Teac LP-R550USBB CD Recorder with Cassette and Turntable (Black) (LPR550USBB)

I wanted to wait until I tried out every single feature before leaving a review, which I finally did. This is my blind son's record player that we will be using to burn music of all kinds as MP3s to play on his Book Port Plus (a device made for the blind.)This is the best record player on the market. Teac is a company I trust. Our previous antique replica record player by them lasted 12 years before we donated it so that we could get a new system with MP3 and CD recording capabilities.I discovered burning a record, cassette, or radio station onto CD was super easy. And the sound on that final CD was amazing! Burning to the computer to make MP3s using Audacity software was actually easy after reading the instructions the free Audacity software provides. (Not provided by Teac, but easily found on the internet.) After downloading Audacity you will need to get their plug-in for MP3s. Then you are all set. The sound is good coming out of the speakers, but when we added speakers by Logitec with THX, wow! The record player is wonderful. All of our records play wonderfully on it, old and new. I like how easy replacing the needles will be, and already bought spares. Every aspect of this record player is top notch.The best part is their warranty. Unlike other manufacturers, Teac's warranty has service locations around the country and I found three near me. So IF anything were to go wrong while it is under warranty, I can drop it off for free instead of paying for shipping and wondering when I will ever get it back like other companies do now. Also, this is made in Japan, which I prefer over China. And the company is located in California. All bonuses in my book.I wish Teac made an old fashioned record player that does everything this one does that is pretty, but they only have a black one, that is not pretty, so we settled for this one for all that it can do. It is pretty in its own right, I just would have preferred the antique look like we had with our old record player.I highly recommend this record player. If you are not computer savvy for burning to MP3s, you at least can burn onto CDs very easily. Make sure the CDs you buy are specifically Music CDs so they will play on all your devices and also that they are not rewritable, as that type of CD will not play on all devices. I hope I covered everything and I hope my review helps.

Hi gang Here is my review of this gizmo. First off, old dude here and a techno-dork.UPS got it to me safe and sound.. You have to assemble the hinges to affix the dust cover. You can do this.. Use the instructions, they are your friend. Speakers better than expected even at high volume. AM-FM very good. Use the attachable respective antennas. Am Dx at night very good. Body very solid. Turntable and arm make a lot a clunky sounds, but it works. Burning a record on to a CD works. Make sure you CD-R blanks, not CD-RW. Follow the instructions. Response time on controls is slow, but it works. Clean you records!!..Test to adjust the record level meter.. Even if you are low or a bit over it will come out fine, just don't blow it up too high. You can do this. On an album you will only have 2 tracks, side 1 and side 2. so what...45's will each give a single track number......Casette player has no cover, so keep the dust cover down. Play with all this and you'll get the hang of it.. NOW. the biggie.. Burned CDS sound good enough on playback.. But if you play the burned CD on a better system you will be blown away. I played CDS on a Sony DVD player hooked up to a pair of old JVC shelf speakers and I could blow out my neighbors!!!! If your records are scratched up and in bad shape. THAT IS WHAT YOU'RE GONNA HEAR, Not the fault of TEAC..If your old records are in reasonable good shape, clean them up and it will work just fine. Bottom line.....Great product.. having fun...Bob Dylan, The Beatles, Stones, Zepp, Doors, et al....are all back

I purchased this unit so I could convert old LPs and tapes to CDs or MP3s. The Teac LP-R550USB looks pretty good and the turntable is adequate. The sound, however is very flat and one-dimensional. I tested it playing an old LP and then a brand new one. In each case, the sound from the built-in speakers is unimpressive (more on that in a moment). CDs sound a bit better, but not so much that I'd give the unit a 5-star rating.There are no "tone" controls on the unit, only volume. The tape player has to be manually stopped at the end of a side. The turntable has to be operated manually to start playing a record (the turntable rotates when the tone arm is moved into position; you must then lower the tone arm to the record manually using the cue arm). None of these aspects should be a deal-breaker, though. The Teac LP-R550USB seems to me to be well-made overall and fairly easy to operate once you've taken the time to read the manual carefully.I've been using the Teac LP-R550USB for a week now and have successfully recorded several cassette tapes and LPs to CD (I'm using CD-Rs exclusively). The newly created CDs, in turn, have played correctly on my other devices . Further, I've been able to add these newly recorded CDs to my iTunes without any real issues arising. I have tried connecting the unit directly to my computer via the USB cable provided. Perhaps others who have already done so have spoken to how well the USB cable method works.While external speakers (such as those you'd use with a component system - CD player, tuner, tape deck, etc.) cannot be connected to the LP-R550USB), I've found that a pair of desktop computer speakers, such as the Bose Companion IIs can be connected to the Teac LP-R550USB via the headphone jack located in the lower left corner of the controls on the front. The sound from the Bose speakers is definitely an improvement over the sound coming from the built-in speakers.