REVIEW: ION Audio Tape2PC USB Dual Cassette Deck and Tape to MP3 Converter

Hey. It's been a while, but I just used a "Tape2PC USB Dual Cassette Deck and Tape to MP3 Converter" manufactured by ION Audio and want to share what I think about it.



My Ratings are 1 - 5 (Where 5 is Best)

Basically, this gizmo takes all the trouble and wizardry out of transferring your old cassette collection to MP3 or CD. (For any of us folks that still have any.) From there, you can easily transfer it to your favorite MP3 player for your "retro enjoyment"! ION Audio supplies you with the USB cable and both the needed software programs (Audacity and the proprietary EZ Tape Converter) for both PC and MAC. It's sharp looking and doubles as a deck-to-deck high speed dubbing machine that will fit right in with your existing stereo equipment.

Quality - 4 - The guts function well. It definitely gets an otherwise tedious job done right! The case does not seem "robust", (nothing does now days) but I won't be playing basketball with this equipment.

Features - 4 - It's excellent - there were no surprises. Personally, I would add high speed dubbing to MP3, as well as an option to simultaneously dub to the recording deck _while_ converting to MP3. It comes with two software applications (both PC & MAC) and the needed USB cable, so there's nothing else to buy!

Ease Of Use - 5 - Ease of use is just like it says. It has all the standard connections, and once the software was installed, there was virtually no learning curve. Any kid could operate this "without supervision".

Value - 4 - Considering there's nothing else on the market that I've been able to find, it's worth every penny. ION Audio built it first, so they'll set the bar for now, I suppose. I wouldn't pay more for it, but I would expect the price on comparable units to level out around $99 bucks over the next 18 months.

Sound - 4 - Sound quality is as expected. It's definitely no worse than using patches and recording the audio through the PC soundcard. It's a whole lot better than recording from the speakers. This product makes it easier and eliminates a few steps and at _least_ one generation of sound degradation - which is never a bad thing!

Overall - 4.5 - It's great! For someone who wants to convert their tape collection to CD or MP3, this is the way to go. There's nothing overtly wrong with this audio equipment. I certainly don't plan on finding a replacement any time soon. After what I've been through, I'd sooner wear it out and fix it myself before trying again to explain to a retail pencil-neck (clerk, sorry) what it is that I'm looking for. They've all either tried to sell me a high speed dubbing deck, (I've got access to a multi-tape duplicator already.) or they couldn't figure out at all what I was talking about! For now, Ion's got the jump on the market with this one.

If you read Norwegian, there's another review here. I'm pretty happy with it, but if you get one, let me know what you think...