Just ordered an ION USB Turntable from Costco for $99 Good quality unit?

[GeneL]

This was an ad in the daily Dealmac newsletter:

Costco.com offers its members the ION USB Turntable, model no. iTTUSB05, for $99.99. (Non-members pay $5 more.) With free shipping, that's the lowest total price we could find by $10. Sales tax is added where applicable. This record player features USB connectivity for both Macs and PC. Other features include line-level RCA audio outputs, 33 1/3 and 45 RPM playback, belt drive, and more. Deal ends May 27.


Sounded good to me so I ordered it.

Now I'm wondering if it will do a really ggod job considering my background in the audio field?

Anyone familiar with this unit?

I have boxes of LPs stored away from as far back as the '60s, so it would be wonderful to be able to save them to disks. Could I use DVD for the greater capacity or do I have to use CDs?

Thanks for your thoughts,

GeneL

[BigGuynRusty]

As per our conversation GL.:
http://www.flyingsnail.com/Mac/g4ionusbturntable.html

BGnR

[GeneL]

Many thanks, BGnR.

One thing, the ION turntable shown in the article looks a lot more sophisticated than the one I bought. I don't see a model number, but I guess I should do a Google search and also check Amazon for Customer comments, if there are any.

GeneL

[Monster]

I've been wanting one of these, good price, thanks.

[Filliam H. Muffman]

I would save them as high bit rate MP3's on a hard drive. 180 CD's only took up about 60 GB, just over a third of a 160 GB hard drive ($40 on sale).

I have been trying to figure out what to do with my Quadraphonic copy of Dark Side Of The Moon. I have not seen any hardware that would play it in over 10 years. I thought encoding it in 5.1 would be the best treatment, or I could just buy the 5.1 SACD version and give up on it.

[Jp!]

Now THAT is a good USB device!!!!

[GeneL]

[quote Filliam H. Muffman]I would save them as high bit rate MP3's on a hard drive.
I don't ever use MP3s.

I'd like to save them in the highest quality possible.

Also, I'll to check if there's any decent "processing" freeware or cheap shareware to get rid of clicks and scratches?

Any suggestions?

[Mike Sellers]

[quote GeneL]Many thanks, BGnR.

One thing, the ION turntable shown in the article looks a lot more sophisticated than the one I bought. I don't see a model number, but I guess I should do a Google search and also check Amazon for Customer comments, if there are any.

GeneL
Here's the product info on the other turntable: http://www.ion-audio.com/ittusb.php
Yeah, it looks cooler but it seems the one Costco is offering is newer. BUT, the older one has more features like anti-skate adjustment. The prices for both don't seem to vary more than $10 at other places so the pricing doesn't appear to indicate that the newer model is a cheaper, stripped-down version.

I'll probably end up ordering one of these. I've been converting some of my vinyl using an old turntable/receiver combo and haven't been all that pleased with the results.

[GeneL]

The good thing is that it will be easy to return to a store, if it doesn't have the quality I want.

Even though it's been years since I left the audio business, I still have strong feeling about quality.

Price is definitely a factor,but I really wonder what kind of cartridge this unit uses and whether rumble and speed are truly "audio quality?"

When I left the business turntables were running into the high hundreds to the thousands. that's plus tone arm and cartridges.

I'm willing to be happily surprised, but not overly optimistic.

But again, price is a factor for me.

I'd sure like to hear from anyone who has used one.

[blusubaru]

Yikes, lots of bad reviews on Amazon. Let us know how it works for you!