Digital and analog audio playback apparatus

A digital and analog audio playback apparatus comprising:

• a housing;
• a turntable unit mounted on said housing and adapted to be loaded with a vinyl record;
• a driving device for driving rotation of said turntable unit;
• a record reading device operably associated with the vinyl record on said turntable unit for generating first audio output data corresponding to analog audio data recorded in and read from the vinyl record;
• a disc reading device mounted in said housing, adapted to be loaded with an optical recording medium, and operably associated with the optical recording medium for generating second audio output data corresponding to digital audio data recorded in and read from the optical recording medium;
• a manually-operable rotary wheel mounted rotatably on said housing;
• a pick-up device operably associated with said rotary wheel so as to generate a control signal representative of angular velocity and rotational direction of said rotary wheel relative to said housing;
• a control unit mounted in said housing and coupled to said driving device, said pick-up device and said disc reading device;
• a first output port mounted on said housing and coupled to said record reading device;
• and
• a second output port mounted on said housing and coupled to said control unit;
• said control unit being operable in a selected one of a first mode, where said control unit enables said driving device to drive rotation of said turntable unit such that said record reading device outputs the first audio output data corresponding to the analog audio data read from the vinyl record on said turntable unit at said first output port, and a second mode, where said control unit enables said disc reading device so as to output the second audio output data corresponding to the digital audio data read from the optical recording medium at said second output port.

A digital and analog audio playback apparatus comprising:

• a housing;
• a turntable unit mounted on said housing and adapted to be loaded with a vinyl record;
• a driving device for driving rotation of said turntable unit;
• a record reading device operably associated with the vinyl record on said turntable unit for generating an analog audio output corresponding to analog audio data recorded in and read from the vinyl record;
• an analog-to-digital converter coupled to said record reading device for converting the analog audio output therefrom into first audio output data in a digital form;
• a disc reading device mounted in said housing, adapted to be loaded with an optical recording medium, and operably associated with the optical recording medium for generating second audio output data corresponding to digital audio data recorded in and read from the optical recording medium;
• a first pick-up device operably associated with the vinyl record on said turntable unit so as to generate a first control signal representative of angular velocity and rotational direction of the vinyl record relative to said housing;
• a control unit mounted in said housing and coupled to said driving device, said first pick-up device, said disc reading device and said analog-to-digital converter;
• and
• an output port mounted on said housing and coupled to said control unit;
• said control unit being operable in a selected one of a first mode, where said control unit enables said driving device to drive rotation of said turntable unit such that the first audio output data generated from said analog-to-digital converter and corresponding to the analog audio data read from the vinyl record on said turntable unit is outputted at said output port, and a second mode, where said control unit enables said disc reading device to output the second audio output data corresponding to the digital audio data read from the optical recording medium at said output port.