Vinyl to CD - Are these any good?
 

An ad in the Telegraph today caught my eye. It was something called an iTT USB Turntable which is a means of producing CDs from old Vinyls. This was £79.99 from Maplins.

I then checked on e-bay and saw the following which seems to be the same.

Find TRANSFER LP VINYL RECORDS ON TO YOUR PC / CD OR IPOD!! on eBay within, Music Software, Software, Computing (end time 17-Nov-07 23:32:38 GMT)

I'd just like to end up with reasonable quality sound as my vinyls are mostly old bluesy rock with accompanying hisses and scratches. But I did wonder if the software might have any "Dolby type" sound filter?

Is the e-bay one complete tosh or should I get one from Maplins or not waste my time on either?

I am temped to get an e-bay one because I can afford to throw away £6. £80 is a different matter :) dl

E-bay one is software only, you'd still need a turntable.

Doh. OK - feel a bit stupid now but I was influenced by the e-bay picture. I do have some turntables which I use with a very old Sony sound system. But this does have a headphone jack so I guess I could use that and plug it into my daughter's laptop next to the Sony. Moving my main PC near the Sony would be a pain.

But will I end up with something worthwhile?

Thanks for that :)

d

Always read the small print :D

Well ... you'd need a phono pre-amp (RIAA correction) as well (presumably present in your sound system) and then a connection to the sound card. You'll then need software to split up the songs, bring them to the correct level if needed (normalizing), and put a filter for hiss/scratches etc. It can be done, with decent results, but is rather time consuming.

With a USB turntable, you wouldn't need the preamp or cable.

I'll have a looksee if the iTT thingie comes with editing software.

Looks like some do, some don't. Do you know the brand ? (Numark, AT, ION etc).

If your existing turntable is of decent quality, you might be better off with something like this: Digitise Your Vinyl - Pro-Ject Phonobox Mk2 >> Pro-Ject Phonobox USB MM/MC Phono Preamp or this one ARTcessories USB Phono Plus V2 >> ARTcessories USB Phono Plus Phono Preamp and USB Digital Interface V2

More discussion on this subject here: Vinyl to digital help please - AVForums.

The quality will depend mostly on a) the A/D converter and b) the format you record in. MP3 will lose you quality, 16 bit PCM almost none (but they take up 600 Mb per record give or take).

USB turntables seem the easiest way, but I doubt you can get a good turntable and A/D converter all in one for 80 UKP to be honest.

Back again :)

It's an ION

Maplin > iTT 05 XL USB Turntable

Thanks again - I'll have a look at the link above. Nothing too geeky I hope :)

d

I bought one of these from one of the home shopping channels - I was just surfing through the channels and it was on at the time - honest!

Anyway, it does work - really well, but is time consuming. For starters you have to play the record, although you can run a 33 at 45rpm and it compensates for it.

I reckon that you should allow at least an hour a side, to get rid of the crackles and pops etc.

If you have a lot of vinyl and a LOT of time then it's very good.

why not just hook the turntable up via a mixer and use something like audiograbber to convert them ???