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This was a family gift. I wish I had researched the one that transfers files to MP3s, though, because the digital format of this turntable does not allow copying to the computer audio files. We spent the holidays recording our old LPs to CD. This turntable is simple and results in surprisingly good sounding CDs that can be played in the car or computer CD player. There is one by the same company that will transfer to MP3s. Based on this one, I suspect that one is equally easy to use.
Converting my records to CDs has been a snap and enjoyable as I listen to old records that I haven't heard in years. Not that big a deal, but enough to keep it an overall 4 rather than a 5. absolutely. better than you get with many items these days. absolutely. The only real shortcoming was the inability of the recorder to sense breaks between songs. I'm almost though a couple of hundred records and will start on my old cassette tapes next (by plugging the cassette player into the TEAC).Instructions were fairly good. Would I buy it again.
So since I didn't want to stand by the recorder and capture each break every 3 minutes or so, I just get the break when the side is over. That means that when I load to my PC and then to my MP3, rather than have a song at a time, I get a side at a time when playing in scramble mode. Would I recommend it to a friend. Or I might just try to sell them mine when I'm done with all my conversions.
I found the actual life to be closer to 35 hours and that is by using it to play LPs only. They are being returned. When you read the Teac manual for this unit it states that the playing life of the stylus is "aproximately 50 hours." Well, not so. Overall I feel the unit does deliver a reasonably good recording but it suffers from a major flaw, the STL-103 stylus that is used to produce the recording. Having a rather extensive record collection many of which have not come out on commercially made CDs, I decided to purchase the LP-R400 by Teac in order to make my own versions. I prefer a magnetic cartridge with a diamond stylus to produce the best and clearest sound quality. They were packaged loosely with a bit of foam in a plastic case thus allowing the two styli to bounce around freely. The first stylus lasted for only 5 tracks on side one of an album while the second stylus was completely worthless.
So I tried this one and it only lasted for three and a half album sides, not the "600 hours" claimed on their website. I have tried several sources - both very disappointing. And while I don't think of myself as a typical audiophile, I feel my experience with stereo of more than thirty years does qualify me to rate this product. I next tried LP Gear which claims to sell a "diamond tip" stylus type STL-103. Another fly in the ointment is replacement styli. B&H Photo-Video-Pro Audio which I found on BING sells the STL-103 in a dual pack. So I am extremely dissatisfied with the stylus problem not to mention the fact that the ceramic cartridge on the LR-R400 itself is not to my liking. So I am rating this unit at 4 stars for sound and 0 stars for the stylus.
Unfortunately, this isn't possible because it isn't equipped to hook into other speakers. This product did not meet my expectations. I am very disappointed in the sound quality and would like to hook it up to better speakers. My computer supports an upgrade in speakers. I would expect a radio/record player to do the same.
What a wonderful way to save my old vinyl to cd's. It makes the music portable and gives me satisfaction that much of my music will remain in mint condition. I have hooked up a reel to reel to the aux port and find I can also save some really old tapes to cd as well. I am delighted.
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