iMic USB Audio Interface

Rating:
Summary: Great tool to digitize music from your tapes & vinyl records
Review: Have been using iMic for the past 3 months. It is a neat product with ease of use. It comes with a CD that has the 'Final Vinyl' software which is very useful for digitizing cassettes and vinyl records. The software extremely easy to use and it has the capability to split the recorded music into multiple tracks. I have ripped more than 15 cassettes with least effort. The quality of recording is very good too.

Here is how I convert the cassettes:
1) Play cassette on a deck
2) Connect the deck's output to iMic through a RCA-to-miniplug converter (you might need a long RCA cable based on how far you are from the cassette deck or turn table)
3) Connect iMic output to USB port (I am using a Mac)
4) Set the iMic toggle switch to Mic
5) Launch Final Vinyl and set preferences to get audio input from USB port; record in WAVE format
6) Record, cut into tracks (using Cue feature), save into hard disk
7) Import into iTunes, convert to AAC or MP3; delete the WAVE files
8) Set the attributes for the imported tracks and synch with the iPod - I am all set to go!

iMic can also be used to connect audio output from the computer to an external speaker - I haven't explored that feature yet.

Overall: A very neat product and great value for money.