recording with the Transcend MP330

I'm using the Transcend MP 330 for recordings in PC, using it's line-in with a Tascam US-144 as a pre-amp. For powering the US-144 - it needs 500 mA through USB cable - I used the old Tangerine iBook.

The first session had the level set too high - all the way up on the US-144's line-out control. For the second session onwards, set the line-out to 50% - that seems to be the sweet spot. This particular US-144 seems to have something wrong with the right line-out (or maybe the right input) with a continuous hum/hiss. But not too bad - when the input is turned down to 50%, the S/N is good enough so that the hum/hiss is drowned in ambient noise.