The Ion turntable arrived and is hooked up to the laptop...

[O.S.O.K.]

This is the one that I mentioned in the Technics turntable thread.

Got it from Best Buy via mailorder and it's hooked up and I'm running "Moody Blues: Threashold of a Dream" on it - recording to a MP3 conversion program. :)

Unfortunately, while I can listen to the music while recording, I haven't figured out how to just play the music and listed from the turntable.

But this is of little matter - once it's stored in the Ipod library, I can listen to it again from there...

Anyway, for $80 I'm very happy with it.

And it's got standard old-fasion plug hook-ups too should I want to use it that way.

Thanks for reminding me to do this! I've been meaning to get to this for some time so that I could "capture" my old vinyl collection and listen to it again.

Hmm, which next... maybe Head East or Jethro Tull Thick as a Brick :)

ETA: Ted Nugent: State of Shock :party:

[L1A1Rocker]

Glad you are enjoying it. I'm planning on going to San Antonio with a friend next week to do some music shopping. I'm kinda bummed right now. I was expecting a Denon DL-160 cartridge yesterday but it didn't show. Maybe Monday. Oh, my record washing machine came yesterday though.

[O.S.O.K.]

Is that one of the discwashers with the walnut handle? I had one of those...

I just put Supertramp, Breakfast in America on....

[L1A1Rocker]

This one is a bit different. Very low budget but I've read that they do work reasonably well

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/41Q1XpZl7aL._SL500_AA300_.jpg

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B002UKSZUU

[O.S.O.K.]

$80? That's low budget? That's how much my turntable cost :lool:

I'll just keep blowing on them...

[L1A1Rocker]

$80? That's low budget? That's how much my turntable cost :lool:

I'll just keep blowing on them...

The really good washers cost upwards of 500.00! They have a vacume drying system that is cool as Hell but not five hundred dollers worth of cool. I washer is really needed for older and bought used records. It is amazing how much dirt actually comes off those records. I have recently learned that dirt in the grooves will contribute to needle ware and in turn cause damage to the record. It is an extremly small amount of damage, but with time it builds up.

Does your ION use a standard headshell and cartridge? I ask because you may benefit from a cartridge upgrade. You can find some very decent carts for around forty bucks or so. I don't know what would be a good match for your ION though. As I understand it, there is a certain "balance" of parts with regard to the tonearm, headshell, and cartridge that needs to be considered.

If you are interested, there is a web form called audiokarma.org that has a great deal of information on turntables. I just joined there recently to try and learn a few things myself.

[Krupski]

This is the one that I mentioned in the Technics turntable thread.

I bought a cheap little Sony PS-LX300USB Turntable:

http://store.sony.com/wcsstore/SonyStyleStorefrontAssetStore/img/718x407/PSLX300USB.png

A few years ago. All you do is plug it in the wall and plug the USB cable into the PC.

It automatically digitizes the stereo audio to USB and auto-adjusts the levels so that it's always recorded at max volume without distortion or clipping.

Then I pull the file into Goldwave, trim off the ends of the file, run a click and pop filter if necessary and finally save the file as a 320K Stereo MP3. Works like a charm.

It only does 33.3 and 45 RPM, but I can also digitize 78 RPM records by simply up sampling the resulting file by 1.733X (turns 45 into 78).

Only thing is EVERY DAMN TIME I TRY TO RECORD some vinyl, the kids come stomping through the house and then I worry if the stomps ended up in the recording......

[O.S.O.K.]

That's basically what I've got Roger - no tracking adjustment, just the two speeds. And yes, it has a standard cartrdige as far as I can tell...

The software converts directly in to MP3 though - no save-as stuff needed.

[JTHunter]

There is an old program from a company called "Syntrillium" that was called "Cool Edit 96". They uppgraded it in 2000 but I didn't like the way it works or the interface. I don't know if Syntrillium is even around anymore.
Cool Edit allows me to play something in Windows Media player and record it with CE. Unlike "Sound Recorder" in Windows, CE has no time limit, but it does have to be recorded as a ".wav" file and converted to MP3 with something else. I like the WAV's as I just burn those to a CD.
"Every Good Boy", "White Satin", "Tuesday Afternoon", - - :hoo-yeah:
Neil Diamond, Carpenters, Beatles, movie soundtracks, etc.
:D

[Broondog]

ok, time to derail the thread. :biggrina:

i've got an old turntable with the old RCA L/R jacks and the obligatory ground wire for hookups. how much BS would be involved in hooking it up to my PC to burn all my vinyl to CD?

can the PC do the pre-amp thing or would i need an inline one?

i've never really looked at my sound card hookups but i suppose i could crawl my fat ass under the desk and look. it is however an older (2005) SoundBlaster 5.1 card. maybe it has mini jacks on it?

anyway, would it be cost effective (read cheap) enough to utilize my existing TT and rig a connection up or should i look into one of them thar new fangledy USB turntables?

i've got probably 200+ LP's in a huge RubberMade tote that's been following me around for many, many years. there is SHITLOADS of great music in there including some unattainable bootleg stuff that i would just love to burn to disc.

here's another thought......run the TT thru my regular stereo and then into the PC? that would eliminate the need for the inline pre-amp but might be too much power for the sound card to handle thru its inputs.

thoughts? experiences?

[O.S.O.K.]

Apparently there is a product to do just that - I just did a quick search and it came-up at the top of the page "don't buy a USB turntable, etc." - but when I navigated to the link, it started an audio file which freaked me out - I'm playing a record right now (Deep Purple When We Rock, We Rock).... anyway, it's feasible apparently... :)

And as an asside, I just showed the turn table to my youngest son - he wasn't sure exactly how it worked :lool: so I showed him. He was just looking at it like some kind of new-made antique :lool:

I am pleased with my "plug and play" USB TT. Working just fine and $80 cheap.