[PLUG] LP to USB turntable

[Richard C. Steffens]

John Jason Jordan wrote:

> Some time back there was a discussion here of using a turntable with
> USB output to convert old LPs to MP3s. I'm thinking of getting one. Did
> anyone ever do this? Any recommendations or disrecommendations?

I bought an Ion iTTUSB turntable from Amazon -- I'm pretty sure that's
where I bought it. It's available from them for $135 or so:

http://www.amazon.com/Ion-iTTUSB-Turntable-USB-Record/dp/B000BUEMOO

It comes with a CD containing the Winders and Mac versions of Audacity.
Those versions -- at least the Winders version -- support the USB
feature of the turntable. The last time I checked, the Linux version of
Audacity did not.

The turntable does not do the mp3 encoding itself; that's left to Audacity.

The turntable has an analog stereo output as well, so I've connected
that to the sound card on my Linux machine. I'm pleased with the
results. Earlier this year I bought a needle from  for playing 78's:

http://www.lpgear.com/Merchant2/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Store_Code=LG&Product_Code=IONSITTUSB78

I have used the USB connection with my XP laptop and then copied the
.wav files to my Linux machine for further processing with gramofile and
bladeenc. I didn't see any particular advantage to the USB recording vs
analog; I probably will stick with analog in the future.

I'm very happy with the Ion turntable. It has a pre-amp, which is needed
to connect the magnetic cartridge to the input of the computer's sound
card, but if you already have a good turntable and a pre-amp, they will
work just as well.

-- 
Regards,

Dick Steffens