Ion’s new ITTUSB is exactly what it says it is.
Here’s a piece of gadgetry I discovered at the local Urban Outfitters and knew I simply must have, if for no other reason than it spoke to the gadget whore in me.
It’s the Ion ITTUSB, which Ion calls “the world’s first USB turntable”. It promised to make ripping my albums to CD or MP3 easy for a relatively small amount of money.
Now understand that, despite my love for gadgets, I am not overly technically savvy and I quickly lose interest in things without user-friendly interfaces. Also, despite my love of music, I’m not a musician, so I have little knowledge of recording equipment or sound editing. In order for this turntable to be right for me, it had to deliver exactly what it promised.
Unfortunately, the only one at the aforementioned Urban Outfitters was a busted display model, and the whole country was sold out (even Amazon couldn’t keep any in stock). Fortunately, pestering the staff at UO by phone got me the next one they got in.
That was yesterday. I am pleased to report that the ITTUSB does offer exactly what it promises.
Setup was easy; the instructions were detailed, even down to proper installtion of the counterweight on the arm of the turntable.
The software only seemed intimidating. The ITTUSB comes equipped with Audacity, which looks very complex at first glance. But the documentation with the software was excellent. It gave me all of the information I needed to get started in a few succinct paragraphs, and pointed me in the right direction for more advanced techniques later on.
I reached into the 7” bin and pulled out the first record I grabbed. It happened to be The Presidents of the United States of America covering “Video Killed the Radio Star” (don’t you judge me!) and began the inaugeral recording.
It was easy and friendly. Even consulting the book every step of the way, tinkering with the cleanup, and downloading a third-party app to convert my Audacity file to MP3, I had a clean file added to my iTunes library in under an hour. Future endeavors will be much quicker.
People who know what they’re talking about will be quick to point out how this is not the greatest quality, or that similar results can be achieved for less money, etc., but the point is, these are people who know. I am not a person who knows what they’re doing when it comes to this, and the ITTUSB presented all the tools I needed in an easy-to-understand package.
That works for me.
Link to corporate site
- Ryan
January 6th, 2006 at 1:09 pm
Whoa, crap, I just judged you.
Incidentally, Audacity is an open source program that is outstanding for editing audio, I use it pretty often myself.
January 6th, 2006 at 1:14 pm
If you’re judgin me now, wait until I start chronicalling some of the moldy oldies that unearth and digitize… I have some records that are Keeee-rappy with a capitol Keeee.
January 9th, 2006 at 12:15 pm
All I want is an mp3 of Daniel Johnston’s Speedy Motorcycle 7″.
January 30th, 2006 at 2:11 am
Ryan,
In order to know how really good a CDR recorded with the ION ITTUSB is, one needs to compare it with CDR’s recorded with similar machines. One of them, and the only one at this point, is the TEAC GF-300. Do you know which one produce better results, assuming that the same vinyl source is used? Perhaps the ION ITTUSB has the edge, for it allows that different softwares be used aside from the default one, while the TEAC GF-300 has integrated software that cannot be changed. Then again, I cannot speak from experience.
CA-Lacaye
January 30th, 2006 at 9:35 am
While I have not had any experience using the TEAC GF-300, there are a few factors that make me question the job it does. As you mentioned not only are you stuck with the default recording software, it doesn’t appear to allow you much control on how the recording sounds.
Additionally, with TEAC GF-300, you need to stand by with the remote to mark track breaks.
The third thing that puts me off from the TEAC GF-300 is the price. It lists at $300-$400. That’s a little prohibitive for me.
January 30th, 2006 at 4:13 pm
I think the whole idea of being locked into a software is suspect, although I’d hope for the price it’d be a great piece of software. One of the benefits of the ION has to be that it uses the open-source Audacity to keep the price down. Sometimes you’d want to think twice, but Audacity is a very mature and decent program and the simple fact that you can use any program (not to mention additional recording gear to tweak the sound) is just great.
