Whenever a new technology comes along, old-school manufacturers are never quite sure how to handle it. In their befuddlement, they’ll sometimes try to graft it wholesale onto an existing technology that they understand. Some of these hybrids are good ideas, like cell phones with integrated GPS capability. Others are not, like the Bluetooth toasters of a few years ago, or the telegraph-equipped butter churns of yesteryear.

So what shall we make of the RCA 160-Watt Rip & Go 5-Disc Microsystem With 256MB MP3? It seems RCA took a 5-disc, 160w CD boombox and thought, “Hey, I know: let’s give it a tiny little MP3 player, and let the boombox rip CDs directly to it!” Maybe that makes sense: even 256MB of memory (puny by MP3-player standards) can hold, oh, a hundred songs or so – a bit more than you could play on the 5-disc changer. And it’s cool that the USB-host function lets you rip those discs to your portable MP3 player, or play said player through the boombox. Useful, we suppose.

But still – somebody somewhere thought letting your refrigerator share data with your waffle iron was a can’t-miss idea, so who knows? Perhaps this RCA Rip & Go will revolutionize the way we hear music. Perhaps it’ll end up a bizarre curio in the Museum of Technological Folly. Let history judge!

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