What a sweet device.

Bought one for my dad for his bday- he has a mega vinyl collection from his youth I'm going to turn into mp3's for him

If you have records and don't have a turntable, then you should buy a decent REAL turntable (that hooks up to your stereo system) and then follow the link below to get something to transfer your records to your PC:

http://www.dak2000.com/Reviews/2020Story.cfm

sminggali wrote:Does anyone know if you can hook one of these directly to a CD/DVD Burner without going through a computer?

Yeah, it has direct RCA out, if you have a burner that accepts RCA then you are set

[quote postid="2958089" user="michaelJ"]Whats an album?

I'm a major recording artist from the time when 'Motown' ruled the world. Albums are those great 12" disc that wise people used to transport our music and lyrics to the world back when you could still 'understand' the words in the songs. Go Thou out into the world and learn what you can do to spread that great method to a generation that has grown up in blissful ignorance. Many of us are still here waiting to share the beauty of a time when all of the instruments worked in the studio WITH the singers and got it right in ONE TAKE!!! There wasn't any of that 'over dubbin' koi! I'll even share my 'STEVIE WONDER - 'INNERVISIONS'

Mymamasangel

Well, now. I see bouncy-bouncy and I am tempted. I could certainly benefit from digitizing my Maiden and Sabbath.

Time to get off the fence.
The football is bouncing.

I'm guessing that MOST people only have a couple of albums around the house and that you could buy them on iTunes for less than the $50 cost + time and hassle of converting.

motofabio wrote:I'm guessing that MOST people only have a couple of albums around the house and that you could buy them on iTunes for less than the $50 cost + time and hassle of converting.

I'm guessing your guess is wrong.

crud... I'd really like to get one of these. I have a number of records stashed at my parents' house I could switch over.

In for 2!


Could anyone verify that the included software works w/out itunes?

I'm in for two...My brother's wife has been asking me for a way to transfer all her dads old 78's to CD's. All the USB turntables I found were too expensive, until today! Thanks Woot!

I just ordered one of these things...I'm still not sure why, but then I notice that Vista 64 Bit is not listed as a compatible OS. Does this mean I can't run the software?

motofabio wrote:I'm guessing that MOST people only have a couple of albums around the house and that you could buy them on iTunes for less than the $50 cost + time and hassle of converting.

While that may true in general, the problem is that many small production albums haven't even made it to CD, let alone iTunes. For example I have an album by the 'Good Old Persons'. Only way I was able to get a copy was to buy the album during a live performance in California. Mostly sentimental since the songs are available by other artists. But this was the group that played at the Red Vest Pizza Parlor in El Cerrito, CA, where a group of us would go whenever we could to drink beer, eat a salad and pizza, and listen to this small locally known group play awesome bluegrass. Good Times! I'm hoping when I transfer it to MP3/CD/whatever, that maybe I'll feel some of that old nostalgia of some 30/40 years ago.

And I have a few other albums like that lying around. Plus, I hate buying favorites 2 or times. I believe you should only have to buy music once.

compfan03 wrote:Can I get mp3 files out of iTunes so I can just have the mp3's in a folder and drag them onto my mp3 player's card. (Yeah I'm one of the old people!)

Yes, you can. iTunes keeps each track in a file with the name of the song as the filename.
For example, on my PC:

c:\Documents and Settings\foo\My Documents\My Music\iTunes\iTunes Music\Pink Floyd\Dark Side of the Moon\05 Money.mp3

On the Mac:
Home/Music/iTunes/iTunes Music/Jethro Tull/Aqualung/10 Locomotive Breath.mp3

Just drag 'em out to a MP3 CD or use iTunes to write a 'normal' music CD. (You can do that from MP3s but not the DRM-protected AAC files.

And if the selection above doesn't make it clear, yeah, I'm old too. :-)

And yes, both of those albums were digitized using my Ion TTUSB.

BGreider wrote:I am in 4 1 guess I'm old ..but I can buy one beeeotch

superdelegate wrote:

yes just because I have 3000 records from 1972 does not mean I am old you young whippersnapper

soliver wrote:I wonder what kind of stylus this thing has and how hard it would be to update/replace...