Plus, the TEAC unit (though I mostly trust the brand) seems like a really expensive novelty, with its wacky vintage presentation.
February 1st, 2006 at 10:40 pm
Ryan & Mike,
After reading your replies more than one time, I have to say that I agree 100% with your opinions.
Hence, at this point, early 2006, the ION appears to be the better choice.
I have a final question, please. Does the ION ITTUSB come with a transparent or translucent (or even solid) lid? Each and every online photo of this turntable I have found on the Internet doesn’t show any lid.
CA-Lacaye
February 2nd, 2006 at 10:14 am
Nope, no cover, although one would be nice. I think they were going for the DJ turntable look for the sake of marketing. That’s why it has two big play/pause buttons on it as well. It’s all packaging.
February 2nd, 2006 at 9:35 pm
Ooppss! The fact that it doesn’t include a cover has taken me a bit aback! Still, a nice feature that more than counterbalances the lack of a lid is the fact that the ION ITTUSB turntable uses a standard cartridge as far as replaceability is concerned, according to what I have been able to find out. This means that the default cartridge (with the default stylus) can be exchanged for a more professional cartridge for a better performance. In this sense, do you know a top of the line cartridge? I have heard that some STANTON and SHURE are among the top ones. What’s your opinion?
CA-Lacaye
February 19th, 2006 at 12:32 pm
I haven’t seen anywhere what the dimensions of the unit are. How much space does it take. If it is not to large one could possibly use a clear plastic cover that is intended for some other use to cover the unit when not is use. I might even be possible to place in some sort of slide in/out type of drawer or shelf that would facilitate storage/dust protection when not in use.
February 19th, 2006 at 7:17 pm
Jim,
I’m sure all of this is possible. It measures 15″x17″ (I just used my tape measure), and if you’re trying to put it in drawer, it’s about 7″ from base to the top of the arm.
February 21st, 2006 at 12:43 pm
Thanks for writing this.
I’m a big fan of Diddy and Bad Boy Records and I have a very large collection (all purchased legally). I have started buying vinyl as there are songs that you can only seem to find on vinyl. I could download them somewhere, I’m sure, but I’m not really into that. I want to buy it.
So, now I’m looking for a way to get myself set up to rip them. Like you, I have no idea what to do here. I’ve never owned a record in my life, let alone played one. My mom used to say that when I was a baby, I would break the needles on my parents record player. That is the extent of my experience with them.
So, that’s why I’m looking at this. At the same time, I want good audio quality and it seems like, from what you said, this unit provides it. Was hard to find solid reviews of the product online (for the 20 minutes or so I’ve been looking), so I was glad to see yours. Thanks again.
February 21st, 2006 at 3:08 pm
Carlos — Stanton cartridges seem to be the standard for hip hop and techno DJs, but I’m not sure as far as audio listening/recording quality. I have some Shure mics and recording equipment and I think it’s all kickass, but have never used their cartridges.
Personally, on my home turntable I use a Grado cartridge and I would wholeheartedly recommend that. Their hardware ranges in price from around $40 for a standard high-quality cartridge to a whopping $2500 for their flagship, called (quite pretentiously, I have to say) The Statement. I have a near bottom-of-the-line cartridge and it sounds killer even on older records. Really brings out the lower mids that old records tend to lose gradually as they wear out.
The other thing I have to recommend is a cleaner, such as Discwasher. You’ll be amazed what a good washing with anti-static fluid can do for both old and new records.
Patrick — I’m no Diddy fan myself, but I’m glad to see you getting into the vinyl. It’s got the best sound quality, the biggest album art, and the coolest Fonz factor.
March 1st, 2006 at 8:27 am
Just curious: When I have seen instructions for ripping vinyl to mp3, most suggest connecting a turntable to an external amplifier, and then routing to your computer. The idea is that the signal from the turntable itself is not amplified/equalized (or whatever) sufficiently to allow for a good recording. It appears that this is not necessary with the iTTUSB, but do your resulting mp3 files sound rich, with a full sound, or do you think it would be beneficial to have an amplifier in the system?
