Convert your favourite vinyl records to mp3 via USB, simply attach the included USB cable into your laptop and computer and let the EZ vinyl converter software guide you through with step by step instructions, providing you with no limits when listening to your music on the go. Whether you are storing music on your computer, an MP3 device or on a CD, you can be sure that this turntable has all that you are looking for.
With high quality performance and simplistic, sleek design, this turntable provides high quality and easy functionality whilst displaying a modern take on the classic turntable design. The USB port and auxiliary output included within the turntable enables conversion to other media outlets, giving you further opportunities to play your favourite music on other devices.
ts black exterior allows the device to fit amongst any household décor as well as being easily portable for use in a variety of locations. Experience rich, quality sound and surround yourself with all of your favourite music with the turntables built-in speaker, volume and RCA output, allowing you to plug the device into any set of speakers for optimum listening potential.
Latest comments (67)
mikepaterson
29 Aug 17#67
It is £19.99 because it has been drastically reduced. That it is why it is a hot deal. It was originally priced above many other similar devices so was it better than those then?
atari001
28 Aug 17#66
True, but for the initial rip, IMO, you need to capture it lossless for your archives. You can then convert and mess about with that rip as much as you like for other devices. And you are right, you definitely wouldn't use a £19.99 turntable!
luis.vc
18 Aug 17#65
:dizzy_face: :grin:
mikepaterson
14 Aug 17#64
Whicj may well be the case for the people likely to be buying these to transfer their vinyl to mp3 or wav
luis.vc
10 Aug 17#63
Mate I have measured 8 grams in a cheap crosley.. there are reports up to 12 grams. On top of that the needle is crap quality. I wouldn't do 1 pass with it. Only if that would be the last time I would want to hear it! :smile:
luis.vc
10 Aug 17#62
I have a proJect Carbon RPM 9 with an Ortofon Blue :smile:
mikepaterson
7 Aug 17#61
I have not stated that this model is good or bad. You have done so. That is the difference.
kramer2088
6 Aug 17#60
This will have the same needle/ cardridge as most in the 0 to £100 range and so will probably not cause any more damage than most.
uni
3 Aug 17#59
this is not true. in fact you are actually doing what you incorrectly state I'm doing. I'd bet you haven't bought and used this item yourself and made any kind of accurate tests before and after playing a record to determine the damage caused, yet you seem intent on suggesting the item is fine for others to use, yet you don't use it yourself
it's clear you disagree with what I have to say. I think people can read this thread and make their own minds up what to do. I don't think the device is fine for anyone to use for the purpose intended, thus the words of advice from myself, and others to make that point
mikepaterson
3 Aug 17#58
The facts are that you have not ever seen or used this machine and do not know whether it will cause any more damage that any other given machine. You are guessing that it will and purporting that guesswork as fact. All record players damage the vinyl and an expensive turntable with a poorly adjusted arm or a poor/worn stylus will also do the same. The item is designed for people to convert their old vinyl to wav/mp3 it is not designed as a high-end audiophile device. I am sure that anybody can read the reviews and do their research and make up their own minds. For most people this device will be just fine for the purpose intended. for 5% of people for whom vinyl is the only way to listen to music, it will not.
uni
2 Aug 17#57
what you say is incorrect.
the item is bad due to the design of the product, which will damage the items the product is designed to play
being open minded, it's true to say that cheaper products can potentially be as good as or better, or worse than more expensive products, however that has little relevance to the facts being discussed here. I will often use a much cheaper alternative product to save money, but not if the alternative has side effects that I don't want, especially if that means it will damage another item. how can you consider an item that causes permanent damage to other items to be a "great choice"?
as opposed to ignorance, it's knowledge about these type of products that means I can state categorically it's a bad choice because it will damage the records that are played on it. who wants to buy a product that causes unwanted or unintended damage to the items it's designed to be used with, and consider that a "great choice"?
