Anyone got an ION Quick Play Vinyl LP USB Converter?

LucianH

Had a browse in Maplin today and saw this:

http://www.maplin.co.uk/quick-play-lp-usb-powered-vinyl-to-mp3-turntable-509437

I retired my old turntable many many years ago but, since going digital, I've always had a yearning to get some of the over 200 vinyl LPs I've got onto my media players. The sale price that Maplin are offering looks attractive - John Lewis is 60% more:

http://www.johnlewis.com/231273985/Product.aspx

What I'd like to know is has anybody used one of these? The Expert Review site gives it a glowing review:

http://www.expertreviews.co.uk/gadgets/1285000/ion-quick-play-lp/2

..but that's the only review I can find with the exception of the Shopping Sites' Reviews such as Amazon where there seems to be some concern over the audio quality (it obviously uses a very basic (and cheap) pickup, and the software only works with iTunes (yuk!)).

Any feedback from someone on this forum who has used it would be welcome.

Given the price (and unless nobody comes back with some real no-no's) I'll still probably go for it so, if I do, I'll post a review of it in a few weeks time.

spannerzone

I thought you could use any audio recording software you like.... I'm sure they used to have the freely available Audactiy as the sound recording software and I can't see why you couldn't do this now. It's treated as an audio input so you can do what you like,

The alternative is if you already have a record deck and amp, take an audio output from the amp into the PC and record that way. A standard record deck won't have enough audio level to go directly into the line input on a computer so either use a pre amplifier or get an ION usb deck.

Remember it's slow to convert- every record track is played in real time and recorded in real time.....that's a lot of time you'll sit by the PC recording the tracks and naming etc.

LucianH

spannerzone wrote: »

I thought you could use any audio recording software you like.... I'm sure they used to have the freely available Audactiy as the sound recording software and I can't see why you couldn't do this now. It's treated as an audio input so you can do what you like,

The alternative is if you already have a record deck and amp, take an audio output from the amp into the PC and record that way. A standard record deck won't have enough audio level to go directly into the line input on a computer so either use a pre amplifier or get an ION usb deck.

Remember it's slow to convert- every record track is played in real time and recorded in real time.....that's a lot of time you'll sit by the PC recording the tracks and naming etc.

Thanks, I've not tried Audacity (although I have got Goldwave but I've not tried that with a USB input). Unfortunately my turntable gave up the ghost many years ago.

spannerzone

Goldwave was always pretty good too I thought so either should work..... a USB input audio type device should appear in windows sound settings as a sound source which can be selected and then recorded by the program of your choice.

googler

If you're going to use a cheap turntable and a cheap convertor, you'd be better off just finding the CDs corresponding to the albums you have and buying those. It won't be worth the effort.

If, on the other hand, you're going to buy a quality turntable, some quality Analogue to Digital convertors, and make copies of (clean) LPs at better-than-CD resolution (24/96 as opposed to 16/44) then it might be worthwhile.....

usignuolo

I have one - not used it in ages. It always worked with audacity. It is not true however that you can get cd replacements for all your vinyl disks. My vinyl disks are rock and pop so I am not too concerned about having pitch perfect quality - if they were classical recordings it might be less acceptable. Even so some are not available on cd.

spannerzone

Super cheapy USB record player for £17.00 from M&S!
http://www.marksandspencer.com/M-S-USB-Turntable/dp/B004EC0320?ie=UTF8

Looks pretty naff though!

esuhl

I'm not sure that a cheap turntable with a USB output has been designed with optimum sound quality in mind... If you already have an amp, I'd probably buy a better-quality turntable and connect the amp's headphone output to the input on your sound card.

I used Audacity to digitise some mix tapes a while back and you can edit the waveform once you've recorded it. So (if you have the patience) you can manually remove pops and clicks.

LucianH

esuhl wrote: »

I'm not sure that a cheap turntable with a USB output has been designed with optimum sound quality in mind... If you already have an amp, I'd probably buy a better-quality turntable and connect the amp's headphone output to the input on your sound card.

I used Audacity to digitise some mix tapes a while back and you can edit the waveform once you've recorded it. So (if you have the patience) you can manually remove pops and clicks.

Thanks. To be honest, although I'd like to get the best quality audio as possible, it may that that I'm now at the age (as demonstrated by the large number of vinyls I have), where I think that my hearing is no longer capable of appreciating the finer qualities (I SAID "APPRECIATING THE FINER QUALITIES", DEAR!). If this turnable can easily interface to something like Goldwave [thanks spannerzone, I'll give it a try] then I'm sure I can tweak the equalisation to give me something that I'd be happy to listen to and also be good enough to introduce my daughters to some "real music".

I've taken the plunge and bought one - so over the coming weeks I'll dust of a few LPs and give it a try.

I realise that the "ripping" and faffing around will take some time - but it will be a time for a bit of nostalgia!
Thanks everyone for responding to my post. :beer:

rockitup

I would be interested to hear how you get on with your conversion from Vinyl to MP3 quality wise

I did buy a Ion USB turntable about 4 years ago when they were £90 or so, took it with me to SE Asia then found it was only recording on 1 channel. Apparently a whole batch of these had problems but ION customer service never replied to my emails looking for any way to fix the problem.

I had seen some other turntables in the U.S. which worked on all 110/240v and 50/60hz and they were more expensive but looked like better quality. Meanwhile I still have 4 large boxes of vinyl LP, EP's and 45's plus a box of 78's to rip to MP3.