Thanks,
Peter
March 1st, 2006 at 10:52 am
Peter,
Amplifications is not a problem. I have ripped vinyl on my iPod right next to CD tracks, and the vinyl sound is warmer, and just as full as the tracks that started digitally.
As I mentioned before I am not overly tech-savvy, so I am not sure if this is due to amping from the turntable, or the “normalize” function in Audacity, which is a function I use as part of my track preparation.
Hope this helps.
-Ryan
March 7th, 2006 at 12:37 pm
Thanks for the information on this product. It seems like everyone else considers a copy and paste of the specs the equivalent of a review. Ugh.
Anyway, I still don’t understand exactly what this product does. Does it transfer encoded or .wav information via the USB cable? If the turntable itself does the .mp3 encoding, I would assume you have control over the encoding bitrate. Also, what is the tracking process? Does it detect silence as a track-break? Or do you handle that later, manually?
I have a mental picture of the process being a lot like my tape to cd/mp3 setup. Read into CDWave (except in this case I’d probably use Audacity), track it off manually, save the files, and import into iTunes.
Thanks for your help,
thejart
March 7th, 2006 at 1:09 pm
Jart,
The turntable encodes the analog signal of the turntable into a digital signal, which is then imported into whichever program you’re using, in this case Audacity.
At that point you have to track it off manually and save the files to iTunes. Audacity also offers several other tools that allow you to clean up the audio, as well as normalize the levels.
Glad you like the review!
-Ryan
March 11th, 2006 at 8:38 pm
hi, does anyone know the actual sample rate or bit rate or resolution or sound quality of the ion? or does audacity do it all and let the user determine relative quality? i hope this question isn’t too retarded.
thanks,
dr
March 12th, 2006 at 10:22 am
David,
I’m not sure what the bit rate on the turntable is, but Audacity allows the user to determine the quality by normalizing levels and cleaning up the sound files. As a truntable, the sound quality is comparable to most consumer-grade turntables on the market.
Not much of an answer, but I hope it helps.
Ryan
March 14th, 2006 at 11:04 am
Audacity has capability up to 24 bit/96kHz and uses 32-bit floats, but I’m not sure about the unit itself. We should try to do a 24-bit recording with it and see if it works.
March 20th, 2006 at 8:16 pm
Subj: Availability. I could not find the unit in stock at any of the stores that ION mentions where I usually buy electronics. I emailed ION and they acknowledged that their distribution “will be improving later in the year”. However…they suggested I check out Urban Outfitters. I did, they had stock at my neighborhood Urban….and I BOUGHT ONE! Yay!
March 21st, 2006 at 9:26 am
Yeah, Urban Outfitters seems to be the only place stocking these things with any consistency. When I first started looking, I went to one big box electronics store (whose name rhymes with Smchmirkit Schmitty), and was told adamantly by the “store help” that not only did they not stock the ITTUSB, they didn’t carry ANY turntables. Mind you, we were standing in front of their turntable selection at the time…
April 6th, 2006 at 6:43 pm
Hi Ryan,
Have you found a sample or any comparison between a music recorded with ITTUSB and the same music recorded using a traditional turntable?
Thanks!
April 12th, 2006 at 8:25 pm
Question about the auxiliary mini-plug input on the deck-top. This is intended to use the ION’s circuitry to digitize feeds from cassette decks, reel-to-reel machines, etc. Outputs to USB just as when recording vinyl LPs. I am not getting a strong enough signal from my cassette deck into that feed. Am using the line-out outputs and the deck’s meters show good signal strength, but once in Audacity the audio cassette content is not strong enough to be usable. Any thoughts on this?
May 5th, 2006 at 2:06 pm
First off THANK YOU for the extensive review. I agree with Jart that the other on-line reviews are sketchy at best.