if you read through the thread you will see myself and others explaining the technicalities of why this item is a bad choice, and I haven't noticed anyone saying it's because of the type of stylus, and you appear to be overlooking that information and summarising that people are simply putting the item down because of price, as opposed to the facts regarding the design and functionality
mikepaterson
2 Aug 17#56
Exactly! Perfect for the use for which it was designed, What a small world it is - amazing that of all the quality decks in the World you and I both have Rega Planars!
mikepaterson
2 Aug 17#55
So you do not know this turntable have never used it and do not know what the stylus is and you are stating categorically that it is a bad choice. You seem to assume that because the price is low, that the item is bad. I can state quite happily that I have been extremely impressed with many low-priced items that are better than other higher-priced similar items. Rather odd that you assume the worst case scenario and despite ignorance state it as fact. In addition, whilst it may be a bad choice for you, it may be a great choice for others.
uni
1 Aug 17#54
It's a bad choice regardless of price.
Think ink about it this way, would a £200 hair dryer be a bargain at £20 if it permanently damaged your hair when using it?
uni
1 Aug 17#53
Neither. See my earlier comments that explain why.
mikepaterson
1 Aug 17#52
Have you measured this model?
No vinyl lover is going to buy one of these. They are designed for people wanting to dump their old vinyl so I would not worry too much. I have a rega planar myself.
mikepaterson
1 Aug 17#51
Is that because of the price, or because you actually know this particular turntable?
Chasloyal
1 Aug 17#50
So by that logic you'd have to vote hot on a 100 quid DIY Euthanasia kit reduced to a score too :unamused:
pitbullmern
1 Aug 17#49
probably as the 1978 technics 1210 mk2 are poo
raggedy
1 Aug 17#48
Just have to jump in here - it's a bad choice for £20 so if anyone had bought it while it was listed at £99 (before it was reduced) what kind of choice would it have been then?
I know we get consistently ripped off in Britain so is this proving that? As in was it only worth £20 BEFORE it was discounted? How do we know? :smile:
uni
1 Aug 17#47
yes, I think it's a bad choice for £20 as it can permanently damage records, which at some point may end up in the second hand market so other people end up getting damaged copies of stuff because someone bought this
the name is irrelevant.
mrew42
1 Aug 17#46
" those who don't know any better " - my point proven.
You think too much. A bad choice for £20. Really? And do you really think the brand name will be of any relevance nearly 20 years on? Tell that to Wharfdale, Toshiba, Hitachi, Technics etc etc
uni
1 Aug 17#45
I think the point for some is that those who don't know any better may be making a bad choice, so those who know a bit about these things are trying to help people avoid those choices. in life some people know about some stuff and not about others. so I may not have a clue if I want to buy an iron or hoover or something like that, whilst other may chip in and say it's a waste of time spending £30 on a particular model even if it's got £100 off, it's a waste of time and may knacker your clothes or carpet, but a £40 one may do a great job
I'm still not sure if awai or akai or whatever was the good or bad brand. I remember upgrading from a sashio Walkman to a nice red autoreverse with 3 band equaliser and that may have been akaii or awaii or even sanyo. the sony pro Walkman blew them all away when I finally got enough money to get one second hand
mrew42
1 Aug 17#44
It's amazing how a deal on here can bring out the blowhards, naysayers, self professed 'experts' Of course anyone who knew what they were talking about.... :neutral_face: It is what it is - A turntable reduced from £99.99 to £19.99 Have some heat OP
tin
1 Aug 17#43
Argos never stocked Akai stuff, it was wayyy too high end for them.
Chasloyal
31 Jul 17#42
Yep well spotted indeed I did, that was of course intended for jasejames so my sincerest apologies to atari001.
I shall retire for the night with a bright red face now X)
ArthurDent1
31 Jul 17#41
Think you might have replied to the wrong person there.
it depends on your budget but there are a number of alternatives. just google usb phono preamp. richer sounds have some too, and amazon have others. once you've found one you like the look off, google and check ebay for the best price. I have the model above and it works fine. another option is if you have an amp and turntable setup, is to use a standalone cd or dvd recorder. I used a standalone cd recorder for my first rips in the 90s before multi media pc's became affordable
ArthurDent1
31 Jul 17#39
For those of us who already have a turntable and amp - is there an easy way to connect it to a laptop and use it to rip vinyl to MP3?
