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| ADS Instant Music Vinyl & Cassette Ripper to mp3, ipod or cd | 
 enlarge | Brand: ADS
Category: CE
List Price: £34.99
Buy New: £34.78
You Save: £0.21 (1%)
Avg. Customer Rating:  (10 reviews)
Sales Rank: 6029
Language: English (Original Language)
Media: Electronics
Memorabilia: No
Fragile: No
Number Of Items: 1
Batteries Included: No
Shipping Weight (lbs): 2
Dimensions (in): 11 x 7.5 x 2.5
MPN: RDX-150-EF
Model: RDX-150-EF
UPC: 757887150235
EAN: 0757887150136
ASIN: B00067TMGA
Release Date: August 4, 2008
Shipping: Eligible for Super Saver Shipping
Availability: In stock soon. Order now to get in line. First come, first served.
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Product Description
Just plug the Instant Music into a USB port on your computer and you are ready to begin recording from any analog audio source into the most popular digital audio formats available such as MP3, WAV and WMA (Windows Media Audio 9) and AAC. Once in a digita
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| Customer Reviews: Read 5 more reviews...
 ADS Instant Music August 14, 2008
5 out of 5 found this review helpful
With over 400 pre-recorded tapes and 100+ bits of vinyl, I was looking for an inexpensive solution that allowed me to convert these into a digital format. I ordered this on the strength of the positive reviews I'd seen here. I'd be a liar if I said I hadn't some mild concerns about the negative reviews I'd read also. I needn't have worried - this didn't disappoint. The only minor niggle was that the instructions on how to set up your PC catered only for Vista users - I still run XP. Other than that this product does what it says on the tin. The results from tapes in particular are impressive. My only problem now is finding the time to copy them all and whether to buy an I-Pod to store it all on!
 Pretty Good Actually July 24, 2008
4 out of 4 found this review helpful
I purchased this without reading any of the other reviews and frankly, I'm glad that I did. Several of the other reviewers clearly have no understanding of how "hi-fi" works and lay the blame with the RDX-150 when it is not at fault. My opinion is that this device works well and produces good quality audio files. If you want an easy way to digitise your cassette and LP collection, this is it.
The RDX-150 was set up as part of separates hi-fi system taking the place of a 2nd cassette deck. I was using the RCA connectors, though the unit also has SP/DIF. Installation and connection via USB on the laptop was straightforward.
I had absolutely no problem with volume levels recording from both cassette and LP.
Acoustica's Spin It Again software is bundles. It's perfectly adequate and actually has some nice features but by default, it doesn't come with an mp3 encoder which is a shame. Although I haven't tried it, according to the Acoustica forums, downloading the latest version (for free) should allow encoding to mp3
The only problem that I encountered was actually finding out where in Microsoft Vista I could adjust the recording properties on the device. When first installed mine seem to default to mono input and it took me a while of fiddling with device properties to find where I could set stereo input, 16 bits, 44kHz etc.
In terms of sound quality, I've been impressed. The analogue-to-digital converter is definitely of a better quality than the one in my HP laptop. Of course, your mileage may vary depending on soundcard, etc. On my portable media player, I can't tell the difference between an mp3 that was converted from cassette via the RDX-150 compared with a rip from a CD.
An unexpected bonus is that the RDX-150 can also be used as a sound output to play music back through the hi-fi. This is great if you want to use BBC's iPlayer or 4oD to download programmes and then watch them on TV, rather than your laptop's screen. The normal s-video connection doesn't carry sound, so the RDX-150 lets you put the sound straight into the amplifier. Brilliant.
 If your sound card has a line-in connector you might not need this device March 11, 2008
7 out of 7 found this review helpful
I used the ADS Instant music with my old computer and, with the help of the earlier reviews, managed to record a couple of tapes via the headphone socket(using a phono to jack convertor ) on my hi-fi amplifier. However, with my new higher spec computer, when I tried to transfer a cassette tape, there was a hiss which made the recording unlistenable. I realised from other reviews there was nothing I could do about this hiss so looked for other ways of transferring tapes/lps.
I then discovered that I could buy a cable much more cheaply which again plugged in to my headphone socket on the hi-fi and then into the line-in connector on my sound card which has its own bundled software for recording.
Anyone want a surplus to requirements hardly-used ADS instant music device!
Does Nothing Your PC Can't Do Already February 14, 2008
21 out of 21 found this review helpful
This gadget offers to convert your LP collection into digital format on your PC. As someone with lots of LPs, this sounds like just the thing. Unfortunately, it has two major flaws - the software and the hardware.
The software provided is Nero SoundTrax from Nero 6. This is an old, discontinued version (the current version is 8) that has known compatibility issues with Windows Vista. Google `Windows Explorer not responding Nero' to see some of the hideous things that old Nero software can cause, and install at your peril. An update is available via a weblink provided but Vista still warns that it has a problem. And why are they bundling such an old version when a Vista compatible one is available?
No software is provided for Mac users. When I contacted InstantMusic support (about a different problem) the first thing they suggested was using Audacity - a free piece of software for Windows and Mac. It seems that they have little faith in the supplied software either.
So this leaves us with the hardware. What you have is a box that accepts the output from your hifi and connects it to a USB port on your PC. However, most PCs, quite a few laptops and almost all Macs have line-in connections, usually via a mini stereo jackplug. You can buy an RCA (what comes out of your hifi) to mini-jack converter cable for a couple of pounds and connect it straight to your PC or Mac. I tried it both ways - with the InstantMusic box and directly to my line-in imput, on both Mac and PC - and there was no obvious difference between the two. I used Creative software that came with the soundcard on my PC and Garageband on the Mac. I also used the free Audacity. Garageband is by far the nicest to use but they all do the job.
So at the end of the day, you are paying nearly 30 for software that isn't compatible with Vista or Apple computers and a box that can be replaced by a cheap converter cable.
Its actually worse than that. Other reviewers have complained about a loud static noise on recordings. I also got this (only on my Mac laptop, not my PC). However, it didn't happen using the direct line-in connection. So you're actually better off not having this box. Spend the money on a sound card with a line-in connection if you don't have one.
Furthermore, their support isn't very helpful. They did respond to my email about the static problem. However, they seem to be non-English language based and I was seemingly unable to explain to them what the problem was and what I had tried to rectify it. They just kept telling me to try Audacity. In the end, they stopped responding to my emails.
Regrettably, I have to conclude that this product is worse than useless. The alternative - a simple cable to connect your line-in port - is available on this website, at the time of writing, for 1p. You choose!
OK but not very easy to use September 30, 2007
6 out of 7 found this review helpful
The box itself I suppose is OK - what you really use is the software, which comes from a different company (Nero) so customer service is awkward. The instructions included are very scanty, so you have to go to their website for more info and to start to figure things out.
Nero's software refused to re-open the files it saved for me, so I called customer service - a premium rate no. in Germany, and the person who eventually answered couldn't help me. They said that they would call back - and they never did.
Eventually I figured out that once I had finished editing my tracks, I should saved them as WAV files and then ignore the document which Nero had created.
So the thing is working for me, after a bit of trial and error. I didn't have high hopes for my old cassette tapes, but if you use the noise reduction function then they clean up surprisingly well. The Nero software isn't very easy to figure out (it might be if they supplied a manual) and I wonder whether you might be better off using the box with Audacity - haven't tried that possibility, though.
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