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Provides: Record your vinyl LPs directly to your computer

Developer: Ion Audio

Minimum Requirements: Mac OS 9 or X, sound card or integrated audio, USB 1.1 port

Retail Price: $199.00

Availability: Out now

I grew up listening to records. My parents always had them, and although they were Barry Manilow, Kenny Rogers and Anne Murray, I listened to them. When I was old enough to develop my own taste in music, I quickly abandoned my Disney soundtracks and story records for KISS. When I was old enough to develop a good taste in music, I quickly abandoned KISS (or, you could say that KISS abandoned me, giving up their '50s-based hard rock for generic hair metal in the early 80s). Still, I look back on the cool covers and special packaging with great affection.

Yet, when I think of my golden days of vinyl records, I think of junior high. My bus didn't pick us up at the school until half an hour after classes ended, so my friend, Bryan, and I would take that time to sneak off school grounds and down to Payne's Music where we could buy the latest and hottest singles for $1.51, plus tax. And although I stupidly gave away most of these records over the years, I still have many 45s, 12" singles and LPs up in the attic that never have been and never will be reissued on CD. (Kids in the Kitchen, anyone? The Unforgiven? Rock and Hyde?)

Considering how simple it is to burn your own CDs, the only thing stopping me and many others in my predicament is how to get the records onto the computer. Thankfully, there's no shortage of USB turntables available these days. There are even some units that will burn your albums directly to CD without needing a computer, but I don't trust those. I prefer to have control over sound quality, clean-up, track splits, etc. To that end, I looked to Ion Audio's TTUSB10, and mostly liked what I saw.

Although the TTUSB10 isn't considered a high-end turntable option, some basic set-up is involved. You'll have to attach the platter and belt to the system, and affix the needle unit to the tone arm. All of this is quite simple to do. There's also a counter balance for the tone arm, and the instructions for doing so don't seem to match the actual unit. They spoke of screwing it into place, but that wouldn't move mine; I had to pop it in. And the dial on the back of the counter balance seemed to have no effect. On the other hand, by sliding the unit back and forth, I was able to achieve its purpose of setting the needle pressure where I wanted it—not so heavy that it would weigh down and damage the needle, but no so light that it would easily skip or skate.

Oddly, this is the only setting on the TTUSB10 that is adjustable. There's no pitch adjustmentment, which will certainly put off many vinyl enthusiasts. So will the lightweight plastic construction of the TTUSB10; despite the four shock-resistant feet, my kids were able to make the needle skip by jumping around in the same room. The tone arm, on the other hand, is of a sturdier metal construction, and the parts are easily interchangable.

The TTUSB10 comes with standard RCA outputs for attachment to a component stereo system, along with the USB output for the computer. The USB cable can be removed, but the RCA cable cannot. You can switch between line/phono level output, and you can also adjust the gain. This is all very straightforward, and novices should have no trouble finding settings that will work with pretty much all of their LPs.

On the top of the unit is a power button on the back left and a start/stop button on the left front. This is needed because the unit doesn't have an automatic tone arm, meaning users will be manually placing the needle on the record. There is, however, a lever for lowering and raising the tone arm. The front right contains buttons to switch between 33-1/3 and 45 RPM, and there's an input jack so you can use the TTUSB10 to connect other audio devices, such as a tape player or even a microphone. Considering this feature, Ion should've put the line/phono level switch in the front next to the line level input so you could easily switch to the appropriate setting when adding or removing a different audio source.

Once hooked up, you will need software to capture the audio to your computer. The TTUSB10 ships with EZ Audio Converter for the Mac, but I suggest you not use it. It does an adequate job, but lacks many features that can be obtained using Roxio's CD Spin Doctor, which can currently be purchased individually for $39.99 or as part of Toast 8 Titanium for $79.99 (see Applelinks review. CD Spin Doctor is more robust, easier to manage, and simplifies the process of not only splitting an album side into individual tracks on your computer, but also aids in cleaning up any unwanted sound artifacts from your records. Plus, if you get the Toast 8 Titanium package, you also get the best CD burning software on the market.

Ultimately, the TTUSB is a fairly attracktive, solid unit that does a great job of getting your vinyl LPs onto your computer. The sound quality is good for the price, but for $200, I would at least expect pitch control and perhaps the ability to play 78 RPM records without the need for extra software. If you don't need such features, however, and prefer a unit that makes archiving your vinyl LPs as simple as possible while still obtaining high-end sound, Ion Audio's TTUSB10 will fit the bill.

In other words, it's easy enough for mom and her Anne Murray, and sounds good enough for me and my Kids in the Kitchen. Which remindes me...when you get out all of your records to convert to CD, it may become painfully apparent why they were never reissued on CD in the first place.