The back of my pre and power amps look like this (so I'm guessing I could use output 2 on the pre-amp or the line out on the power amp):
ArthurDent1
31 Jul 17#38
Depends why you're ripping it - if it's to listen on a portable device or in the car then MP3 makes sense. If you're looking for audiophile quality you wouldn't be using a £19.99 turntable.
SalmanOrange
31 Jul 17#37
Will probably just collect dust like the vinyl discs if bought
Chasloyal
31 Jul 17#36
You do realise my actual line was "weren't at all decent" don't you? Erm you're now the second gallant knight defending Maid Akai's honour whacking that "cheap and nasty" quote on me when it was a totally different contributor to this thread!
Frankly it doesn't really matter anyway because as far as the peer pressure verdict went back then, they was indeed very cheap and nasty. So carry on to feel free to go as anorak as you wish about a model I BELIEVE was the Argos special because yeah I was about then, thus I know the types to have Akai personal stereos were also the types whose folks bought them Jekyll tut like 'Marahs' and 'Tarahs' rather than the genuine must have regulation school attire of the day Farahs.
I am beginning to get this feeling that anyone of a certain age defending the Akai brand with such passion and vigour would invariably turn out to be the very same people who was palmed off with with their big brother's(or even sister's) hand-me-down Green Flash for PE rather than getting a nice crisp new pair of Nike Wimbledons.
Anyway I should really not descend to responding to petty swipes with more petty swipes but it was what it was back then and it is what it is now, speaking of which......nine years on here yet not even one solitary deal, like really? (_;)
jasejames
31 Jul 17#35
The model in that picture wasn't even sold on its own. It was part of a boombox; in the early 1980s there was a fad among the Japanese manufacturers to include a removable cassette deck as part of the system.
These were generally much larger and heavier, and better quality than any of the £100 standalone personal stereos, as they contained a full-size mechanism.
... As you'd know as you were around then! :smile:
Of course anyone who knew what they were talking about would not the dual flywheel design of this particular unit; cheap and nasty it is most certainly not.
atari001
31 Jul 17#34
If you are even thinking of ripping your vinyl to digital format, there's no way you'd go for lossy MP3.
ArthurDent1
30 Jul 17#33
For most people it probably makes more sense to replace your vinyl with cheap SH CDs (use The Cameliser to monitor prices) and rip copies with free software like EAC. This only really makes sense if you've got music on vinyl that isn't available in a digital format.
I
philipgregson58
30 Jul 17#32
The article I refer to in my original comment seems to answer most of the comments from that article, and the one before yours. I suppose if you have a valuable collection, rather than run of the mill stuff, not to be attempted lightly, but it is an interesting path to try.
uni
30 Jul 17#31
cleaning records with liquids and letting them dry is fine if done right, but playing wet will push the dirt deeper into the grooves. there's probably other possible issues in relation to the fact you have water around electric devices. i doubt it would stop the issue of dirt being melted into the groove. here's an article about the needle temperature that includes a comment about a guy who worked in record production (making the vinly as opposed to shouting at musicians)
"Records are made from a polyvinyl chloride/polyvinyl acetate copolymer at 90/10 mix roughly and its melting point is between 110 and 120 degrees centigrade. I was a record production and development chemist at EMI for 6 years and mucked around with various record mixtures. The stylus does indeed 'melt' the plastic at a macro level, the plastic immediately resetting itself back to where it was: there would be no noticeable degradation of the record in the short term but repeated playing, especially the heavy modulated grooves of the record, will over thousands of playing, eventually give a degradation that is discernable. Nowt to worry about in the short term though: dust is probably a greater enemy as is plasticiser migration from record inner sleeves. "
dheydl
30 Jul 17#30
Dunno but water is full of minerals and other particles. Doesn't seem intuitive to put that where a stylus would notice. There are anti-static washes available for record cleaning if yours is particularly grubby.
philipgregson58
30 Jul 17#29
With regards to pops and clicks due to dirt comment by someone, in bars in Dusseldorf, maybe elsewhere, I dont know, they used to put water on the LP and it played fine. Not sure about the H&S aspect with that???? Anyone else familiar with that? Made myself look it up :-vinylengine.com/tur…360
kingalew
30 Jul 17#28
I've been using an Audio Technica AT-LP60 for the last 8 months pretty much daily and it's going well. £99 on Amazon at present. It's my first ever turntable and I am not an audiophile.
