ION TTUSB05 USB Turntable

by Ion

Product Details

• Product Dimensions: 17.7 x 14.6 x 5.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8 pounds
• Shipping: This item is also available for shipping to select countries outside the U.S.
• ASIN: B000MUDI9S
• Item model number: ION ITTUSB 05
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (80 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #27,223 in Electronics (See Top 100 in Electronics)
• Date first available at Amazon.com: October 12, 2007

Product Description

The ION iTTUSB 05 USB Turntable is the perfect tool for recording and archiving your vinyl record collection. Take your music anywhere! Are your treasured vinyl records collecting dust? Transfer your valuable music collection to CD quickly and easily with this outrageously popular turntable. All you need is a computer with a USB connection and you're ready to bring your record collection into the 21st century! The iTTUSB 05 features easy to use controls, auto-return after playback and a dust cover. Plus, a line level output allows you to connect directly to your existing home stereo system. All this and the easy-to-use Audacity software will have you reliving those melodic memories of days gone by!

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

68 of 69 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Very Pleased With This Turntable, February 13, 2008

By 

Charlemange (USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: ION TTUSB05 USB Turntable (Electronics)

I had tried to convert some of my vinyl to MP3 a few years ago using an amp and regular turntable with unfavorable results. My husband bought me this ION Turntable as a Valentines Day gift and I love it.

The USB hooks up easily to the computer. There is a little glitch where once you plug it in, you may have to go to your sound settings and reset them but the package comes with instructions on how to do this and it only takes a few seconds to fix.

The turntable is plastic but it's not too flimsy. There is a slight wobble but it did not affect recording.

It is super easy to use, just install the EZ Vinyl Converter software. I didn't bother installing Audacity because I use Adobe Audition to edit audio.

You can record albums as one big mp3 or separate tracks with the click of a button. It saves as wav or mp3.

The only major thing I didn't like about this item was the fact that I was forced to install iTunes to get EZ Vinyl Converter to work. Most people who have iPods won't mind this, but I had no use for this program.

The cords on the turntable and usb could have been longer. It also would have benefited by the addition of pitch control. The latter can be edited in an audio program though.

Overall I am very happy with this item. I finally have MP3's of songs that are not available on CD or any digital format. It only took about 15 minutes to figure it all out and get to ripping.

88 of 91 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Turntable does as advertised, June 29, 2007

By 

G. LeBlanc "Goob" (Portland, OR) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: ION TTUSB05 USB Turntable (Electronics)

First and foremost, it works well and easy to use with very little setup hassle. If you simply want to record your records to a computer, this does the job. There is no feedback, no grounding issues and quality is pretty good. The turntable though is cheesy as far as quality feel. It reminds me of a turntable I had as a kid, but what can you expect for @ $100? I might also note that the needle (not a cartridge) does not look user replaceable so you need to be extra careful, but it does have a cueing button to gently set down tone arm onto a record which is nice. Yes, this also has a built in hard shell dust cover too. The Audacity software program is ok and instructions could be clearer, but it works. I simply use this program to transfer the music to my computer then i use a higher quality program to remove any clicks, pops, etc.. All and all, this is a good turntable for the money.

105 of 110 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Works, if not picky..., September 8, 2007

By 

Another Geek - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: ION TTUSB05 USB Turntable (Electronics)

It is a turntable and works, kind of, if you are not picky.

Build:

plastic, as everyone else mentioned. You turn on the turntable first by pushing the cue button and moving the arm toward the record (press the cue button again to lower arm to record). At the end of the record, the arm will return and turn off. I noticed that the platter is not level (hortzontal) as it turns and some up/down motion also.

Recording:

I recorded three different records from different years, one almost new, one moderate wear and one well played. As expected, the well played album had alot of clicks/pops, though the open source software will remove (to some extent).

The turntable speed sounds a bit slow (you can increase the speed using software)but don't have my strobe anymore to prove it and there is wow-flutter at the being of the record, but appears to reduce as it gets closer to the middle/end of record.

Emailed tech support and they think it may be defective, suggested returning it to seller for replacement.

Software:

The open source software has many options for filtering out noise, using fft processing, copying a segment (i.e. between tracks) and filter it (noise removal). As mentioned earlier, you can speed up the recording also. Haven't found any option to remove the wow/flutter problem and doubt that it can be done.

Using the worn album, I could remove the most clicks/pops between the tracks, but could not within the music.

Recommendation:

If you are not an audiophile, then this may be good enough to record your records to CD, computer or mp3 player. Otherwise, I would recommend that you dust off your old turntable and receiver with a phono/preamp and use it instead...remember you will need a stereo line in on your sound card, as most computer microphone inputs are monaural.