Turntable Help?

Hi All,
I want to buy a USB Turntable for my eMac 10.5. I know it's old! But still <knockx3> works great & I want to put all my vinyl on iTunes. I don't want to spend more than $150, tho I rather spend less!

I've been doing a lot of reading & searching- I know true audiophiles think the USB turntables are generally crappy, but I am interested in something easy, and my head is now spinning with Ion's, AudioTech's, etc... I'm neither tech savvy or audio savvy & I just want something I can connect to the port, get those discs on the ole eMac & go on to ipod happiness....

any suggestions?
Thanx!

This used to come up all the time. But vinyl records are becoming extinct, and those who still have them tend not to be interested in converting them to digital.

How to Transfer LP Records to Your Mac (free tutorial)
How to Transfer LP Records to Your Mac | Macinstruct

These articles aren't Mac-centric, but they should be very helpful:

Vinyl records to Digital
Converting Vinyl records to Digital CDs or MP3 files

Re: Analog recording to digital recording
Google Answers: Analog recording to digital recording

How to record music from your LPs or cassettes to MP3 on your computer
http://www.cyberwalker.net/columns/feb02/150202.html

Going Digital
Going Digital - PCWorld

USB Turntable comparison
USB Turntable Comparison


HELPFUL PRODUCTS:

Technics USB turntable
Technics - For Outstanding, Extra-ordinary & Alluring Music Performance

Ion USB turntable
ION TTUSB

Numark USB turntable
Amazon.com: Numark TTUSB Turntable with USB: Musical Instruments

Many folks love Final Vinyl (comes with the iMic) to convert LPs to CDs.
The software is really easy to understand and*
operate. If you mess up during the recording, you can fix it with
Audacity, which is free from many download sites.

iMic and*Final Vinyl
Griffin Technology: iMic - USB Audio Interface

Audacity (free)
Audacity: Mac OS 9 / X

Amadeus Pro to manage the recording.
$40
Amadeus Pro - Audio editor / sound and voice recorder for MacOS X

___________________________________________

Randy B. Singer
Co-author of The Macintosh Bible (4th, 5th, and 6th editions)

Macintosh OS X Routine Maintenance
OS X Maintenance And Troubleshooting
___________________________________________

WOW Randy...one heck of a post!!!

Nice job,

- Nick

Vinyl is not becoming extinct. If it were, it would have been years ago. Mainstream brick and mortar music stores themselves are becoming extinct due to the loss of sales and everything going digital, but ironically enough.. the same little mom and pop record stores that have always been niche, continue to thrive due to the the popularity of said medium.

Virgin Music stores had a few decent vinyl items when they were still around here in NY, and they were bigtime mainstream. But They didn't exist to sell vinyl, so it didn't matter. I still go to the same record stores that have existed for decades, and they're not going anywhere.

There are also dedicated online music retailers such as Soundstage, Musicdirect etc who cater to the vinyl industry. And more importantly, there are still plenty of companies whom press great vinyl, and have no plans on stopping.

I like my digital collection, but I love my vinyl a million times more. Better nuances, no fatigue and way better dynamic range. Makes my audio rig shine. Digital will never do that as well.

As far as ripping your vinyl to digital, I wouldn't even bother with that if you're going to use one of those cruddy USB turntables. You'd be much better off just spending that $150 on purchasing those albums through iTunes directly. It takes a lot of patience and decent gear to get a good quality rip from vinyl. You really have to know what you're doing, otherwise, it will sound terrible. And to clarify, yes.. one of those USB tables will technically do the job, but it will not sound as good as a proper rip, and will only sound marginally worse than an digital copy depending on what kind of shape your vinyl is in of course. Other factors apply as well, but then you have to get into compression, EQ'ing, sample rates etc.. but those things go beyond the scope of what an USB table offers.

Doug

Agree with Doug here.
I have made many a vinyl rip, and my early efforts were awful.
The USB decks are rubbish.
As Doug rightly says, ultimately cheaper to buy the albums via download. Neary everything is available now, unless you have obscure taste, and older albums tend to be cheap to download (especially on Amazon).
Nice info from Randy though.

Thanks, everyone!

Randy, that is wonderful- I will start looking thru it all today! Not sure where it'll lead me but lots to see!

Thanks Doug & Nick- unfortunately, my situation is thus- I have over 300 albums, and I will never be able to afford to repurchase them, and frankly, just won't do it. This is the problem when talking about this subject, the 'true audio' people just can't deal with less quality... which I understand, but again, the truth of my situation is that I need a cheap, easy way to get the vinyl on my mac- end of story. I know there won't be great sound, h*ll, my records aren't in the best of shape anyway, I used to play them alot! But they are deteriorating now, and pretty soon its now or never.... if I don't find an easy way to do this, it will NOT ever get done. Too many other important things to spend oodles of time and $ on this in this economy.