Chasloyal
30 Jul 17#27
Yeah I should really have said 'slightly more upmarket' :grin: but you get my drift, I think Akai was consigned to cheaper end of the the electronic retailer spectrum.
Yep Tottenham Court Road was always AV Central, used to bowl up there to go Adidas Connection and nigh on every shop was electrical with the bulk of it tellies, videos and hi-fi rather than household domestic stuff, not been down that way for years so no idea if it's still the same now.
OllieSt
30 Jul 17#26
Laskys, I haven't heard that name in ages. It was not what I would call a high end store, but I suppose compared to Rumbelows it was. I remember when I was a kid I would walk down Tottenham Court Rd in London's West End and go into all of the quality audio shops. The best place from memory was Lion House jammed packed full of high end quality equipment which had the most amazing speaker rooms in one of the basement floors. I went there last week and sadly even the Sony store no longer exists.
I remember finding what I was looking to buy and then going into the many Asian owned stores and asking them for the best price possible. They would always be able to beat the price and came back with the goods the same day.
luis.vc
30 Jul 17#25
I have measured the weight on a couple of these cheap turntables.. if you are okay with 8 grams of force, go for it! Realisticaly to buy an entry turntable you are looking at minimum 100 pounds.
Chasloyal
30 Jul 17#24
Nah :grin: I believe this specific model was purchasable for around 40 quid from Argos when I was a first/second year at school(circa 1983) whilst a decent Walkman like say the ghastly yellow sports thing or the more compact sleek Aiwa ones were pushing the mighty 3 digit threshold.
You'll also find Currys and Dixons were busy pushing pony Akai 14 inch abortions as the ideal solution to parents for demanding teenyboppers who wanted the far more socially acceptable but double the price Sony of that size in their rooms. I had a mate who got one for his birthday mid 80's and 30 years on he's still not recovered from the trauma it caused him, that is how crap they were!
Like I don't even think that the more upmarket Laskys chain even sold Akai gear back then but I may be wrong so don't quote me as gospel on that one but Laskys had far higher end electronics compared to your Rumbelows et al.
drewsup
30 Jul 17#22
does anyone know of a good quality affordable turntable with preamp built in to use with powered speakers, looking to upgrade son who has something similar to this now. Looking for something like a Project Elemental
clsss
30 Jul 17#23
like said already, do it properly or don't bother!
Weren't at all decent, the only kids in school that had Akai personal stereos was the Gola Gang who used to sell their week's supply of local authority issued free dinner tickets for 10 Benson and a box of Swan Vestas on the Monday morning break time.
Was all about the Walkmans and Aiwa, everything else was pants
jasejames to Chasloyal
29 Jul 17#18
That's not true. Akai were present in recording studios and TV companies across the world ... that's how cheap and nasty they were.
_taurus_
29 Jul 17#7
Good brand and deal
FlyerUK to _taurus_
29 Jul 17#17
It used to be a good brand, many years ago, not so much now.
hgthompson
29 Jul 17#11
This is not the 'Akai' of old. Akai (which were a very decent brand) went out of business in the 90's... some Chinese company bought the brand name, and now use it to re-brand generic Chinese crap.
_taurus_ to hgthompson
29 Jul 17#15
You're definitely right! Didn't know this...
ollie87
29 Jul 17#14
You already know the answer. But thanks for making it easy to spot the ****.
tin
29 Jul 17#13
Agree! I bought one of the Akai bluetooth speakers from Morrisons recently and am pretty impressed at quite how bad they managed to make it. Absolute crap.
sadbuttruee
29 Jul 17#12
I advise you to buy a second hand deck and an amplifier instead - gumtree is full of decent quality hi-fi separates for a pittance
shootomanUK
29 Jul 17#10
Is this better than my 1978 technics 1210 mk2 ??
