Please help me buy a usb turntable for my boyfriend.

November 5, 2009 10:22 AM

Please help me pick out a usb turntable for my boyfriend.

My boyfriend would like a usb turntable. I would like to buy him one, but know nothing about them. He's not really an audiophile, he would just like something he can hook up to his laptop and convert his record collection over so he can listen to his music on the computer . I would like to find something that's good quality, but in the +/- $100 price range.

posted by weesha to computers & internet (14 comments total)

Does he already have a regular turntable? He can likely just run it right into his audio-in jack surely?
posted by Iteki at 10:29 AM on November 5

Explaination from microsoft (you don't need their software). Scuse the doublepost.
posted by Iteki at 10:30 AM on November 5

see also this thread
posted by Think_Long at 10:31 AM on November 5

No, he doesn't have a turntable or any other stereo equipment.
posted by weesha at 10:51 AM on November 5

Does he already have a regular turntable? He can likely just run it right into his audio-in jack surely?

Audio in is (generally) line level. A "regular" turntable phono output (generally) needs to be amplified to bring to line level.
posted by Neiltupper at 10:53 AM on November 5

You'll probably find pretty similar levels of quality across all $100 USB turntables. That said, I like the Audio Technica brand and their AT-LP2D-USB gets good reviews on Amazon.
posted by paulg at 10:59 AM on November 5

Is this going to be a surprise? If not, does your boyfriend have any idea what he'd like?

I only ask because when it comes to things like this he may have something in mind that he really really wants, and getting him a different model might be worse than getting him nothing.

I've had people do this to me, and it gets frustrating. I do the research, find the perfect device that does everything I want, only to get the third tier device. Now I can't justify getting what I really want, since what I have should be good enough, but I never get what I actually wanted.

Regardless, as long as you stick with a brand with name recognition you should be fine. Especially in the price range you're talking about.
posted by cjorgensen at 11:01 AM on November 5 [1 favorite]

i've heard good things, and have seen with my own eyes (heard with my own ears???) good quality results with the ION TTUSB... (also on amazon, well reviewed and rated, appx $105)
posted by chasles at 11:19 AM on November 5

I'll second the ION. I've been using one for over two years now and have no complaints about the quality.
posted by Otis at 12:31 PM on November 5

Thirding the ION. Numark are a respectable brand with a reputation for high quality at their price point. And better to go through a USB connection than an audio in, because you'd need to take the audio of a deck through a (turntable supporting) amp to get it to the right level to feed into the audio in.
posted by iivix at 2:42 PM on November 5

It's more than $100 but a good deal right now as reported on Lifehacker:

Denon DN-HD2500 Media Player for $299.99
posted by emjay at 4:13 PM on November 5

Here's a thread I did about two years ago.

That said, I would agree with cjorgensen, except in my situation my husband just ended up getting what he wanted anyway, which made me feel lame.
posted by Lucinda at 4:26 PM on November 5

emjay, that Denon is a DJ controller for "spinning" with digital music, not for converting actual records into MP3s. No vinyl involved there.
posted by mendel at 7:37 PM on November 5

AFAIK, he doesn't have a specific model in mind that he wants. Otherwise I would just try to find out what that is...

I'll check out the ION. Thanks everybody.
posted by weesha at 4:40 AM on November 6