Crosley CR2413A Memory Master II CD Recorder Turntable

I’m familiar with other Crosley products and was very tempted to get a Crosley Memory Master II for review here–after all, not everybody has a pro setup or is interested in ultra-high quality MP3 versions of their favorite vinyl LPs; most people just want to rip, listen, and enjoy.

But the customer reviews for previous versions of the Crosley Memory Master were so discouraging that I hesitated to waste even the shipping fee to get one of these to Turntabling central. I’d be very interested in learning who out there in Turntabling-land has used one of these and what they think.

The specs look good--this model is equipped with a line out to run into your stereo system if you don’t want to rely on the internal speakers, and there’s a USB connection for ripping direct to Mac or PC. This model lets you use a recordable CD to rip the records in real time…but near as I can tell there is nothing that specifies how individual tracks are broken up once the recording process begins. Just try looking for a definitive customer review of the Crosley CR2413A and you’ll come up with more questions than answers.

The lack of info on that basic concern does give me pause–if I were in a store thinking about purchasing that, it’s one of those questions that would have to be answered conclusively before I sank any amount of cash into one of these.

Fortunately, Crosley’s official site has the owner’s manual for the CR2413A Memory Master II online, and I learned the one big thing that would keep me from getting one; you have to manually divide the disc into separate tracks AS YOU RECORD THE ALBUM.

Too bad, because otherwise, for home use this looks like a fun way to enjoy your vinyl collection, plus CDS (it plays standard and MP3 discs).

Back to the drawing board, Crosley–you’ll get it sorted one of these days! I do like the other items in the Crosley catalog–again, for non-professional casual enjoyment of vinyl albums the Crosley collection has great looking designs and sizes for even the most space-challenged bachelor pad.