New USB Turntables Simplify Vinyl-to-MP3 Conversion

[Jeremy Charette]

<div class='os_post_top_link'><a href='http://www.pcworld.com/article/id,134624-pg,1/article.html' target='_blank'>http://www.pcworld.com/article/id,134624-pg,1/article.html</a><br /><br /></div><i>"Music enthusiasts looking for a way to convert their vinyl record collections to digital audio may want to look at new offerings from Ion Audio, the iTTUSB05 and iTTUSB10. The turntables feature direct USB connections and cost $149.99 and $249.99 respectively. Both devices sport integrated USB interfaces and are compatible with Macs and Windows PCs."</i><br /><br /><img src="http://www.digitalmediathoughts.com/images/iTTUSB05.jpg" /><br /><br />At the Digital Life Press Preview last week, the PR Rep for Navigon was asking me if there were any good, reasonably priced turntables out there. His buddy has a collection of vintage records that he mostly has for display, but occasionally likes to play. He was also interested in transferring those records to a digital format. Looks like this is just what he needs! Great to see a USB turntable at a consumer level price.

[Felix Torres]

A while back I sorted out my old vynils ino three piles; ones worth buying again on CD, ones not worth buying on CD, and those that just aren't available on CD. The latter group I then tried to digitize. After so-so results feeding the line out feed from my stereo to the PC (couldn't get rid of gound loop noise) I picked up a Phono pre-amp at Radio Shack (US$25) and directly attached the turntable to the PC. Worked like a charm.
The stuff sounds pretty much like the orginal LPs although on some of the older material I used digital enhancements to "improve" on the original 60's era recordings. (Some of that stuff is before my time but I picked up a taste for it in the college library.)

If you already have a quality turntable and want the highest quality capture, I'd suggest going analog to the sound card, especially if you have a good quality sound card (Audigy or better). If you don't, Audio-Technica (among others) sells a turntable with built-in pre-amp.

USB turntables are convenient but I'd rather go with a dedicated sound card for capture. At least until I find out if the USB solutions compare. Anybody given one of those a try?

[Damion Chaplin]

And still no USB VCRs. :?

[Felix Torres]

And still no USB VCRs. :?

Next decade. :wink:

Oddly enough, considering all the odd USB peripherals coming out of asia (aquariums, cup warmers, etc), it is rather surprising nobody done one.