Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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230 of 233 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Excellent quality, especially for the price!, October 23, 2007
First, I'm not sure if the previous reviewer had his sound card input set correctly, or if he forgot to switch this turntable's pre-amp switch to the correct setting, but mine sounded great. Also, I elected to use the RCA output on this and not the USB... maybe he was having audio-quality problems with the USB part? Please read on...
I've never even owned any LPs before, but I recently got a real craving for some mixes that only appeared on DJ-only LPs. So I purchased a few, along with this turntable so I can rip them into MP3s.
Everything arrived on the same day, so I was like a kid in a candy store. All I can say is HOORAY!
There are two versions of this Audio-Technica turntable... one has USB capabilities, and the other (which is a bit less expensive) does not. However, even with the USB output, there are also good old RCA outputs on this turntable. The turntable also comes with two RCA to stereo 3.5mm mini-plug adapters: one male adapter (for connecting to stereos, powered speakers, or a mixer with 3.5mm mini jack inputs), and one female adapter (for connecting to amplified speakers or other devices with a mini-plug). Basically, you can connect this turntable to almost anything without having to go out and purchase additional cables or adapters.
The unit has three buttons on the front: start, stop, and up/down. I'm sure you can guess what each of these does. This is an automatic turntable, so the arm is controlled by the buttons (no need to manually lift and place the needle back down).
The turntable also has a pre-amp switch, for either "line" or "phono" output. This way, you can connect it to most devices, whether they have an amplifier or not.
The setup of the turntable itself is pretty easy. Follow the instructions to easily place the platter onto the turntable and pull the drive belt onto the motor spindle (illustrations are included).
I elected to connect the RCA cables to one of the adapters, and connected that to the "line-in" mini-jack input on my digital sound card. Technically, I didn't need to purchase this more-expensive USB version of the turntable since I am not using the USB output, but that's beside the point :)
There are two CDs included in the package: one for Cakewalk Pyro 2004/2005 (commercial software), and one for Audacity (open source software). Cakewalk Pyro is NOT compatible with Windows Vista, so I installed Audacity (check their website for newer versions if desired).
After installing Audacity, I selected my input source ("line-in"), put the first LP on, and heard exactly what I was hoping to hear... high quality music and sound. So I restarted the LP, hit the record button in Audacity, and waiting for the song to finish. Then I hit the "stop" button in Audacity to stop recording, quickly and easily trimmed a bit of the dead space before and after the song, and exported it to a high-quality, high bit-rate MP3.
For the money, I couldn't have asked for anything better. Everything sounds crystal clear, and couldn't be easier. I highly recommend this product. If you have a line-in jack on your sound card (which most do), and would like to use that, save yourself a few bucks and go with the model that doesn't have the USB output. I'm not sure if the other model comes with a CD for Audacity (maybe only Pyro), but Audacity is an open-source free download on the web anyway. Either way, you won't be disappointed.
Happy ripping! :)
The non-USB version of this turntable appears here:
Audio-Technica AT-LP2DA LP-to-Digital Recording System
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97 of 97 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Audio-Technica LP2D USB works as advertised, November 26, 2007
I purchased the Audio-Technica AT-LP2D USB turntable through Amazon from SkyBox-USA. Item arrived on time and was so easy to set up and use as part of my normal stereo system. USB cable is 6 feet so we left it connected to turntable all the time and feed it out the side of the stereo cabinet to connect to laptop.
Pyro software is very user friendly (I have a PC). My son loaded the Audacity software on his Mac and began making his own recordings too. The manual that came with this product allowed us to set up in 30 minutes and we began digitizing the first album immediately. First evening we digitized 4 albums. The turntable and software created excellent recordings. Allows editing, cleaning up and marking tracks at the click of the mouse. An LP takes about 40 minutes to play (and record). It then took about 3-5 minutes to clean up and mark, and another 4 to burn the CD. You can keep the "raw" digital project data on your hard drive until you are satisfied with the recordings (MP3 or CD).
Since this version of the turntable also has the USB feed out the back, we connected as our normal turntable and connect the laptop "in parallel" to make the recordings. We were enjoying listening to the music through the stereo amplifier and speakers at the same time we were recording.
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89 of 91 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Lovin' It, April 2, 2008
I received this as a gift a few months ago. I loaded the software, plugged the turntable into my computer (had to assemble some parts, but it is pretty straight-forward) and started playing my music. The sound is great and the recording very easy. The software - audacity - is fairly simple to use, but you have to research the instructions on the internet because they do not come with the software disk. They are readily available though.
The turntable is pretty solid. It has what look like shock absorbing feet as you see on high quality electronic components. The turntable is aluminum (not plastic) with a rubber mat that sits on it to protect the LP. It has a much-needed dust cover which some do not come with. There are three buttons: up/down, start and stop. The start button lifts the arm, starts the table turning and gently sets the needle on the record. Stop does the reverse. Up down, simply raises or gently lowers the needle. There is never a need to touch the arm of the turntable, which is a major benefit to your records by minimizing the likelihood of your causing scratches by setting down or lifting the needle manually. The arm does return automatically at the end.
Great product and would highly recommend.
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