There are many reviews online from users who purchase these turntables and are happy with the way they perform, even if it is only 'adequate'. I was just searching for advice on the best of these 'bad ideas', I just can't deal, don't need, and can't afford a system with a many component, much sound adjustment (which I wouldn't understand anyway, even if I have the ability to do it )
that you audiophiles love...

thanks though, I appreciate your time! Randy, I begin to read.....

rengurl said:

T
There are many reviews online from users who purchase these turntables and are happy with the way they perform, even if it is only 'adequate'. I was just searching for advice on the best of these 'bad ideas', I just can't deal, don't need, and can't afford a system with a many component, much sound adjustment (which I wouldn't understand anyway, even if I have the ability to do it )
that you audiophiles love...

Click to expand...

I think that what you have to remember is...some folks who may be "audiofiles" may be more demanding when it comes to the quality of the recordings when you covert vinyl to digital via a USB turntable.

I have been considering this as well (converting vinyl to digital) for a while now...and I have read a lot of the reviews of USB turntables as you have...and it can be confusing.

I'm guessing that many of your 300 albums (just like mine) may not be in the best shape...and thus you have a lot of "pops, hisses, crackles, etc." when you listen to them. So if you did the conversion from vinyl to digital via a USB turntable...those conversions would not be the best anyway. Of course...there is supposed to be some software that helps reduce these imperfections.

I think that the bottom line for you (and for me)...is probably to take the plunge & buy one of these USB turntables...and see what the quality of the conversions are. Maybe they will be fine...or maybe they will "stink" as some folks in this thread have mentioned.

Everyone's "yardstick" is different.

- Nick

Well if you are going this route, and that's fine, you really do need to make sure that your vinyl is clean and static free. Plenty of info on the net for good methods, I favour a method using PVA glue (more info if you need it).
Secondly, I personally use Audio Hijack Pro for capture because there is a superb plug in called Soundsoap which really can help eliminate pops and clicks and static noise form your recordings.

Yes, Nick! you said what I meant better...
I found this after some further searching- it spoke my language (simple fool) and covered what i need:

Turntable Reviews

I may go with their top rated.

Kev- thanks for reminding me, I'll purchase a cleaning system. Doubt that ols discwasher is still hanging around

Randy, I am still winding my way through your lovely links- thanks again for taking the time!

Have you ever considered trying to sell your collection ? You say that they are deteriorating, but I bet you could fetch some cash if you have some items that people are interested in. You've got me curious to know what you've got, of course.

As far as a decent cleaning system goes, check out KAB I actually have the EV-1, which is a manual power cleaning kit which uses the suction of your own vacuum to get the particles while you're gently scrubbing the LP. They've got really good products on there, and not necessarily very expensive either.

In any case, good luck on your mission. You'll have fun listening and recording either way.

Doug

pigoo3 said:

I'm guessing that many of your 300 albums (just like mine) may not be in the best shape...and thus you have a lot of "pops, hisses, crackles, etc." when you listen to them. So if you did the conversion from vinyl to digital via a USB turntable...those conversions would not be the best anyway. Of course...there is supposed to be some software that helps reduce these imperfections.

Click to expand...

The sad reality is that, if you have a large vinyl collection, many of the albums that you have may not be available for purchase as digital downloads. Especially if you are into a more esoteric genre of music.

Amadeus Pro, which I gave a link to, has a surprisingly effective "repair centre" feature that can help fix those clicks and pops.

Vinyl isn't extinct, but it isn't extinct the way that hot rods and wooden surfboards aren't extinct. You can find places that still offer them for sale, but they aren't even close to being mainstream and widely available anymore. They are an anachronism. Their popularity is confined to a very few of us who still love them. As we get older, this medium is eventually going to disappear and it won't be coming back.

In any case, it's really nice to be able to enjoy an old jazz album in one's car or on a long airplane trip on your iPod.

___________________________________________

Randy B. Singer
Co-author of The Macintosh Bible (4th, 5th, and 6th editions)

Macintosh OS X Routine Maintenance
OS X Maintenance And Troubleshooting
___________________________________________

I have converted some vinyl to digital on my PC, but not yet on my new Mac. I use a mid-70s Sansui turntable with a new(ish) Sumiko Pearl cartridge. This plays into the photo input of my Sansui 2000x receiver, then out to an external sound card (SoundBlaster Live SB0490) into the USB of the notebook. I found this to be WAY higher quality than the built-in audio input on the notebook. I would not want to purchase a ~$100 turntable for this job. Better to find a used turntable and a new cartridge than a cheapo USB turntable... in my opinion.

I am new to Macs, so I'm not sure what the audio inputs are like, or the availability of external sound processing. My Mac mini only has SPDIF input, so my 1970s receiver is certainly not going to be directly compatible.

mcbrew said:

I have converted some vinyl to digital on my PC, but not yet on my new Mac. I use a mid-70s Sansui turntable with a new(ish) Sumiko Pearl cartridge. This plays into the photo input of my Sansui 2000x receiver, then out to an external sound card (SoundBlaster Live SB0490) into the USB of the notebook. I found this to be WAY higher quality than the built-in audio input on the notebook. I would not want to purchase a ~$100 turntable for this job. Better to find a used turntable and a new cartridge than a cheapo USB turntable... in my opinion.

