The ritual of listening

Sleevenote is a unique premium music player that allows you to experience your music collection as a rich art-led experience.

In a dedicated form-factor.

Artwork is presented using the whole screen, creating a focussed experience for the albums you love.

It feels like one album at a time, as well as being all your albums.

Digital music should be better

Digital music services give you access to all music ever. They are great for discovery but not so great for an immersive album experience. Add to that you’re most likely listening to music on a multi-use smart device, where it’s competing with other apps, feeds, notifications and so on. 

Album artwork, the original and most authentic presentation of music, has been miniaturised and compromised in the transition to digital. Whether or not you remember the heyday of vinyl or even CD, albums have always come with extra stuff that you've been missing. 

Sleevenote wants to lead the digital album artwork revolution.

The device

A retina-standard touch screen for incredible colours and print-like definition. 

Dedicated playback buttons keep the user interface away from the artwork. 

Durable injection moulded case with comfortable rounded edges.

Bigger than a CD, nearly the size of a 7" record.

Works with your music 

As well as being a stand-alone music vault for your owned music (for example WAVs, FLACs or MP3s from Bandcamp), Sleevenote will support music from the major streaming platforms Apple Music and Spotify, with more to be added on demand.

Technical specifications

Inside the device is everything needed for a portable standalone music experience.

• 7.5" diagonal 1:1 retina touch screen
• Cirrus HQ Digital Audio Converter (DAC) supporting up to 24bit/96k hi-res audio
• Wolfson ‘Class-W’ headphone amplifier
• Dedicated music control buttons
• 250GB storage (3,000+ MP3 albums)
• All-day battery life
• Wi-Fi and Bluetooth
• USB-C power, data and digital audio output (for external DAC)
• 3.5mm analog audio out
• Dimensions: h 160mm, w 160mm, d 21mm

During our final design for manufacture stage, specifications may change slightly, as every possible improvement is explored. We will post regular updates during this process.

Cost Breakdown

We have thoroughly costed the product with the help from experienced industry professionals. Ensuring each stage runs as smoothly as possible.

We will be working with product and manufacturing experts to refine the design and optimise our manufacturing and assembly process to a very high standard, this is an absolute priority for us.

As a new device, here's how the price compares to music players and tablets on the market.

Why is our goal so high?

You've probably noticed our goal is much higher than most crowdfunding campaigns. The simple reason for this is that we need to make a minimum order of 1,000 units for our custom high-resolution square screen. This is not an off-the-shelf part, it is the holy grail for the product's existence, and it is also the reason for its premium price. For us it all adds to the excitement and challenge of bringing a truly unique product to life.

We're running an all-or-nothing campaign, meaning if it does get funded, we can definitely deliver this product to our backers.

Timeline

We are committed to delivering your Sleevenote by October 2021 

The Sleevenote database

Powering the device is the Sleevenote database, which currently contains over 1,000 interactive back covers and booklet artwork images. Connecting the database to the software is the Sleevenote API, which allows the app to request new artwork when required.

Our online design tool allows designers and fans to upload album art for the releases they love. Once approved, their submitted artwork will automatically show up in the device and apps for everyone to enjoy.

The free app

Representing over 6 years of researching and testing interactive album art solutions, those who prefer to "bring their own device" can experience Sleevenote for free on iPad. Currently compatible with Apple Music, and in active development. We are keen for the experience to be as widely available as possible. 

Who we are

Tom Vek

Creator and head of Design

Tom is a recording artist and graphic designer. He launched Sleevenote as an app in 2013. He has given talks, hosted panels and written about his passion for album artwork. As a designer he specialises in branding, user interface and digital products, working on several digital music products. He is a keen industrial design and music tech enthusiast. 

Chris Hipgrave

Head of Software Development 

Chris is a software developer with a background in producing interactive experiences. During the past 15 years, he has successfully delivered innovative and engaging solutions for some of the world's leading brands. Chris began working on Sleevenote in 2017 and is developing the online design tool, app and prototype software.

External expertise:

Antoni Pakowski

Mechanical Engineering Consultant

Antoni has a background in engineering and design and has worked on innovative products and technology in startups, studios and as a consultant. Having started his career in R&D, he progressed to working on consumer products, bringing his understanding of what it takes to bring a product to market to the Sleevenote team.

