USB Turntables Don’t Seem Sony, But Here’s the PS-LX300USB

Either Sony’s trying to tell us that vinyl will never die, or that vinyl is finally dead. After years of quietly selling regular old turntables, Sony is now offering what some niche brands already sell: a USB-connected turntable for converting records to MP3s. We don’t have a lot of detail on the PS-LX300USB, except for the fact that it comes with Sound Forge Audio Studio and will cost US$150, placing it performance-wise somewhere between the $100 LX250 and $150 LX350 non-USB players. I don’t know—it almost makes more sense for Sony to have gone whole hog like Teac, and built an all-in-one vinyl-to-CD machine.

FOR VINYL BUFFS SONY OFFERS TURNTABLE WITH USB OUTPUT FOR CONVERTING RECORDS TO DIGITAL FILES

LAS VEGAS, Feb. 26, 2007 – Providing a clever approach for converting vinyl records to digital files, Sony today unveiled a turntable system with USB output.

The new PS-LX300USB turntable provides fully automatic operation of vinyl playback at 33-1/3 and 45 rpm speeds. It offers a belt drive system for reduced motor noise and rotational stability, in addition to a static balance tone arm with a bonded diamond stylus for precise tracking and low record wear. A supplied moving-magnet phonograph cartridge and built-in phonograph pre-amp allows for compatibility with A/V receivers without a phonograph input.

The turntable is packaged with Sound Forge Audio Studio software for simple professional-quality audio editing and production on a home computer, allowing for MP3 playback on portable music players.

The new turntable will be available next month for about $150 at sonystyle.com and at Sony Style® retail stores nationwide, as well as at military base exchanges and authorized dealers around the country.