I am new to Macs, so I'm not sure what the audio inputs are like, or the availability of external sound processing. My Mac mini only has SPDIF input, so my 1970s receiver is certainly not going to be directly compatible.

Click to expand...

For your info, I use my turntable connected to small pre-amp which is connected to an Edirol USB audio interface (UA1-EX). This allows any number of different inputs so you can get around most things.

Kevriano said:

For your info, I use my turntable connected to small pre-amp which is connected to an Edirol USB audio interface (UA1-EX). This allows any number of different inputs so you can get around most things.

Click to expand...

Thanks for the info. It certainly would be great to use a USB audio interface & then use my current turntable setup. I did a quick internet search...and it seems that some of the Edirol models are no longer available.

Any other USB audio interface brands you would recommend...or do you think that they are all fairly similar from a quality perspective? I have seen them priced from $29-$259 dollars...so I imagine that there are quality differences...or at least differences in features.

Thanks,

- Nick

Interesting, because that model is still readily available here in the UK, so seems odd that
you can't find it (or maybe it's a bit costly?) Anyway, it's around £70 here ($115?), so a good mid range item.
As for other models, the thing to look for, the most important factor is low/zero latency. After that it's really down to quality of components, and as you say, features. I guess.
Being made by Roland, the Edirol is fine in that respect. I went for it because it was highly rated, and is very versatile in terms of bit rate inputs and it's conversion formats etc. 96Khz/24 bit is very nice for AIFF (huge files mind you!).
In case you didn't find it, here's the official Roland page for the model, so tyou can compare features with other models.

EDIROL UA-1EX USB Audio Interface :: Overview

BTW, if you were particularly interested in this model and can't get one, shout. Quite happy to sort something out.

Kevriano said:

Interesting, because that model is still readily available here in the UK, so seems odd that you can't find it (or maybe it's a bit costly?) Anyway, it's around £70 here ($115?), so a good mid range item.

Click to expand...

When I did a Google search...3-4 web pages said that it was "unavailable"...which usually means discontinued vs. out of stock. Here's an Amazon.com example:

Amazon.com: Edirol UA-1EX USB Audio Interface: Musical Instruments

Of course this Roland unit is not the only USB audio interface out there...it was just a place to start the search with.

Kevriano said:

As for other models, the thing to look for, the most important factor is low/zero latency.

Click to expand...

Awesome...this is very important to know. I don't need a very complex unit. I just need a couple RCA jacks for the turntable...and then the USB port to interface with the computer.

Since most of the USB Turntables come with the appropriate software...getting a USB audio interface instead (i'm guessing) will probably not come with software for the conversion & noise reduction (pops, hiss's, crackle's, etc.)

So two more quick questions:

1. Any free "vinyl to digital" conversion software out there?
2. Any free "noise reduction" software for Mac's available? I know that "Randy B. Singer" mentioned "Amadeus Pro" earlier in this thread...don't know if this is free or not.

Thanks a lot for the help,

- Nick

Well as I mentioned I use Audio Hijack Pro, which you can integrate Bias Soundsoap into, but it's not free (sadly), but not massively expensive either I guess.
However, Audacity will be fine for the actual capture of the audio itself if you use the Edirol or similar. Something else to bear in mind though, if your turntable does not have a pre amp built in (some do some don't) you will need one, or an amp of some sort, otherwise it will be virtually inaudible.
As for pop's, hiss and clicks etc, even with Soundsoap they are hard to remove without killing the sound quality, so I tend not to use it much. Far better to have clean vinyl and stylus of course.
I looked on Amazon here and the same applies, but there are a couple of stores here that have it in stock (one is cheap too - £49 + p&p). Of course eBay could be your friend here too, there's not really much that can go wrong with them, so you may get a bargain.
Otherwise my offer still applies.

Thanks again Kevriano.

You wouldn't believe how much "vinyl" I have. I'm talking 33 1/3's, 45's...and believe it or not...lots & lots of 78's! I even have a "modern" turntable & stylus for playing the 78's.

- Nick

A man after my own heart (no 78's though, sold them to fund a holiday )

Kevriano said:

A man after my own heart (no 78's though, sold them to fund a holiday )

Click to expand...

Good for you. Unless you had some rare 78's...with recordings from well known artists...I didn't think they would fetch much cash. I guess if you can find the right collectors out there...maybe you can earn some decent money.

My vinyl is VERY unorganized...and so if I want to listen to them...it's really too much of a chore to find what I want, fire up the stereo...and then have to get up & change the record every 3-4 minutes (45's), every 4-5 minutes (78's) or every 15-20 minutes (33's). So having them "digitized" would make things much more convenient.

- Nick