[mgason]

I have adobe Soundbridge CS3 which I admit I know nothing about, it came in my adobe suite. Will that do the job? I have access to a USB turntable.

[meryts]

Is there such a thing as a USB cassette player? All equipment for playing cassettes in this household have died.

[brazilianheat]

You don't need to worry about a USB cassette player. Any mini stereo with a cassette deck will do the job. You should only need a cable with an RCA end (the red and white plugs), which will go into the output of the stereo, and a stereo single plug (looks like a headphone plug) on the other end, which will go into your Mac's audio input. Then, once you open whatever audio editing program you're using, make sure it recognizes the stereo and then start recording.

[Wearie_Willie]

CD Spin Doctor 4.0.2.33t crashes each time after separating tracks. I'm using G5 10.5.1

[meryts]

thanks, but rather than purchase a cassette player (in a stereo, wherever) I'd just as soon purchase a unit with USB built in - is there such a thing?

[gypsyheart]

meryts wrote:
"rather than purchase a cassette player (in a stereo, wherever) I'd just as soon purchase a unit with USB built in - is there such a thing?"

Go to brookstone.com and search for SKU# 576330 and you'll find the Ion? Dual Ripping Cassette Deck with USB Output for $150. However, you could get something like the ADS Tech Instant Music for Mac (from Apple or Amazon etc) and a little Walkman-style cassette player, and that would be a lot cheaper.

Elena

[macmark]

All Mac audio seems to come to a screeching halt when using USB as the input port. Broad experience (my own included) is that 10.4.11 changed the USB drivers, resulting in random static that renders unusable the captured audio. Apparently it lives on in 10.5 (I have yet to upgrade). The problem is well documented in the following Apple discussion forum:
http://discussions.a...ssageID=6479299
Apple so far appears mute on this topic. I am also surprised that it never gets a mention in so many audio related reviews and articles in MW. Makes me wonder if you guys are actually using these software packages or just reading the manuals when writing your reviews.

[Wearie_Willie]

I am quite satisfied with the ION TTUSB10. The preamp is very useful. The turntable wobbled initially. I paid to return it, and a small piece of styrofoam from packing was found to be the cause. I found ION to be easy to work with. I purchased the more expensive turntable primarily for its dust cover. ION advertises that it is able to convert 78rpm records using software. I believe that software is only for Windows.

[Steven Swift]

What software do you use with the ION TTUSB10 ?
I believe Audacity comes with it. How have you found that to work?
The customer feedback I have read on the ION TTUSB10 seems to list many incidents of the product having faulty or broken items on arrival, returns being needed, tech support consulted, etc.
Makes me wary of their quality control. yet many seem to like the working product.

[brazilianheat]

macmark said:

All Mac audio seems to come to a screeching halt when using USB as the input port.

What do you mean by "all Mac audio"? I've been using a USB midi-keyboard for a while, under both Tiger and Leopard, with no issues.

[Dan Frakes]

macmark said:

All Mac audio seems to come to a screeching halt when using USB as the input port. Broad experience (my own included) is that 10.4.11 changed the USB drivers, resulting in random static that renders unusable the captured audio. Apparently it lives on in 10.5 (I have yet to upgrade). The problem is well documented in the following Apple discussion forum:

http://discussions.a...ssageID=6479299

A relatively small number of people posting to Apple's discussion forums -- a place designed for people to report problems -- does not necessarily mean there's a widespread problem. I've heard reports of this, but I've never experienced it myself, nor have many other people I know. You'll also note that most of the people experiencing the problem in that thread are using laptops, and the problem is being blamed, in part, on issues with laptop power.

macmark said:

Makes me wonder if you guys are actually using these software packages or just reading the manuals when writing your reviews.

Have you considered the possibility that the author of the article simply didn't experience any of these problems?

[Wearie_Willie]

I neglected to add, that the ION TTUSB10 turntable has a jack for cassette players. You can then use the ION's preamp to adjust the audio recorded. I do not know if other ION turntables have that feature, so be sure to check. Today I noticed that there is an ION TTUSB5 that also comes with a dust cover.

[Wearie_Willie]

I am using Amadeus Pro. Audacity seems to be quite similar. I'm using ClickRepair to remove noise, and it works well for me. I'm sure other applications work as well. MacWorld or MacLife recently had an article about it, and Amadeus wasn't mentioned.

[macmark]

I wish it was as simple a problem as laptop power, but the evidence so far points to something that occurred in the 10.4.11 release, prior to which power-induced static didn't seem to be an issue. The Mac is supposed to be built for multimedia and so an iffy USB-based audio input problem seems so out of place. I would love to see a publication with the clout of Macworld try to dig into this one and see what is really going on.

As for you and others "never experiencing the same problem" I would be curious to know what USB A/D input hardware you are using and how many hours of digitizing you have logged with them. Sometimes the problem takes 30+ minutes to show up but when it does it destroys the audio. I have tried two different boxes, both recommended by Macworld (the , the ART USB Phono Plus v2 USB Phono Preamp being the current one) and have had the same problem with both.