PRODUCT REVIEW
LPDock Brings Vinyl Oldies Into the iTunes Age

We played these dinosaurs of the analog age on gadgets called "turntables," and if we played them enough times -- or spilled enough beer on them -- they developed that combination of crackles, pops and distortion that teary-eyed audio tweaks like to call the "warmth of vinyl."

Many adults persist in keeping these records long after the only turntable that could play them has crumbled into dust. More than a decade into the age of do-it-yourself digital audio, I still receive e-mails from folks who want to know how convert their vinyl to CDs or music files for their computers and iPods.

My longtime advice stands: If you like a vinyl album enough and it exists on CD, buy it or download it from iTunes, Amazon or Rhapsody. At best, converting vinyl is a pain in the neck, and those converted tracks sound pretty rough by today's standards.

For those who persist, read on, because I've found a gadget that makes conversion much easier than it used to be -- as long as you're willing to invest the money, time and patience.

No RCAs Necessary

The US$249 Ion LPDock is a turntable designed to turn vinyl album tracks into digital music files and even play them right into your iPod, though the latter is more of a parlor trick than useful feature.

At first glance, the LPDock looks like a normal turntable with extra-large controls -- undoubtedly to accommodate the mature adults who own all the vinyl. It also has row of buttons with functions that analog turntable designers never dreamed about. Yes, there's a dock on one edge for an iPod.

In addition to standard audio output cables with RCA jacks -- for compatibility with traditional audio receivers and amplifiers -- the LPDock has a USB (Universal Serial Bus) cable that plugs directly into your computer.

This direct digital connection sidesteps a longstanding problem with the traditional method of hooking a turntable to a PC -- plugging the output cables into a PC's sound card. Most turntables don't put out a strong enough signal when they're hooked up that way. The direct USB connection and some internal processing handled by the Ion make a big difference in quality.

Audacity Included

Setting up the LPDock is easy. So is installing the software that does the actual conversion from analog to digital. The bundled CD includes two Windows programs -- MixMeister's crude but foolproof EZ Vinyl Converter 2, plus a powerful but geeky open source audio editor called "Audacity" that can eliminate clicks, pops and background noise. Mac users get Audacity only.

EZ Vinyl Converter lives up to its name -- all you have to do is cue up a track, press an on-screen record button, wait till the track is through playing and click a stop button. If you're online, the software will analyze the track and try to find artist, album and title information from an Internet database. Finally, it will automatically register the new MP3 track with your iTunes software. For tracks the software can't identify, EZ Vinyl prompts you to enter the information manually.

This is undeniably easy, but there are limitations. Unlike "ripping" tracks from a compact disc -- a near automatic, high speed process with iTunes or Windows Media Player -- EZ Vinyl Converter works in real time. It can't sense the end of a track, so you have to babysit and press the stop button each time. Nor does EZ Vinyl Converter offer any way to clean up the sound.

Worst Possible Place for the Gain Knob

My first conversion attempt ("Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy" from Bette Midler's 1975 debut album) was disastrous. The music was scarcely audible. The troubleshooting guide suggested tweaking the "gain" knob, which is the equivalent of a volume control. For some reason, the unit had arrived with the gain turned all the way down. Worse yet, Ion's designers put the gain knob on the bottom of the turntable -- the most awkward possible location for repeated tweaking. That's one of my few complaints about it.

Most users will probably try this routine a few times and then switch to Audacity, which will record a whole side of an album and then do its best to separate it into tracks before converting them to MP3 files. If that fails, you can do it yourself. The program also has filters for eliminating noise, scratches and pops, most of which worked well.

Now for the magic. If your iPod has a voice recorder function, you can plug it into into the dock -- with or with out a computer attached. The LPDock takes control of the player and puts it into voice recorder mode. Cue up the song, press the record button on the turntable, then wait till it's done and press the stop button.

Bottom line: Converting vinyl LPs still takes lots of time, concentration and tweaking -- but the Ion LPDock produces decent-quality digital files with minimal hassle. Just remember that they probably won't sound as good as you thought they sounded 30 years ago.