The team have completed industrial design, CAD design, product manufacture planning, component sourcing, assembly design, BOM costing, prototyping and model-making stages.

Advisors

We have actively sought out advice from experienced product manufacturers, certification experts, music industry professionals, record label creatives, record shop owners, graphic designers, musicians, and creators of successful crowdfunded products.

Why we can do this

Software is crucial for an all-screen device. With Chris we have an in-house developer focussed solely on making our software efficient, reliable and a pleasure to use. We have experience with music streaming APIs (the tech that allows us to show your Spotify library etc.) as well as building custom Android software. Software development is an extremely valuable and often wildly expensive element of a tech product, and we will offer an unprecedented amount of care and attention here. As a team we are all about the details.

We are committed to achieving the highest standard with our industrial design, we look to companies like Teenage Engineering, Native Instruments, Analogue and others creating incredibly desirable tech hardware, as well as the design principles of the Braun heyday, and other trailblazers like Naoto Fukasawa (famous for Muji products). Our emphasis is on manufacturing feasibility while keeping a modern geometric iconic design, that will be appreciated for many years to come.

What supporting boutique tech means

Backing this project means you are taking an incredible part in growing a new company. The price of this first run covers all our costs, meaning we have no external investment, no loans to pay back, no need to monetise our app (we want to keep that free!), our absolute focus on delivering the best product we can. You will be making an investment towards building a great, independent product for digital music culture.

What valuing music means

We could be here all day discussing how you can best support artists (hint: as much as possible), but our manifesto is that music feels better when it feels more valuable. By spending money on your equipment, you value your content, this has been the backbone of hi-fi culture for decades. Even with streaming, giving music more attention, and letting artists fully control the experience, makes it more valuable, and can help encourage buying music or supporting the artist in other ways.

We'd love to hear from you

Twitter @sleevenote

Instagram @sleevenote

Visit the Sleevenote website

Still life photography by Joel Knight

Filming by Kee Ramsorrun

With special thanks to everyone who helped us get so far with the idea we love.

Releases shown are not included with the product. 

Risks and challenges

Undertaking a thorough industrial design and component sourcing phase has removed a large amount of risk, as we have proven that the device can be made (sourced, assembled, certified and delivered) within a specific price. We have a margin of error factored into our price for any unexpected costs that arise. We are aware of challenges in manufacture, our intention is to hire a seasoned expert in this field to make it as smooth and reliable as possible. We have made decisions and started development on the device software to allow for highest likelihood of playing back all your music, but there may be certain platforms that we'll have to create special relationships with and will endeavour to do so.

Environmental commitments

Long-lasting design

Our design and materials will be robust and hard wearing. Building a tech product that focuses on doing one thing well means we are far less at the mercy of the changing content, formatting and other software requirements which typically prematurely ages "smart devices", also known as obsolescence. The fundamental music album format is well established. We believe we are at a tipping point for the APIs we look to use, and will continuously monitor options for future-proofing. Software updates will ensure that the product continues to improve its core functionality. At its most fundamental, Sleevenote will always work as a drag-and-drop music management system, and we will open source any elements that might be better supported that way.

Reusability and Recyclability

Our product design allows for parts to be easily replaceable, repairable and upgradable. We look to institutions such as iFixit as the standard-bearers for repairability. We intend to support the replacement of individual components. We will use fully recyclable packaging, made from recycled materials.

Sustainable Distribution

We intend to encourage a bring-you-own-power adapter for our USB-based charging. This will reduce package size and weight for transportation.

Creating Jobs and Industry Contribution

In growing our company and product offerings we intend to provide local jobs as well as supporting remote working. Our aspiration is that we can provide an eco-system for releasing music with a quality value for music fans, diversifying the cost-based risk of creating physical formats for new artists and labels, encouraging artist-friendly platforms such as Bandcamp, existing alongside exciting physical and personal experiences offered by artists. Sleevenote proposes artist controlled presentation of the music art form, and injection of value to digital music culture.

Support music, support artists, value music, value artists.