Convert physical music libraries with Creative's Sound Blaster Easy Record

Kelvin Low | Oct 07, 2009

(Credit: Creative)

Update: Creative has confirmed that the Asia-specific Easy Record will be available in other Asian regions (including Australia) in mid-October. It is already available in Japan.

Vinyl records and cassette tapes sound alien in a world that's almost overrun by digital music formats such as MP3 and AAC. For those who have been around to witness the shift from vinyl to cassettes and eventually the CD, chances are that you'll have a collection of cassettes and vinyl records left untouched in your physical music library.

Creative touts the Sound Blaster Easy Record as a simple way to convert vinyl records and cassettes into the MP3 format. All you need to do is to connect one side of the device to a working vinyl or cassette player (via the stereo RCA inputs or the 3.5mm line-in connector) and the other side to the PC's USB port. There's even a headphone jack for audio monitoring during recording. The Easy Record will only work with Windows 7, Vista or XP.

On the surface, this appears to be a very similar to a USB soundcard with a host of input connectors. However, it is bundled with a Smart Recorder software which automates the process of analog to digital conversion. The software incorporates Creative's proprietary Audio Clean-Up and Track Segmentation features.

(Credit: Creative)

Audio Clean-Up removes hisses, clicks and pops present in analog recordings in the audio restoration process. As recordings are done once only for each side of the vinyl record or cassette, Track Segmentation will detect the silence in between the recording and split the recorded audio into individual tracks. The software also allows you to control the segmentation should it split the track wrongly, especially with music tracks that have silent pauses in them.

As expected, the Sound Blaster Easy Record also functions as a normal USB soundcard but with Creative-specific audio enhancements such as EAX listening environment and CMSS surround sound processing.

The S$49 (US$34.59) Creative Sound Blaster Easy Record will be available on Creative's online store from mid-October. We are still awaiting information about its availability in other Asian countries.

Kelvin Low is CNET Asia's freelance writer for Music & Play. When he's not fiddling with gadgets or setting up new PC rigs, he can be found hitting the dirt tracks on his mountain bike. Kelvin is currently studying mass communications at Temasek Polytechnic in Singapore. Email Kelvin.

Filed under: Music & Play
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sgtpp

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sgtpp says...
First of all, where does one find a working cassette or cassette recorder???Unlike vinyls, cassette tapes can't be cleaned to get rid of any fungus growth. And enthusiasts groups for cassettes are virtually unheard of.

So, this leaves the target market for this product for the vinyl enthusiasts, I guess, which are also dwindling in numbers.

Every piece of work of any recording artistes worth listening to can be found on CDs or iTunes. Many are also taking a cue from the Beatles and jumping on the 'remasters' bandwagon; e.g. artistes like Duran Duran & Madonna to name two.

This product is a dud no matter how you look at it, and it reinstates Creative's status as a shadow of what they used to be.

Oct 08, 2009 09:02

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Jen

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Jen says...
It would be more useful to allow recording of MP3, WAV, WMA and other audio files INTO cassette instead of from cassette. The value addition for a product to record from cassette to computer is VERY LOW, considering the fact that most music is now being released on to CDs and old music is being re-mastered. These CD content land up on the Internet.

Having a device and SW combination that allows a play list to be recorded INTO a cassette tape, and showing warnings if the tape is too short has a lot of value. Presently, tape recording function is relied upon by a tape recorded and the process is very manual.

This new function really would be a "Software Tape Recorder".

Oct 14, 2009 14:44

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