Plumbboy55
29 Jul 17#5
Just no. If you invest in vinyl, get a decent turntable or just don't bother.
If you wish to get an MP3 of your existing records, just buy the CD secondhand off Amazon - usally for around 3 quid each inc postage. Rip it and you're done.
_taurus_ to Plumbboy55
29 Jul 17#9
This device is for archiving vinyls to the eg mobile device we now this...
lumsdot
29 Jul 17#8
an iron nail is cheaper
Istanbul_Kop
29 Jul 17#6
Looks like a toilet seat.
Trevisparky
29 Jul 17#4
Better off with the deal of the day on amazon today for an extra £11.
TheDiscountSeeker
29 Jul 17#3
I wouldn't let this touch my vinyl. Hell no.... too precious to go cheap cheap oO oO
Grill
29 Jul 17#2
It looks very cheap and the reviews on Amazon are very poor
spannerzone
29 Jul 17#1
What's not to like? sure it'll be cheap and nasty and probably ruin your vinyl if heavily used but £20 all in for a USB record player.
Someone should be along soon to advise us to buy a second hand deck and an amplifier instead.
Opening post
With high quality performance and simplistic, sleek design, this turntable provides high quality and easy functionality whilst displaying a modern take on the classic turntable design. The USB port and auxiliary output included within the turntable enables conversion to other media outlets, giving you further opportunities to play your favourite music on other devices.
ts black exterior allows the device to fit amongst any household décor as well as being easily portable for use in a variety of locations. Experience rich, quality sound and surround yourself with all of your favourite music with the turntables built-in speaker, volume and RCA output, allowing you to plug the device into any set of speakers for optimum listening potential.
Latest comments (67)
it's clear you disagree with what I have to say. I think people can read this thread and make their own minds up what to do. I don't think the device is fine for anyone to use for the purpose intended, thus the words of advice from myself, and others to make that point
the item is bad due to the design of the product, which will damage the items the product is designed to play
being open minded, it's true to say that cheaper products can potentially be as good as or better, or worse than more expensive products, however that has little relevance to the facts being discussed here. I will often use a much cheaper alternative product to save money, but not if the alternative has side effects that I don't want, especially if that means it will damage another item. how can you consider an item that causes permanent damage to other items to be a "great choice"?
as opposed to ignorance, it's knowledge about these type of products that means I can state categorically it's a bad choice because it will damage the records that are played on it. who wants to buy a product that causes unwanted or unintended damage to the items it's designed to be used with, and consider that a "great choice"?
if you read through the thread you will see myself and others explaining the technicalities of why this item is a bad choice, and I haven't noticed anyone saying it's because of the type of stylus, and you appear to be overlooking that information and summarising that people are simply putting the item down because of price, as opposed to the facts regarding the design and functionality
What a small world it is - amazing that of all the quality decks in the World you and I both have Rega Planars!
Think ink about it this way, would a £200 hair dryer be a bargain at £20 if it permanently damaged your hair when using it?
No vinyl lover is going to buy one of these. They are designed for people wanting to dump their old vinyl so I would not worry too much. I have a rega planar myself.
I know we get consistently ripped off in Britain so is this proving that? As in was it only worth £20 BEFORE it was discounted? How do we know? :smile:
the name is irrelevant.
You think too much. A bad choice for £20. Really?
And do you really think the brand name will be of any relevance nearly 20 years on?
Tell that to Wharfdale, Toshiba, Hitachi, Technics etc etc
I'm still not sure if awai or akai or whatever was the good or bad brand. I remember upgrading from a sashio Walkman to a nice red autoreverse with 3 band equaliser and that may have been akaii or awaii or even sanyo. the sony pro Walkman blew them all away when I finally got enough money to get one second hand
Of course anyone who knew what they were talking about....
