USB gadget revives those dusty LPs
Those of us who hammered out high school papers on this doodad called a typewriter used to listen to these shiny black things called records. Sometimes we'd even have to hike 10 miles in the snow just to hear a little Joni Mitchell! Times were tough.
Thankfully, our sister site CNET Asia has alerted us to a little gadget that makes it surprisingly easy to transfer those dusty LPs straight to a digital music collection. Just plug the 12-pound Ion USB Turntable into a USB port, fire up the Audacity software for Mac or PC, and start porting in that Ted Nugent! No special drivers needed. The USB turntable has a DJ-compliant pitch slider and an anti-skate mechanism for those older albums that are sitting around reminding you just how long it's been since you slow-danced to "Freebird." The turntable also includes a trial of Bias Soundsoap 2 for cleaning and restoring vinyl.
There are, of course, a number of other solutions, such as the Teac GF-350, for converting LPs to CD or MP3, but the plug-and-play turntable is just so simple and compact. It will, however, cost you about $150 online, more than other USB tchotchkes like heated slippers or USB missiles.
(Photo: CNET Asia)
Leslie Katz, senior editor of CNET's Crave, covers gadgets, games, and most other digital distractions. As a co-host of the CNET News Daily Podcast, she sometimes tries to channel Terry Gross. E-mail Leslie. 
mac's sound in port. the signal is way to low. Will the new usb gadget work on a
mac usb port? who knows? jr