Customer Rating:      Summary: Well thought out, Well Made product Comment: Ion Portable USB turntable/vinyl archiver is everything the Crosley record players should be. This turntable is well made, and does what it is supposed to do. Completely satisfied.
Customer Rating:      Summary: great product for record owners Comment: I did ALOT of research trying to find a usb turntable for my husband to record his favorite LPs. I read reviews from other people and finally decided on this one. Literally 2 minutes after hooking it up, he was recording the first song. This model also allows for listening while recording. I had read reviews that said with some models you couldn't listed while recording. This was a must for me. Also a GREAT price.
Customer Rating:      Summary: Does what I need Comment: I'm not sure what the deal is with the buzz in this thing. I have seen one or two other mentions of it, besides the review here. Some reviews specifically mention that there is no buzz whatsoever, another mentioned that there was a buzz specifically in the USB. In my case, I was getting a buzz from the headphone jack and the built-in speaker. I did not try the line out. I was all set to pack it up and send it back, but decided to just try the USB anyway. I was surprised to discover that there was no buzz in the USB output. Since my whole purpose was to convert vinyl to digital, and not to add a component to my stereo system, then the USB connection gives me all the capability I need. Even as a stereo component, the buzz might not be all that bothersome. It is not very noticeable on average-to-loud music, only comes forward on the softer passages. Indeed, I wasn't even aware of it until I brought up a digital recording (made from the headphone output) to edit. I saw the buzz on screen before I heard it, but once I was aware of it, it was intolerable for archival purposes. I wondered if the buzz might be caused by bad grounding or other interference in the AC circuit, but the buzz is still there even when running on batteries and nothing else whatsoever connected (i.e.--listening to the built-in speaker.)
Anyway, for what it does do, I am happy enough with this. I find the sound quality (from the USB!) to be more than adequate. I like the lightness and portability. It is very easy to set up and use temporarily, do a few records when time permits, and then close it up and get it out of your way when done, does not claim a dedicated chunk of real estate somewhere on your desk or on your shelf.
I would have done the "gain" knob for the USB a little differently. First of all, I would have placed it on the top surface (where the other controls--volume, tone, and speed) are, instead of recessed on the side where you can hardly see it (I have to use a flashlight!) and it's difficult to operate. Also, it would have been nice to have tick marks so that you can line up the notch on the knob with a specific gain setting. Also, it seems a little counterintuitive to turn the knob counterclockwise for increased gain.
Customer Rating:      Summary: Making old music like new again Comment: The ION Audio iPTUSB turntable is great! We have so many old LP's and 45's just stuck away. Some of them can be found on CD at various sources but we wanted our's preserved. So far this player seems to work really well and the software that comes with is simple to install and use.
Customer Rating:      Summary: good product, but time consuming Comment: I have only used this product a few times since I bought it. I have a newer (2008) iMac running Mac OS X 10.5. There are two software products which come with the turntable - one is supposed to be easier and one (Audacity) is supposed to be more feature-rich and capable. Well, I could not get the easier software to run properly, so I use the Audacity program.
The turntable works fine. No complaints. However, using the Audacity software makes recording a vinyl album very time consuming. You must stop after EACH TRACK to input the track information. With the simpler program, you could enter each track's info on the fly while the turntable continues to record the next track (but I could not get this program to actually record). If you don't care about the track information, I suppose you could record each side of an album as one mp3 file. But if you want to know which song you are playing and which album after you transfer the file to your iPod, you must do each track separately. Not difficult, mind you, but takes a while.
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