I was just digging out some Christmas decorations the other day in my basement and couldn’t help but notice the boxes and boxes of LPs that took me years to accumulate. Huge boxes of “records”, probably 800 or so total, just sitting there collecting dust.
I’ve got tons of jazz records that are long since out of print that I wouldn’t mind listening to again. Its been 15-20 years since I listened to some of those recordings. I’ve got another box of cassette tapes that have some great stuff on them too, dating back to the late 70s and early 80s.
After being depressed for a few moments, I decided to put something on my Christmas list this year - a turntable that can “play” records into my computer and turn them into mp3s. I also put down a cassette to mp3 gadget, that, until I researched it was not even aware that they made it.
If you are in the same boat, I found a couple of products on amazon that could do the trick. Now I just have to get my wife or a family member to pop for one of these things and get me one of these this Christmas.
Here they are. The Audio Technica AT-LP2DUSB LP-to-Digital Recording System with USB got some pretty good reviews, and there are used ones on Amazon for less than $100. The Ion Tape2PC USB Cassette Deck looks like a pretty good product as well, but I could use the turntable first before the cassette deck. My records are much better than the stuff I have on cassette. If you have the same problem I have, these are the two products I found.
Audio Technica AT-LP2DUSB LP-to-Digital Recording System with USB
Audio Technica AT-LP2DUSB LP-to-Digital Recording System with USB
Customer Review:
What a wonderful brave new world I live in.
So I’ve searched and searched for years for away to bring back the memories I have of my growing up years with vinyl and I finally decided to take the plunge on this turntable and I couldn’t be more pleased with my purchase. First off, I must admit a few things. I have two working turntables in my home and I also have a recording studio that I built too. I could have just as easily hooked up my turntable to my mixing board and just did it that way but I chose to go this route on it. Second I’m a bit of an audiophile and to me preserving this vinyl is very very important. Third, while some people had trouble with the software I thought it was very easy and very straight forward. Again, since I know my way around a recording studio I may have had an advantage with that, but it was very easy, especially if you read the instructions first (by the way I’m using a PC with Windows XP installed). As far as the product goes. It’s just wonderful. It’s easy to use and it’s exactly like you would expect it to be. Easy and fun. The only real complaint and this is not so much a complaint I have since I tend to find it very enjoyable listening to each track as I record it is that it takes a very long time to do rip the vinyl to digital tracks. It also is very time consuming fixing the noise and pops and clicks and it takes forever to save the file, but once you are done, well honestly it captures everything that makes vinyl so special to begin with. I highly recommend this product to any other audiophiles out there who love their vinyl and want to preserve it for the children’s children to enjoy.
Ion Tape2PC USB Cassette Deck
ION has created a revolutionary USB dual cassette deck allowing you to convert your cassette collection to CD or MP3 with included recording software. (no special drivers needed).Tape2PC comes bundled with EZ Tape Converter by MixMeister, which converts your audio cassette recordings directly into iTunes. In just a few mouse clicks, you’ll be up and running with digital versions of your tapes.Upgrading your favorite recordings has never been easier.
Customer Review: Works fine.
So far I haven’t had any problems at all with this device. I initially bought it because my old tape deck that I used to transfer tapes to my pc broke, and I figured I might as well buy a new one that’s specifically designed for this purpose. As another poster pointed out, it is large, like the old dubbing decks. I don’t quite understand why they had to make it a dual dubbing deck, as I can’t imagine a scenario where I’ll ever need to dub tape-to-tape. If they’d kept it a single cassette playing unit it would have no doubt been smaller in size. Still, it’s nice to have two cassette decks in one in case something goes wrong with one side. The software included is okay, but no better than you can get online for free. All in all it does what it’s supposed to do, with no bells and whistles. But if space is a concern, you’re better off with something like Plus Deck’s tape-to-pc converter. It installs directly into an empty drive bay and integrates more directly with the pc. Though installation is more tricky than with this unit.
Customer Review: Versatile Easy to Use Cassette Player
The ION Tape2PC is a very useful and easy-to-use piece of equipment that enables me to archive cassette recordings to MP3. I have a large collection of impossible-to-replace live radio broadcasts that I can now duplicate to MP3 and CD. I’ve found that cassettes deteriorate over time and start to wobble and sound shaky, as we all do after 18 years or so. It also serves as a traditional dubbing cassette deck, which only adds to its value as a component. And for $120, it was a bargain. More impressively, I received it 5 days after placing my order, way ahead of expectations. Hat’s off to Amazon and UPS, and ION for its unique products.