I’ve had my turntable on order for awhile (no Urban Outfitters out in the wilds of Connecticut) and I was starting to get nervours that I’d be disappointed when I finally got the turntable. I’ve been piping my old turntable through my reciever & then into “line in” on my sound card via “tape out” off the reciever. But I could never get the output levels high enough on the resulting mp3’s, no matter what I did. I was hoping going ttraight in through the USB port would eliminiate that issue & it sounds like it does,. Besides, this turntable HAS to be an improvement over my old POS Sony.
Thanks again for the great review & attention to detail.
May 7th, 2006 at 2:23 pm
Good upgrade magnetic cartridges, for those interested. I use a Shure M97 for archiving, it’s very good sounding, durable and available for under $100 street. Too expensive? The M93 is also excellent at under $50.
May 8th, 2006 at 10:47 pm
Does this thing really have a line-in jack? I don’t see it referenced on any of the technical specifications.
May 16th, 2006 at 11:04 am
It does have a line in jack and it is not on the specs online. Its on the box. Circuit City has these in stock all over Chicago, but they aren’t on display. UO and Circuit City are the only places I’ve seen them advertised.
Haven’t tried mine but picked it up to digitize the 7 inchers I have.
June 1st, 2006 at 6:52 pm
I recently bought the ION ITTUSB and have been really happy with it and with the Audacity software. It was very easy to set up, the directions were clearly written, and it works as advertised. I’m busy converting my old vinyl LPs to MP3s.
Jane
June 24th, 2006 at 3:34 pm
My old turntable periodically required the needle to be changed. Where could one find a new needle for this–or would that not be an issue? I signed up to buy an Ion as soon as Amazon re-stocks them, so please answer as soon as you can! (email me!)
Jody
July 20th, 2006 at 4:05 pm
I was waiting for one of the online suppliers to actually have one in stock and walked into the Urban Outfitters in Uptown Mpls and they had a bunch! Bought one immediately. Got it home, had a bit of trouble getting it going. Now am getting music recorded but it is very muddy sounding. Ion is not great so far with assistance. I am looking for someone that might have some ideas..or else it’s going back. I’m bummed, have a lot of vinyl that never made it to CD that I would love to hear.
July 20th, 2006 at 5:13 pm
Hi Kelly,
It seems like we’re the only ones doing any sort of promotion for this thing. Ion should be paying us!
I’m going to guess that it’s either:
A. A bad piece of equipment, or
B. Your settings.
Pretty broad, huh?
I had to tinker with my settings for a while, too. If I can help in any way, like answering more specific questions, I am more than happy to. Let me know.
July 22nd, 2006 at 8:58 am
I’ve yet to grasp one thing; Can this, erm, “thing” produce sound to speakers on-the-fly as well? I’m not as interested about the digital conversion to file as I am to output in general.
It would be just awesome to listen to vinyl through the computer, rather than just transfer the data.
July 22nd, 2006 at 10:13 am
Mort,
That’s definite yes. I listen to the records as I rip them.
August 8th, 2006 at 4:16 pm
I realize this is late in the game, but regarding an above comment, no self respecting DJ uses Stanton cartridges, it’s ALWAYS Shure or Ortofon if you respect your vinyl. Stanton is budget gear, for budget minded consumers. Nothing wrong with that, but it is what it is.
August 8th, 2006 at 9:33 pm
Violentvinyl, I was just going by what I’ve seen quite a few DJs use. I’m not a self-respecting or any kind of DJ.
I just listen to records, and I’m a Grado man.
Although as a musician, I can definitely vouch for most things that Shure makes.
August 21st, 2006 at 11:55 pm
I just saw this on HGTX I Want This Tech… Since its been some tiime since this was first posted here has anyone who’s lived with it come up with some detailed judgements as to sound quality, etc?
August 22nd, 2006 at 9:01 am
Lee,
Here is my detailed judgement:
What you get is a digitized file of an analog recording. It’s a near CD-quality MP3 file. If you’re an analog junky, you won’t be able to replicate the crispness of the original analog recording on the album, but you will have a decent quality file for an MP3 player or a CDR.
