The Novac NV-CR001U digitizes music cassettes and LPs

It’s not the first device of its kind, but it’s pretty cheap and compact: Japan-based Novac announced [JP] the NV-CR001U today, a player for both LPs and cassettes that helps to digitize music stored on those media (almost) hassle-free.

All you need to do is to connect the device to your Windows XP/Vista/7 machine via USB 1.1 or 2.0, run a special piece of software and choose which cassette or LP you want to copy over to your PC. The music will be stored as MP3, WAV or WMA files with bit rates of 32/64/128/192 or 320kbps.

Sized at just 324 x 274 x 125mm, the NV-CR001U weighs 2.5kg. Novac is planning to sell the device in Japan starting Friday (price: $170). It’s Japan-only at this point, but you can ask import/export specialists like the Japan Trend Shop or Geek Stuff 4 U to ship one to your country.