Tuneshine’s LED screen illuminates album art as you stream

Tuneshine streaming display screen

(Image credit: Tuneshine)

Tuneshine is a new entrant in the apparently never-ending quest for a bridge between the digital and analogue worlds. Founded by one Tobias Butler, a software engineer and former senior staffer at Change.org, Tuneshine is a low-res LED screen designed to artfully display album covers when you’re streaming from a mobile device.

The tech itself has a little bit in common with the Livegrid digital ecosystem we previewed last year. But whereas the Livegrid offers a view of a digital fishtank, amongst other things, the Tuneshine is explicitly intended to bring back the album cover.

Tuneshine streaming display screen comes with its own Android and iOS app

Although at 6.3 inches square it doesn’t quite equate to the industry standard 45rpm format (let alone the generous 12 inches of an album cover), the Tuneshine contains 64x64 LEDs mounted within a wooden frame. At 1.6 inches thick, the device is designed to be hung on a wall or propped up on a desk. Up close, pixelation dominates, but from across a room, the compact screen serves as a useful visual thumbnail of what you’re listening to.

Butler describes the device as a ‘dynamic art piece’. Connected via smartphone to key streamers, notably Spotify, Apple Music and Sonos, the onboard software pulls through the associated cover artwork from the current track.

Having built himself a prototype – just to see if it could be done – Butler then hand-finished another 1,000 to keep up with demand. A facility in Chicago now manufactures this hard-wearing combination of everyday tech and digital data capture.

The Tuneshine app also uses Shazam, allowing it to determine what you’re playing on a regular, format-focused hi-fi system and display the correct accompanying art. Otherwise, the device hooks up to your Wi-Fi and existing streaming account to get the necessary info.

In the future, Butler is hoping to expand the range with new colours and materials to replace the standard wooden frame. The artwork itself, on the other hand, is infinitely renewable.

Tuneshine, $199.99, Tuneshine.rocks, @Tuneshine.rock

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Jonathan Bell has written for Wallpaper* magazine since 1999, covering everything from architecture and transport design to books, tech and graphic design. He is now the magazine’s Transport and Technology Editor. Jonathan has written and edited 15 books, including Concept Car Design, 21st Century House, and The New Modern House. He is also the host of Wallpaper’s first podcast.