August 22nd, 2006 at 3:05 pm
Add me to the list of appreciative non-techy gadget lovers who need your kind of review and discussion. Are some of you using this device to transfer cassette tapes to digital? Did I understand some of the responses to say you can connect a cassette deck to the Ion ITTUSB?
September 3rd, 2006 at 2:32 pm
It appears that latest version of this turntable is missing the rather large pitch control (?) slider located just right of the stylus arm and below. The cutout is still there, but the slider (a slab-like control that sticks up at a right angle to the top surface of the table case) is missing in some turntable pictures AND ALSO within the diagrams of the downloadable ITTUSB Quickstart file (in PDF).
Anybody know what that’s about …and its implications for the user?
Thomas
September 4th, 2006 at 1:26 pm
Thanks for all the info. I just ordered this turn table for my husband for his B-day.
I ordered it out of the JC Penneys Christmas catalog.
Shipping tax and unit came to $ 159.
I hope he likes it.
September 12th, 2006 at 4:41 pm
I still would like to know exactly what comes out of the Ion USB port. Is it a pure .wav file, and what is the sampling rate and sample bit size? If so,it could be burned directly to a music CD, or encoded with FLAC to preserve as much of the original as possible.
Has anyone seen complete specs on this?
September 14th, 2006 at 3:45 pm
I got this for my husband for his b-day. Backordered from Amazon in June two months! Received in mid-August. Was late for his b-day, but WORTH THE WAIT! We are not audio techies. The software that came with the unit was unreadable - some kind of compressed imiage file. Downloaded updated Audacity software and VOILA! So amazing. Hubby is happily listening to his vinyl collection as he converts his collection to the audacity format. Next step is to convert from audacity format to MP3. WAV format also available. Then burning CDs!
Got a translucent plastic drawer from WallyMart and it effectively protects the unit from dust. A nice clear cover would have been nice, but we’re happy with what we got.
September 28th, 2006 at 8:12 am
““Video Killed the Radio Star” (don’t you judge me!)”
Why would anyone judge you? That’s one of the best New Wave songs.
October 1st, 2006 at 3:05 pm
Great review and comments. I love this site.I still wonder about one thing. Can I use it (ITTUSB) with a Moving Coil Cartridge (MCC)?
At the moment I own a Dual record player with an Ortofon MCC. Recently the needle crashed (never let children touch your record player !!), which was a great loss as the , now out of production, Ortofon MC-100 that I had, was a very good cartridge. So now I have to replace the whole thing. Because that is the downside of using a MCC, you cannot change just the needle, it is an integral part of the cartridge.
Now I am considering the ITTUSB as a replacement, because I wanted to convert my record colection to a digital format anyway.
Before I order it, I need to know two things first:
1- is it at all possible to place a MCC in its arm (physically that is, dimensionwise, weightwise) ?
2- I will need a transformer to adapt the signal to the required level. I know this from using the Ortofon on my Dual. But this means that the transformer has to be placed somewhere in the circuit of the ITTUSB between the MC and the AD-converter. Is this possible?
Anybody? TIA
Paul
October 8th, 2006 at 7:35 am
Hi
Just wondered, there is lots of talk about ripped and transferring the disc to whatever mp3 device you want to you.
But how about if I just want to use it for listening to vinyl as I no longer have space for a turntable, amp, large speakers etc. Instead I want to listen to the records but would this enable me just to play and hear the record through my PC and its speakers?
Would love to hear
Thanks
Andrew
November 13th, 2006 at 7:12 am
That’s exactly what I wanted to know. Also, is there any difference between the Ion and Numark versions in terms of build quality etc or is it just a different sticker? In terms of the ion one, there is a “classic” model available in the UK which is more traditional in its styling and has a lid but doesn’t seem to have the line input for cassette recording. I just want to pick one up and have a look at it now, cos I’ve heard they are a bit plasticky!
