This thing is just ridiculously fun. It works perfectly, the sound quality is excellent, and it’s probably the best turntable I’ve ever owned. I realize that for audiophiles, I might as well say I’m playing LPs with a Cheeto attached to a party hat; but from my standpoint, it’s a rock-solid, heavy turntable with a really well-balanced tonearm. Old, scratchy records sound remarkably clear, and all but the deepest gouges are ignored and left unskipped.

It ships with Audacity, but I imprinted on GoldWave so long ago that I never installed it. GoldWave’s pop-n-click filter is effectively magic, and my iRiver is now filling up with out-of-print or just-never-replaced-with-CDs goodies. Obscure 70s and 80s Cleveland bands (is your copy of American Noise’s eponymous album autographed? no? ha!); Queen’s “Jazz” and “Live Killers”; and, at my kids’ request, “Peter, Paul and Mommy” – the same copy my parents used to play for me.

Next up, Nick Lowe. Almost wish there was some Clash or Who left that I haven’t picked up in smaller, shinier form. I kinda miss the clicks, and Clampdown still sounds weird without that skip in the intro. And more of my parents’ stuff that I hated as a kid, but now… hey, Tom Jones Live in Las Vegas! Awesome! But then, I recently lent my dad “Sam Cooke Live at The Harlem Club”, so maybe I’m cooler than he remembers, too.

Speaking of which, witnessing the proceedings, Miranda got curious:

M: What's that? P: It's a record. M: Is it like a kind of CD? P: Yeah, sort of like that. M: But how do you get music out of that?

I love that there’s not a moment spent wondering how “High School Musical” comes out of an iPod Shuffle attached to a dancing toy dog. Of course that works.