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 - Digitizing the old LPsI purchased this turntable to be able to digitize my old LP record collection. My old turntable failed. It is easy to use and setup and comes with acceptable software. Cartridge is non-removable and non-replacable, only the stylus (needle) is replaceable. No tracking weight adjustment so some older records skip if there is a LP pressing defect or it is scratched. It is not a replacement turntable for high quality audiophile use or everyday listening. It is adequate quality to digitzie the old LP records. Construction is mainly plastic. Vibration isolation is poor. The Pyro Audio creater software is the lite version so it lacks some features. Noise reduction is one of the important features missing. You have to use another software package for noise reduction. To burn/transfer the WAV files to a CD it does not record the track names to the burned CD, only a genric track number. This makes it difficult to easily import into iTunes. I found a work around by using Microsoft Media Player to burn the WAV files to CD which maintains the file names. Then when importing into iTunes it recognizes the album and imports the titles and album art automatically. A tip in naming the files in Pyro, use a two digit number (i.e. 01, 02, 03) in front of the file names from the album track in the correct order. That way it is easy to sort in Windows Media player and get the files in the correct order for play back after burning and also importing/recognition to iTunes. Pyro software has an issue in listening while recording on my computer (Win XP Pro) as it does not always work during the complete recording of an album side. Rating:  - Highly recommend this productWorks great, but downloaded Audacity version 1.3.5 beta. The version it came with would playback while recording while the beta version does. Haven't used the Cakewalk Pyro yet. Easy to set up- put turntable together, plug in the USB cable, install the software, then record the LP. Use the software to remove background noise and remove most clicks. If the LP is in good condition, the results are very good. Rating: - Great turntable for the priceI've been using this turntable now for 5 months. Audio Technica promptly replaced my original unit due to a defect, the replacement has worked just fine. I use it for transferring old vinyl LPs to mp3s. I decided to use Audacity software for this (rather than the software that came with the unit) because I've used Audacity before and found it to be quite powerful; I expect that the packaged software would be fine as well. This is a great turntable for the price. The mp3 files sound just fine, very good fidelity... of course I have to deal with skips and clicks and noise from the vinyl but generally the resulting mp3s are quite good. If I was solely looking to play vinyl LPs on my stereo I would buy a different unit with more features, but for transferring vinyl to mp3s this one does the trick. Rating: - Fits the BillSee the review by Juniorverse1 dated October 23, 2007. He provides details on the turntable and gives a good review. I would have liked the unit to have rpm and tone arm balance controls, but those are minor issues. I will add some information about software for clean-up of files once on the computer (I am using an HP laptop running on Vista). Once a file is downloaded it needs to be cleaned of cracks, hiss, noise, hum, clicks, etc. Cakewalk is of marginal use. Use Audacity to download the wave file so you can listen to lp at the same time. Then use a $[...] program called Wave Repair ([...]) to do a detailed cleanup. It is one of the best audio editor programs around (better and easier to use than the standard editors such as Gold Wave or Sound Forge). Like anything new, it takes awhile to learn its capability, but once learned it allows you much control over the file. Once the file is edited and saved as a .wav file it can be changed into different file formats by Audacity for downloading onto a variety of devices. So, to summarize, the Audio Technica does all it is suppossed to do. The rest is up to you in terms of how detailed you want to get for file cleanup. Use of the two software programs noted above can lead to a pristine sound even if the lp record itself is full of scratches and low level noise. Rating: - initial software configuration can be trickyThe turntable itself is great, has more than adequate sound quality. The Pyro software more than provides all of the editing features necessary - though the initial installation instructions are a bit confusing.
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