Matt
November 19th, 2006 at 1:11 am
I also purchased a ION’s ITTUSB and very happy with it, my only concern is the belt drive, it is a very thin rubber band, I wonder how long will this last and if I’m able to purchase locally or do I have to go to originator or manufacture, eventually it will stretch. Like I said that is mi biggest concern at this moment. I have tried looking for parts on the Internet to no avail, I have yet to call the phone number giving on their brochure. does any one think this will be a problem later on with use.
November 28th, 2006 at 5:25 am
ion..as far as i know..is owned by Numark..as well as how Numark now owns Gemini…(someone correct me if I’m wrong)…ion is a more..”budget based company”…but if all you are using this table for is ripping recods..then it’ll do its jb perfectly!…as for cartridge/stylus…my best recomendation would be the Shure Whitelabel..its a bit pricey..buti have found amny different accounts that have dubed it to be the best sound quality you can et ou of a market grade cartridge..plus i swear by them and wont let any other brand needle touch my records!!! the whitelabels are actually comparable to the catridge/stylus that the smithsonian uses to payback vintage records…but from a DJ point of view…unless youa re ripping to CDs…steer clear from this one…ion’s belt drives arent dependable at all..but yeh..thats my cents
December 4th, 2006 at 9:11 pm
Hey I was just curious if you’re still using this thing after nearly a year, and how well it’s held up.
I’m thinking of getting one for my dad for Christmas. He has about 50,000 records (no kidding!), and right now if he wants to make some of them digital, he tapes them and uses this 20 year old boom box to mix them down to the computer. He needs something like this, at least as a starter or something.
Also - have you ever tried it with 78’s? Evidently Audacity is supposed to be able to let you record a 78 on the 33 speed and then mix it back to 78. Anyone tried that?
Thanks.
December 15th, 2006 at 12:34 pm
I just got an iTTUSB, and it’s quite cool and easy to use, although being a semi-audiophile (what the…) I have a couple of concerns. I’m ripping into two different formats: .wav, for burining to conventional audio CD’s, and hi-rate .mp3’s, for on the pc, treo, etc.
1. no dust cover
2. “rips” so far are just a little off, a little edgy in the vocals, in places, making me think it’s a stylus limitation, and the shure upgrade is one I’ll be looking at. I still don’t know what the original is.
BTW: it has two (actually 3) kinds of output: the USB cable, and a pair of standard RCA cables, switchable for phono input or tape/aux input levels. I have mine connected BOTH to the stereo and to the PC.
January 4th, 2007 at 5:28 pm
With regard to the switch and RCA connectors, I looked at the display model at CC and it appeared to me that the RCA connections are actually outputs that would bypass the internal AD converter. Am I wrong?
January 19th, 2007 at 8:12 pm
250 pounds of vinyl reduced to 4 spindles of 100CD’s each. Now that is what I call “Kompression”. And it is easy. You don’t have to be a nerd, and speed recording is the tops. ION better hire more robots for this winner. Software is neat. They could teach Mr. Gates a thing or three.
February 2nd, 2007 at 8:36 am
I don’t know about wav and bitrate but I have a 40 year Vinyl collection and want to put them to CD to play around the house in all the other music eqipment I have. Do you play LP into a computer,save it somehow, and then burn to CD or can you do LP to CD directly as you go. Hope this isn’t too technical??! Thanks
February 2nd, 2007 at 9:47 am
Don,
Yes, that’s correct. You rip the LP to the hard drive of your computer, and you then use Audacity for any sort of cleanup you want to do. Then you convert the file to MP3 (with a downloaded extension), and you’re good to go!
February 20th, 2007 at 3:18 am
Does anyone know the specs of this unit? Wow and flutter, etc …
March 18th, 2007 at 3:36 pm
Has anybody actually got the cassette part to work, vinyl fine getting down all my old lps but tapes can’t get to work. I have phono to 3.5mm plug from my Sony Tape player into Ion but no music - help?
March 18th, 2007 at 4:07 pm
Ignore last post the 3.5mm socket has a spring connection, press down hard it clicks and then hey presto output to the Audacity software and monitoring via Pc. No ripping tapes can begin.
