The Sound of the Earth by Yuri Suzuki
As a needle passes over this vinyl globe by Japanese designer Yuri Suzuki, it plays folk music and national anthems from around the world (+ movie).
![The Sound of the Earth by Yuri Suzuki The Sound of the Earth by Yuri Suzuki](https://static.dezeen.com/uploads/2012/10/dezeen_The-Sound-of-the-Earth-by-Yuri-Suzuki_2a.jpg)
When the needle moves along its metal arc it plays sounds from the grooves cut into the sphere, much like a traditional vinyl record player. Suzuki has been working on The Sound of the Earth since 2009 and has now unveiled a prototype, although the design doesn't work perfectly yet – as the movie above shows, the music skips as the globe turns.
![The Sound of the Earth by Yuri Suzuki The Sound of the Earth by Yuri Suzuki](https://static.dezeen.com/uploads/2012/10/dezeen_The-Sound-of-the-Earth-by-Yuri-Suzuki_1a.jpg)
"Initially this project idea came from [a desire] to store data in physical media," he told Dezeen. "I have travelled to many countries and each country has a field recording, so you can experience a 30 minute soundscape from top to end." The sounds include pop music, national anthems, traditional folk music and spoken word recordings.
![The Sound of the Earth by Yuri Suzuki The Sound of the Earth by Yuri Suzuki](https://static.dezeen.com/uploads/2012/10/dezeen_The-Sound-of-the-Earth-by-Yuri-Suzuki_4.jpg)
The globe is the latest of Suzuki's creations involving sound, which also include a set of pens that record sound as a line on paper and a stylus and speaker that run along a vinyl track. More recently we featured his radio made from a circuit board based on the London Tube map. Suzuki has been nominated for the PAD Prize for young designers this year.
![The Sound of the Earth by Yuri Suzuki The Sound of the Earth by Yuri Suzuki](https://static.dezeen.com/uploads/2012/10/dezeen_The-Sound-of-the-Earth-by-Yuri-Suzuki_5.jpg)
This isn't the first music player shaped like a globe to appear on Dezeen – we also featured a round CD player mounted on a tilted axis.
![The Sound of the Earth by Yuri Suzuki The Sound of the Earth by Yuri Suzuki](https://static.dezeen.com/uploads/2012/10/dezeen_The-Sound-of-the-Earth-by-Yuri-Suzuki_6.gif)
Photographs are by Hitomi Kai Yoda.
The movie is by Alice Masters and Pierrick Mouton.
Concept collaborator: Yoshihiro Katsumata
Development and engineering: Kimura (Tasco Inc), Akichika Tanaka
Sound programming: Bengt Sjolen
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