Tag Archives: tombstone

Can you listen to music after you’re dead?

If a deceased loved one was a music lover and you’d like to treat that person to an eternity of music (and we don’t mean from heavenly harps), now you supposedly can.

A company in Sweden, Pause, just released a new product called the CataCoffin and its CataCombo Sound System. It’s a $30,000 coffin that delivers “godlike comfort and heavenly sound”. The luxurious coffin includes “a revolutionary customized sound system for audiophiles on the other side”. You can customize playlists and let the music play for as long as you want.

How do you do this? A special tombstone above ground displays the playlists that can be customized by the deceased’s loved ones.

The commercial promoting the CataCoffin is a little eerie but you can judge for yourself. It will give you a good idea about the quality of the coffin and how the sound system works.

Pause company CEO, Fredrik Hjelmquist, owns the first manufactured model and says customers should feel free to add track to his playlist “Pause-4-ever”. If you’re in Stockholm, he invites you to head down to the Pause store at Norrlandsgatan 14 to see it for yourself.

Is this a real product? Supposedly it is.

For more information about coffins and other topics related to planning a funeral, go to www.diesmart.com.

How about a QR barcode for a love one’s tombstone?

Traditionally, the deceased have been buried in a grave which is marked by a lifeless granite tombstone. The tombstone conveys just basic information – the name of the person and his or her years of life. Sometimes it also includes a short phrase about the person, such as “beloved parent” or “lived life to the fullest”.

If you’ve ever walked around a cemetery, you’ve probably looked at many of these stones and may have wished that you could know more about the people buried beneath them.

Now there is technology that will enable you to learn more. A QR barcode sticker can be affixed to an individual’s tombstone. Then the family of the deceased can link the code to an electronic obituary of the person, a biography, a video or images and much more. Finally, if you have a smartphone with internet access, you can walk by this stone, scan the barcode and view the online tribute to the person.

Some companies, like Digital Legacys, a Pennsylvania company, sell the QR barcode sticker and the online tribute link for $99.99 per year or $149.99 for a lifetime subscription to the service.

Living Headstones®, Seattle, Washington, is a monument company. Thru them, you can buy a headstone that has an embedded QR barcode and a code link to their memorial site for $75. However, if you already have a tombstone, you can purchase a QR barcode and a link to their memorial site for $150.

These QR barcodes can also be attached to memorial benches, plaques or even trees in a memorial garden.

With a QR barcode, a deceased’s legacy can live on. Isn’t that better than just seeing their name and date of birth and death? What do you think?