It's a cheap tone arm that doesn't fit any standards, and so the stylus/cartridge is impossible to replace. Don't waste your money on this piece of koi, get a used one and then replace the cartridge&needle.

See: http://www.woot.com/Forums/ViewPost.aspx?PostID=2958724

carpediemkiddo wrote:whoa whoa whoa, wait a second, does it ONLY record to mp3 format??

No, with Audacity you can save it in a number of formats including .WAV (uncompressed). The EZ Vinyl Creator is designed to pump out .MP3s into iTunes but the data from the turntable is more versatile than just MP3.

idonwannaname wrote:You DO know very few people are considering purchasing this woot simply to listen to their old vinyl, right? Or did you just get here?

Yes, I just got here.

I probably should have posted this in the morning for people who actually want to use their record collection, not convert it, but hadn't opened woot up until an hour ago. Inherently any analog to digital transferring loses sound quality - its a fact - and I'm sure this only outputs at like 16-bit/44.1khz, which is totally bogus for people trying to get that phonograph level of fidelity onto their computer. At any rate, I think these are facts people should know before purchasing any newfangled record player, especially the ones that have USB output.

And this isn't some old fogie talking, I'm 21! I PREFER listening to my albums through the record player than from a CD, or [gag me with a spoon...] MP3. MP3 is the ultimate quality killer, even at 256kbps.

skywarrior3 wrote:I wonder how good the sound would be in the conversion? I mean CDs are so far superior to vinyl that I have to wonder how, well, old school, it would sound.

Does anyone know?

The fact is Vinyl is superior. However to recover the subtle difference in the sound you need better equipment for vinyl than for CD's.
The average person accepted the "lower" quality of CD's because the end result was better. Most people couldn't send the $$'s required to get the full rich sound of vinyl. What they got from CD's was better than the "All in one" units they used to play the vinyl on.

I am in for 1. I can't wait to play back my Real country, and rock & roll. Anybody up for some Statler Brothers, or Frankie Valli?

emhodew wrote:
I am in for 1. I can't wait to play back my Real country, and rock & roll. Anybody up for some Statler Brothers, or Frankie Valli?

OOOO!!! ME ME ME ME ME! Frankie Valli kicks ass ^^

SarahPants5 wrote:OOOO!!! ME ME ME ME ME! Frankie Valli kicks ass ^^

Badda Bing!

motofabio wrote:I'm guessing that MOST people only have a couple of albums around the house and that you could buy them on iTunes for less than the $50 cost + time and hassle of converting.

No, troll. Most people have ZERO albums around the house. Those of us that have them have bunches that we wish we could play, but not enough to pay a buck a song (assuming they could be obtained, most of mine can't) when we already legally own the song. This is worth a try.

xmicros wrote:I just ordered one of these things...I'm still not sure why, but then I notice that Vista 64 Bit is not listed as a compatible OS. Does this mean I can't run the software?

I'd really like to know too. I just bought this, after putting 64 bit vista on the new pooter....

EdieBu wrote:Some have given the advice to use your existing turntable and buying an USB phono pre-amp to connect directly to the computer for transfering LPs to MP3. However, since this ION turntable allows you to add, lets say, a tape deck for converting cassette to MP3...is it possible to connect an existing turntable to this ION? Thus using the ION as a "phono pre-amp" and perhaps obtaining greater results? If so, I was thinking it would be less expensive to buy the ION then trying to buy an USB phono pre-amp. I sure hope someone can intrepret what I'm trying to say. Thanks for the help.

I'd love to help but so far most posts get a follow-up from a vinyl fan telling them they're wrong about this or that and it's just like every mac/pc, zune/ipod, chevy/ford argument on the internet, boring and pointless and you will find some wisdom here and there if you avoid the flaming. I'll try to say this in a non-committal way..., experimentation is fun, just make sure you're dealing with the low-level straight from the cartridge output and not a line-level that doesn't need a pre-amp. You could probably put an additional set of RCA's on the side of the Ion and wire up a switch or two to take the Ion's cartridge out of the circuit and just plug your other turntable into the Ion. Oh... I've said too much now, here come the flames.....