March 19th, 2007 at 9:46 pm
OK, I can get the records to play and it seems to create a Audacity file.
But I was unable to launch the Lame MP3 Plugin downloaded as recommended. I cant get the songs into a usable format and into my iTunes.
I am techno lame at best, but have hundreds of records aging in the garage. First up, all the original Beatles.
Help
May 8th, 2007 at 4:22 pm
Probably a really dumb question - I’ve been thinking about the Ion - looks like just what I’ve been looking for (huge vinyl collection). Does it play through the computer or do you need to attach it to a receiver to actually hear what you are playing on the turntable?
May 9th, 2007 at 8:28 am
Steve - Not a stupid question - as long as you have ability to play music through your computer, you can also play the rcords through the computer on the Ion.
Lonni - Sorry about the late reply. You shouldn’t have to launch the Lame plugin. Once it’s downloaded, a Lame MP3 conversion command should be available in the dropdown menus on Audacity.
-Ryan
May 28th, 2007 at 1:25 pm
I just turned 59 and was considering purchasing a turntable to play my old 45’s. After reading about the Ion ITTUSB, it sounds like it may be to my benifit to purchase this product, upgrade the cartridge to a Sure (as most suggest), then use it to convert my 45’s to CD or just spin a few when I’m in the mood.
Need a recommendation on the pros and cons of what I’m thinking
Mike
June 18th, 2007 at 5:31 pm
FYI, there is a NEW version out now the Ion iTTUSB10. A new design and dust cover included. I am getting it online right now, so I cannot post how it works yet. But I think I will be happy, like most others, check it out:
http://www.ion-audio.com/iTTUSB10.php
June 18th, 2007 at 7:05 pm
I am thinking about getting this turntable. I have a large collection of LPs and a box full of my Dad’s. Does this convert the LPs to CDs that will play on any CD player or does it just convert to MP3s. My Dad only has the older CD player and only one of my vehicles has MP3 capabilities. How many Lps can you expect to record before changing the cartridge?
June 20th, 2007 at 4:49 pm
I liked the ease of this product, though I prefer to use Roxio’s Spin Doctor to clean up the files and record. My only complaint is having to do everything manually, including physically picking up the needle and putting it back down, which opens it up to scratches. I can remember cheapo turntables I had in the 80s where you could move the needle up or down and across the platter by pressing a button. Wish this had that feature. But for less than the $100 I got this for, I’m not complaining too much.
Steve
June 24th, 2007 at 9:08 am
I just bought the same turntable. My first effort at recording an album resulted in it recording too fast- and yes I did make sure the speed selector was set to 33! It just looks as though the turntable is going too fast. Any ideas?
Mark
July 5th, 2007 at 5:28 pm
Kathy,
Audacity rips the files into Audacity files, and then you use an extension called LAME to convert them to MP3s. Once you have the MP3, you use whatever CD burning software you currently use (iTunes works fine), to burn the CDs into ordinary audio CDs.
July 6th, 2007 at 11:27 pm
Mark– I had a regular turntable that did the same thing, and one “quick fix” (that may not be exactly the best, but works) is to put a small stack of coins or something else small and heavy on the label of your LP. It’s not exactly accurate, and it’d help to have a reference sound (such as the LP played on a table you know to be accurate, or a CD), but I don’t think there’s much for calibration on the Ion.
July 7th, 2007 at 7:29 am
Mike
Thanks for the suggestion, but my turntable is running way too fast. The 33 speed is about 60!
Is this a known issue with the turntables, or do I jest need to send it back?
Mark
July 16th, 2007 at 8:43 am
Im just about sold on this, but need to hear from somebody who has done the 78rpm conversion. Thats all I have is 78s. Has anybody done this conversion yet, and how does it sound?
