Yup, I use The Little Fwend lifter and even that's a pain half the time- because I have to remember to reset it after every play. And I find records an annoyance filled experience regardless- despite having a great table and cartridge I find vinyl to be outrageously priced, mostly poor, noisy recordings, require too much care in handling, cleaning, storing - and - never sound as good as streaming- while also not having the ability to change tracks remotely like I can and do all the time when streaming. Other than that though- after investing 6k into it I leave it sit unused.
Why hasnt a turntable manufacturer produced a table with automatic tonearm return/shutoff?
I'm listening to my old Technics 1700 turntable, which has the tonearm return/ shutoff mechanism. It's one of the reasons I don't upgrade. The idea that you have to get up to retrieve the cartridge and turn off the machine makes little sense when the technology has been there for years. I know the issue of the mechanism introducing sound into the table, but it seems to me that the mechanism can be isolated and kept off until the record ends. What gives?