:neutral_face:
It is what it is - A turntable reduced from £99.99 to £19.99
Have some heat OP
I shall retire for the night with a bright red face now X)
amazon.co.uk/Beh…YZ0
it depends on your budget but there are a number of alternatives. just google usb phono preamp. richer sounds have some too, and amazon have others. once you've found one you like the look off, google and check ebay for the best price. I have the model above and it works fine. another option is if you have an amp and turntable setup, is to use a standalone cd or dvd recorder. I used a standalone cd recorder for my first rips in the 90s before multi media pc's became affordable
The back of my pre and power amps look like this (so I'm guessing I could use output 2 on the pre-amp or the line out on the power amp):
If you're looking for audiophile quality you wouldn't be using a £19.99 turntable.
Frankly it doesn't really matter anyway because as far as the peer pressure verdict went back then, they was indeed very cheap and nasty. So carry on to feel free to go as anorak as you wish about a model I BELIEVE was the Argos special because yeah I was about then, thus I know the types to have Akai personal stereos were also the types whose folks bought them Jekyll tut like 'Marahs' and 'Tarahs' rather than the genuine must have regulation school attire of the day Farahs.
I am beginning to get this feeling that anyone of a certain age defending the Akai brand with such passion and vigour would invariably turn out to be the very same people who was palmed off with with their big brother's(or even sister's) hand-me-down Green Flash for PE rather than getting a nice crisp new pair of Nike Wimbledons.
Anyway I should really not descend to responding to petty swipes with more petty swipes but it was what it was back then and it is what it is now, speaking of which......nine years on here yet not even one solitary deal, like really? (_;)
These were generally much larger and heavier, and better quality than any of the £100 standalone personal stereos, as they contained a full-size mechanism.
... As you'd know as you were around then! :smile:
Of course anyone who knew what they were talking about would not the dual flywheel design of this particular unit; cheap and nasty it is most certainly not.
This only really makes sense if you've got music on vinyl that isn't available in a digital format.
I
forums.linn.co.uk/bb/…073
"Records are made from a polyvinyl chloride/polyvinyl acetate copolymer at 90/10 mix roughly and its melting point is between 110 and 120 degrees centigrade. I was a record production and development chemist at EMI for 6 years and mucked around with various record mixtures. The stylus does indeed 'melt' the plastic at a macro level, the plastic immediately resetting itself back to where it was: there would be no noticeable degradation of the record in the short term but repeated playing, especially the heavy modulated grooves of the record, will over thousands of playing, eventually give a degradation that is discernable. Nowt to worry about in the short term though: dust is probably a greater enemy as is plasticiser migration from record inner sleeves. "
Made myself look it up :-vinylengine.com/tur…360
Yep Tottenham Court Road was always AV Central, used to bowl up there to go Adidas Connection and nigh on every shop was electrical with the bulk of it tellies, videos and hi-fi rather than household domestic stuff, not been down that way for years so no idea if it's still the same now.
I remember finding what I was looking to buy and then going into the many Asian owned stores and asking them for the best price possible. They would always be able to beat the price and came back with the goods the same day.
Nah :grin: I believe this specific model was purchasable for around 40 quid from Argos when I was a first/second year at school(circa 1983) whilst a decent Walkman like say the ghastly yellow sports thing or the more compact sleek Aiwa ones were pushing the mighty 3 digit threshold.
You'll also find Currys and Dixons were busy pushing pony Akai 14 inch abortions as the ideal solution to parents for demanding teenyboppers who wanted the far more socially acceptable but double the price Sony of that size in their rooms. I had a mate who got one for his birthday mid 80's and 30 years on he's still not recovered from the trauma it caused him, that is how crap they were!
Like I don't even think that the more upmarket Laskys chain even sold Akai gear back then but I may be wrong so don't quote me as gospel on that one but Laskys had far higher end electronics compared to your Rumbelows et al.
Was all about the Walkmans and Aiwa, everything else was pants
If you wish to get an MP3 of your existing records, just buy the CD secondhand off Amazon - usally for around 3 quid each inc postage. Rip it and you're done.
Someone should be along soon to advise us to buy a second hand deck and an amplifier instead.