Sold out!

I'm so happy I got one of these!
My co-worker turned me on to this site and I check back almost every day. Once in a blue moon there's something on here I've been looking for or summat.
Very awesome. Psychalicious.

xmicros wrote:I just ordered one of these things...I'm still not sure why, but then I notice that Vista 64 Bit is not listed as a compatible OS. Does this mean I can't run the software?

I haven't personally tried it, but you can supposedly use Audacity on Vista 64:
http://audacity.sourceforge.net/help/faq?s=general&i=64-bit

Selvaje1 wrote:In for 2!


Could anyone verify that the included software works w/out itunes?

Audacity works without iTunes. The other included software package, EZ Vinyl Converter, appears to require iTunes.

There are also other (non-free, non-included) software options which don't require iTunes, such as Spin It Again.

mooingrhinoceros wrote:Is the description title a reference to the Bouncing Souls?

"...and play that song again!"

no it's 'Pump up the volume' by MARRS

Wowie zowie. A sell-out!

Very good item, Gives a Vintage look

designedlikedice wrote:That just sounds like a really bad turntable. I've never come across that, and I've got a pile of turntables.

I've never had a manual-lift turntable that cut off the end of songs, but I've had a couple of manual-lift turntables. There are a few reasons to do it. The pop as the needle lifts automatically is unaesthetic, and a poorly designed mechanism could damage the record (that pop isn't coming out of the blue). It helps to minimize wear and tear on the tone arm/cartridge/needle assembly.

mymamasangel wrote:
I"m a major recording artist from the time when 'Motown' ruled the world. Albums are those great 12" disc that wise people used to transport our music and lyrics to the world back when you could still 'understand' the words in the songs. Go Thou out into the world and learn what you can do to spread that great method to a generation that has grown up in blissful ignorance. Many of us are still here waiting to share the beauty of a time when all of the instruments worked in the studio WITH the singers and got it right in ONE TAKE!!! There wasn't any of that 'over dubbin' koi! I'll even share my 'STEVIE WONDER - 'INNERVISIONS'
Mymamasangel

Hallelujah, Mmma! Chances are, I'm a big fan of yours! Don't be offended cuz these people ignore you. They're in a different time, in a different place...

Thanks RHMurphy. Appreciate it.

rhmurphy wrote:Yes, you can. iTunes keeps each track in a file with the name of the song as the filename.
For example, on my PC:

c:\Documents and Settings\foo\My Documents\My Music\iTunes\iTunes Music\Pink Floyd\Dark Side of the Moon\05 Money.mp3

On the Mac:
Home/Music/iTunes/iTunes Music/Jethro Tull/Aqualung/10 Locomotive Breath.mp3

Just drag 'em out to a MP3 CD or use iTunes to write a 'normal' music CD. (You can do that from MP3s but not the DRM-protected AAC files.

And if the selection above doesn't make it clear, yeah, I'm old too. :-)

And yes, both of those albums were digitized using my Ion TTUSB.

n 4 1

Everbody wrote:Not me, but you could hack into it and add a pully to drive two cassette reel drives and a pinch roller, then wire up a tape head to an interface to the turntable's tone-arm pickup. You'll have to be a mechanical and electrical engineer, but it can be done.

More easily you can find an audio signal to USB converter so you could capture audio from a cassette deck and a turntable and a reel-to-reel deck and even a microphone.

No need. This turntable has RCA inputs so that you can hook your cassette player into it. Then plug the Ion into your computer's USB and your set.

skywarrior3 wrote:I wonder how good the sound would be in the conversion? I mean CDs are so far superior to vinyl that I have to wonder how, well, old school, it would sound.

Does anyone know?

Are you infatuated?
CDs supperior to vinyl??? What planet do you live on? Mp3s are best though, right?

Sorry...but...duh!

peole talking about the better sound of vinyl compared to CD's. To add to the discussion, ever thought of learning how to play an instrument and singing? ok ok, just joking, please do not attempt either.

Has anyone received theirs yet?