Pioneer's PL-990 is an entry-level belt-drive turntable. It'll play records at either of two speeds: 33.3 RPM (revolutions per minute) or 45 RPM. The PL-990 is fully automatic; it sets down the tonearm at the beginning of a record and picks it up at the end. It also comes with a moving-magnet (MM) cartridge. The PL-990 has a dust cover, but its most helpful feature for some users will be the phono-EQ circuit. It lets you plug the turntable into any line-level input on your receiver or mini-system -- no special low-level phono input is needed, because it's already built into the turntable. -- NW