You may be one of those music lovers who still has a few rare gems on old vinyl LPs or audio cassettes that are just gathering dust. If so, Instant Music from ADS Tech is for you. It lets you easily transfer any analog audio to a computer, convert it to the digital format of your choice (WAV, MP3, and so on), and then listen to the results on a digital player. All you do is plug the source you want to record into the analog inputs on the device, then connect the unit to your computer via the USB port. Then you simply launch the acquisition software to make a digital copy you can burn to a CD or DVD.

Instant Music is a small white box. On its rear panel are the connectors, which include, from left to right: Analog RCA (cinch) input and output, digital optical (S/PDIF) input and output, and a self-powered USB 2.0 port (USB 1.1 compatible).

On the front are two LEDs - one that shows whether the unit is on or off, and the other whether a digital signal is detected when using the optical input.

On the Installation CD, aside from the drivers, there's also a collection of appropriate software, including Nero Audio Suite. Finally, the package also contains a long, 6 foot (1.8 m) USB cable, an RCA cable with ground, and an audio adapter cable. The user guide deserves particular mention - it's a model of conciseness, yet still very complete and clear.

The recommended minimum system configuration is as follows:

• PIII 500 MHz or above, or Apple G4,
• 256 MB of RAM
• Windows 98SE, Windows Me, Windows 2000, Windows XP, or Mac OS 10.X
• USB port