Name: SONY PS-LX200USB
Category: Home audio/video
Price: ¥28,350
Release date in Japan: April 15, 2008

SONY will tempt platter-spinning old-school audiophiles with its own offering a few weeks after the ER-250 hits shelves, giving its device the SONY touch (and SONY price). The PS-LX200USB is a 3.1-kg LP/EP player that you can add to your component stereo system for vinyl record playback, or connect via USB to a PC for transfer to digital format.

The PS-LX200USB caters to the music fan wanting to move vinyl to digital without losing the warmth of the original format. While the unit includes a tool to reduce analog noise at the digital recording stage, SONY claims that its compression-less recording preserves the "soft sound quality" of vinyl. From there, you'll use the included Sound Forge Audio Studio LE music mastering software (Windows XP/Vista) to edit your recordings and then burn them to CD-R/RW or convert them to ATRAC or MP3 for playback on other devices (such as a Walkman, SONY helpfully suggests).

But SONY is pitching the player not just as a way to turn your recordings digital but as a way to keep enjoying the records themselves. Some key words for the LP-philes out there: phonoequalizer amplifier, fully automatic play, die-cast aluminum alloy turntable, diamond needle MM cartridge, dynamic balance straight-type tone arm, and more.

More info: http://www.sony.jp/CorporateCruise/Press/200803/08-0312/ (Japanese)