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| Rating |  |
| Brand | Ion |
| Type | Electronics |
| Release Date | 2009-04-14 |
| List Price | $99.00 |
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| Our Price | Too low to display |
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| Lowest New Price | Too low to display |
Categories |
| Audio Interfaces |
Features |
- Phono/line input records from a turntable,
- Plug and have fun USB connection - No drivers
- EZ Vinyl Converter software (PC) and EZ Audio
- Audacity software records, edits and corrects
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Similar products |
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Description |
| USB audio interface together with recording software together with large, simple to use illuminated buttons for control. |
The U Record USB music archive system lets you effortlessly transform your favorite records and tapes to MP3 format utilizing your turntable or tape player and computer. Just connect U Record to your computer together with the integrated USB cable and the rest is simple. Use the integrated software to record your music, then transport it to your iPod or other personal media player.  Effortlessly transform your favorite records and tapes to MP3 format. Click to enlarge. |  Just connect via USB--no drivers necessary. | Plug and Have fun
The U Record interface requires no driver installation to work together with your Mac or PC--just plug it in via USB and you're ready to go. Connect Anything
U Record features standard RCA inputs for fast connection of tape decks, CD or MP3 players. A built-in preamp takes the guesswork out of recording from a turntable by eliminating the want to attach the turntable to a stereo system for recording. Just connect your audio device and computer to U Record and you're ready to maintain your music digitally. Neat Controls
Switch to Phono for vinyl or line for other sound sources, and change the volume accordingly. Software Integrated
Centered all-around EZ Vinyl Converter (PC) and EZ Audio Converter (Mac) software, U Record offers the easiest way to transform your records or tapes to your computer's digital music library. Just plug in your turntable or tape player to the U Record, specify track information, and you're done. The software automatically imports the music directly to your iTunes library. What's in the Box
USB audio interface box together with phono/line input, USB cable, Customer's manual |
Additional Accessories |
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Customer Reviews |
 Slow conversion 2010-08-17 |
| By B. Simons |
I tried this product and found a couple of problems. First, the EZ Vinyl Converter software (EVC) requires that you install iTunes (and its associated S/W) since I don't have an iPod or buy from the Apple Music store this is "excess baggage" for me. But the "fatal" flaw is the slow conversion rate to get the LP into digital format. Using EVC with iTunes there is about a 1:1 conversion speed, so if you have a 40 minute LP the conversion to digital takes 40 minutes! This is on a PC w/Windows XP SP3 with a AMD Athlon64 CPU w/1.5Gb memory. It is just not practical. |
| Got the job done. 2010-07-31 |
| By K. BATEY (Seattle, WA, US) |
| I am an ex radio jock and have a ton of what we call in the business "air checks" that I wanted to put onto CD. Using the simple software, I got it done in a snap! Good price. Good product. |
 Works as advertised 2010-06-20 |
| By B. M. Williams (Rock Hill, SC) |
| I was skeptical at first, but the Ion U-record device works beautifully. The software loaded in seconds and I transferred my old cassettes to iTunes with no problems at all. I bypassed the Audacity and just used the Mixmeister software provided. It was easier than I expected, and I didn't have to purchase a special cassette player. I used the one from my home stereo system and it worked like a charm. I couldn't have been happier with the purchase! Sounds fine on my iPod. |
 Not for the audiophile but not total junk either. 2010-04-21 |
| By Boris Sheikman |
I bought this gizmo to use with my newly purchased Acer 532h netbook. My netbook does not have a line-in input and I really want to digitize my LP collection.
Configuration is a snap with Windows 7. Just plug it in and Windows 7 obtains and installs all the necessary drivers.
I downloaded the latest version Audacity from Sourceforge. Be sure to configure your input device to the the "USB Audio" and you'll be good to go.
The device has a relatively poor S/N ratio. With the gain knob in the lower 1/3 of rotation and the input set to "Line", Audacity reported noise levels at -48 dB. How can you check this? Just record a few seconds of nothing. It will sound like tape hiss. Tapes and records can have S/N ratios in the 70s and CDs will exceed 90+. I don't foresee the low S/N ratio to be a problem for me since most of my inputs will have a compressed dynamic range (i.e. pop music from LPs). Besides, you could argue this adds "warmth" to the recording. ;-) Still, I know that it is there and that will probably nag at me.
Click the input switch to "Phono" and your noise levels double to -24 dB. Now you will hear loud tape hiss when recording nothing.
By the way, when I say that I am recording nothing I mean that there is nothing connected to the inputs and I am just recording the internal electrical noise of the device.
Crank up the gain and record nothing again. The hiss will increase and you will begin to hear the dreadful 60 Hz hum. Check out the spectral plot in the highest resolution possible and you will see 60 Hz and it's harmonics dominating the signal. This is an extreme use case though. Just be sure that your input levels are gained up enough prior to being connected to the ION USB device. I'm using my Kenwood receiver as a pre-amp for my record player and it provides a plenty strong signal.
I'm not sure if this is a keeper for me. There are probably much better devices out there with lower noise levels and I am tempted to exchange this unit for a higher quality make/model. |
| Simple and effective 2010-03-23 |
| By James T. Mc Guiness (BALDWIN, NY United States) |
| This is a simple and ffective device that works very well. It comes with "Audacity Software" to let you operate on the sound files you create from records and tapes. I found that software to be a bit of a nuisance to learn and use. if getting the job done with simplicity--including cleaning up the output, I reco,emd buy a downloadable but not free software program like "Spin it Again". There's just to much to mess with wwith the software provided with the ION. I didn't want a saga, Just something I could keep at and get a lot of work acceptably done. Bottom line: Ion good, Audacity bad. "Spin it again" (sold seperately) good but has some quirks that must be overcome-but much quicker to learn and find out what the quirks are. |