March 2019:
There are some fair nits to pick, of course. I’d gladly trade the mostly-useless speed/pitch adjustment feature for a smaller footprint, a metal tone arm, a larger built-in speaker, or an auto-start/stop feature. That latter feature would be especially helpful, as dropping the needle on a 3” single’s outer edge carefully enough to avoid skating the stylus across the groves is no easy feat. Given the casual nature of the device and its price, this feels like a misstep.
Also, we could not definitively determine if the platter uses direct drive or belt drive, but the motor noise is surprisingly prominent. Listening at low volume with the built-in speaker is impractical. And the overall feel of the materials seems a bit below its selling price; it feels like paying for a BMW 1-series but getting a Toyota Yaris interior.
Gripes aside, several people we talked to mentioned things like “fun,” “novelty,” or “cute,” and the RSD3 is fairly all these things. The price of the player feels a little high at $70, and the singles themselves seem even more overpriced at $10. That makes it hard to recommend as an impulse buy, but casual or even serious collectors might reasonably buy one as a curio or conversation piece.
That assessment still holds true. $10 is a lot of money for just one song and at best a smallish, okay poster. But I can’t deny that I’m drawn to the diminutive format. It is fun, and it is cute, and really in the niche world of record-collecting, it’s pretty inexpensive (outside of White Stripes titles, that is).
I can whole-heartedly recommend the RSD3 for an older kid that might appreciate it’s quirkiness – younger kids would struggle carefully placing the stylus on the tiny records. I also think serious vinyl collectors looking for something fun to add to their curio cabinet, or simply fans of kitsch in all its many forms can appreciate this classic-styled mini turntable.
