Like many others before me, I bought this unit to digitize some old audio cassettes. (In my case, old radio shows from 1930-1950.) I initially tried this with a cassette player and the analog audio input on my Mac but the results were disappointing; there was a tremendous amount of humming in the finished audio. My friends at Tekserve recommended this device instead.
Installation is just a matter of plugging it into the USB port; the Mac required no drivers and saw the device as another audio device. QuickTime Player, GarageBand, iMovie, the Sound preference panel and Griffin's own "Final Vinyl" application immediately recognized the device.
I connected my tape player to the iMic, launched Griffin's "Final Vinyl" application, and got to work. The results were stunning, like night and day when compared to the analog recording I'd previously made. There was absolutely no hum to be heard. I experimented with other audio cassettes and detected no hum, static, or other problem that could be attributed to the iMic device.
The device has two standard mini stereo ports (audio in and out), and a switch on the side to change between line input and microphone input (this is important -- if the switch is in the wrong place you will be disappointed with the results). It also includes a mini-to-RCA adapter cable which I thought was a nice addition. The USB cable is rather short (about one foot long) and is hardwired to the unit so don't break it.
As was previously pointed out, the "Final Vinyl" software needs work and is inarguably the weakest part of this package. (Truthfully, if Griffin DIDN'T bundle "Final Vinyl" with the iMic I would have given this a five-star rating.) It is a COMPLETELY bare-bones application. I get the strong impression that "Final Vinyl" started life as a quick hack that a programmer wrote up in a couple of hours so that they could test the iMic device, but someone in Griffin's Marketing department saw it and decided to make it part of the package. It is not very intuitive (highlighting a segment of audio and hitting the DELETE key does nothing, forcing you to go into a menu to select DELETE which also has no keyboard shortcut), offers almost nothing in terms of audio editing capabilities, is surprisingly slow, and it crashes quite a bit. (Although I think Griffin knows this; when you relaunch the app after it crashed, it remembers the audio you had previously recorded and offers you the option of using that data or starting from scratch.) Fortunately the app doesn't crash (*knock on wood*) when importing audio; the crashing seems to happen when you're trying to open or save a file AND do something else with another application at the same time.
The only other thing about this unit that bugs me is its awkward design. It's about the size of a silver dollar and perhaps 3/8" thick. The short cable means you can't keep it plugged into the back of your machine and be able to easily access it, particularly if your machine is on the floor (like mine is). The rounded shape of the unit means you can't set it on edge and tuck it into an otherwise unused bit of space, and you can't easily attach it to your computer (i.e., with a zip-tie). I have mine plugged into the front USB port on my computer with the cable looped over the handle but it's an awkward placement at best, and I have to move the cable over whenever I want to open the CD drawer. It's not REALLY horrible since I'll likely rarely use the iMic once these tapes have been digitized, but I think Griffin could have done a little more to make this unit a little more elegant. Griffin Technology iMic USB Audio Device
I have a large collection of yodeling songs (yes...yodeling) on LP's and wanted a way to record them onto my computer and transfer them to disk and to my iPod. I searched around the internet but most applications require you to connect your turntable to your stereo (or other amplifier) and then to your computer. Since my stereo and my computer are in separate parts of my house, I didn't really want to relocate either of them. Other solutions were far too advanced (read expensive) for my purposes. I stumbled on the iMic and it sounded like just the thing.
According to the Griffin website "iMic allows you to connect virtually any microphone or sound input device to your iBook, PowerBook, PowerMac or other Mac or PC systems with a USB port. iMic supports both mic and line level inputs via a selectable switch, as well as a variable level output for connecting speakers or headphones" All you do is connect your turntable directly to your computer. It works perfectly! Combined with the free recording software Final Vinyl it make recording your LP's a breeze.
RC adapter cables are included. iMic is compatible with both Mac and PC but Finyl Vinyl works only on Mac's. You can use other recording software for PC's.
(Note: iMic and Final Vinyl work great for those who simply want to record to their computer. You can do some fine tuning, but you will want a higher level of technology if you also want to "clean" the sound of your old recordings.)
It should go without saying that the iMic is not a professional recording device. It might also go without saying that it is just fine for the purposes for which it is intended: recording from vinyl or other similar mic or line level to your computer. I bought mine because my MacMini doesn't have an audio in (what was Apple thinking?!). Generally speaking, it does its job of getting sound into the computer, and is fairly transparent while doing so, acting much like a piece of built-in equipment would.
What should not go without saying, though, is that there is no ASIO driver for the iMic. So, it is incompatible with any recording software that requires an ASIO driver, particularly Steinberg's Cubase. As far as I have been able to find out, neither Steinberg nor Griffin have any plans to do anything about this. Note that Griffin does produce an ASIO driver which only works under Mac OS9, and there is a third party driver which will make it work, but it costs more than the iMic itself.
For the price, you can't beat the iMic. In fact, it's the lowest priced external audio interface I was able to find. And there are precious few bits of gear that fill the void between its price point and the $100 mark. Just be aware of its limitations before buying. I ended up spending another $180 on a more apropriate piece of equipment, and now my iMic is lying on my office floor. - Microphone - Griffin Technology - Usb Audio - Adapter'
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