Music: Gadget of the year, Ion's MP3-ripping turntable with USB Output

Ion has created a solution for digitizing our record collection into MP3 with the Turntable USB.
The digital music revolution seems to have affected all age groups - with our mother being as likely to listen to her iPod while cooking as that annoying teenager is to be rocking his walkman-phone in the subway.

But now all that will become even more fun, since ION has created a solution to rip our old (and less old...) vinyl into MP3s or CDs (and than directly into our iPods…). Ion's turntable will do that and let also let us mix our own set! It comes straight from California and claims to be the first of its kind, although TEAC's GF-350 system also seem to allow to burn our old vinyl LPs and singles onto CD without the need for a PC. But Ion's turntable seems to be very user-friendly and is easy to use as an ordinary USB audio device, with no annoying drivers necessary. Non-techies can also use this turntable sans PC with the built-in RCA outputs, but the real draw here is the high-speed USB recording feature. Plus it offers mixing possibilities, supports 33 1/3 and 45 rpm, has anti-skating control, adjustable pitch control (+/- 8%) and that output for hooking it up to our home stereo. Its software is compatible with Windows 98, 2000, XP and Mac OS9 or greater.

Now the problem seems to be where to get it… In Belgium it seems that Exell will have it (for a bit more than 150 €), the question is when since it seems to be sold out… or you can try to get it from the net. It is also available at Amazon.com at around $140. I can't wait to get it...