August 23rd, 2007 at 4:40 pm
will it work on my windows media player and vista computer. were can i get a shure cartridge
August 23rd, 2007 at 5:02 pm
back again tell me what is the difference between the ion and the numark ittusb players
August 29th, 2007 at 11:30 am
Jacob, as far as I can tell there isn’t a difference. I haven’t looked in detail at the Numark, but I do know that the ION brand is owned by Numark.
There may be a couple features that the Numark has over the ION, but the price is similar – so by and large, I’d say it’s the same thing manufactured by the same people and branded differently.
September 10th, 2007 at 2:38 pm
Ryan, could you please expand a bit on the counterweight installation that you didn’t find challenging and I do?? How do you a)know when you are at 0 grams stylus pressure and b)what’s with the scale markings? If I dial it back up to 3 g as it says at step 4, the counterweight is nearly flush to the top of the tone arm again. I’m terrified of gouging my albums with too much pressure, so can’t even move forward to see if I find the software equally challenging or no.
Any help would be *so* much appreciated.
Thanks,
Angie
P.S. Love the PofUSA cover.
September 22nd, 2007 at 7:42 am
If you have a collection of any size, you will find digitizing it with Audacity very time consuming. I use something called VinylStudio (http://www.alpinesoft.co.uk/vinylstudio) and find that it takes a lot of the pain away.
September 22nd, 2007 at 8:19 am
And another thing … as a previous poster points out, the Ion does not have an automatic tone arm. BUT, the ‘05′ model does, so that’s the one to get.
October 18th, 2007 at 3:30 pm
hey guys i just wanted to ask a question.
Can this be used as a regular turntable, like can you still scratch with it, or is it not like that?
November 25th, 2007 at 11:47 pm
I finally tried out the turntable that i got for last Christmas and had the same problem as Mark did in #66. When we played through the speakers the album was playing way too fast for 33 1/3. Found an old 78 and tried it at 45 speed and that seemed closer. How can we fix the speed accurately without guessing some conversion in Audacity? Even the techno nephews couldn’t do it for me on Thanksgiving.
December 3rd, 2007 at 5:48 am
Anybody out there able to comment on USB Ion which I want to buy for my son….lots of original LPs and singles to transfer: also personal cassettes.
On the write up it says (Iwantoneofthose site)not compatible with Sony Vaio or Macs with Pentium. As my son is a designer he has a Mac I think…dont all computers come with Pentium?
any assistance would be great
December 10th, 2007 at 11:32 am
I bought the iPTUSB from Ion several weeks ago. I have recorded around 20 LP so far and I am very happy with it. Sound is great. Fairly easy to use. Instructions aren’t the greatest, but anyone should be able to muddle through. It is time consuming. One thing that had me going at first. I had it still plugged into the USB port and couldn’t figure out why I couldn’t play anything through iTunes. You have to have the turntable unpluged from your USB port. There are 2 recording programs that came with it. I have only used mixmaster, because I am new to all of this. Soon I will try the other program, but I understand that one is not a no brainer, but you can do lots more with it. Good luck. I think this would be a great gift.
January 1st, 2008 at 9:40 pm
You can take care of the problem of having to unplug the usb to play back (at least for vista computers). Go to control panel and open up sound. Make the “internal speaker/headphone” the default. Also does anyone know why I may be having a problem with xp? Says it doesn’t recognize the turntable, doesn’t pick up the drivers. Any help would be appreciated.
January 13th, 2008 at 7:25 pm
I was wondering, is their an advantage to going through the usb over going directly through the sound card?(creative audigy 2 zs)
I use adobe audition for recording, and editing, but it is with a receiver and turntable. I’m thinking a turntable with a preamp would make it a little more compact. As for sound which would be better?
thanks, AL
February 16th, 2008 at 5:46 pm
Please Help. We bought an iTTUSB and we are able to convert our record albums to our computer just fine. We use either the iTunes software or the Roxio Creator LE that came with our computer to burn CD’s. We just hit the “Burn CD” button. The CD’s work just fine on our Bose or our computer but they will not play in our car. What is it we need to do differently to get them to play in our car? We are not very technical. Any help will be appreciated.