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General discussion

10/20/06 Converting old vinyl records and tapes to digital

Oct 19, 2006 7:17AM PDT
Question:

Hello, I have a project that's been brewing for a long time and am wondering if someone out there might have a similar one. I have tons of old vinyl records and tapes that I would like to convert into digital music--DVDs, CDs, and so on. I'd like to know if someone can give me pointers as to how to do it with the least cost. Please include choice of hardware, software, and other alternatives or options. My PC consists of a Intel P4 2.4GHZ, 1GB of RAM, and 80GB of disk space. I recently purchased an external DVD/CD burner to complement my system; my OS is Windows XP Pro. If anyone can give me helpful and constructive suggestions, it would be most appreciated. Thank you very much.

Submitted by: Ferdi W.

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Answer:


Ferdi, converting vinyl records or tape to digital music is straightforward and doesn?t require anything particularly exotic in terms of hardware (details below), but it is time-consuming; you can easily find yourself spending 20 minutes per song doing a high-quality conversion from vinyl. Because of this, I usually recommend that if the music that you want is already available in digital format, that you just acquire it already converted rather than do a new conversion. In the long run, you will save a lot of time and possibly get much better quality as well. That said, many of us have songs on vinyl or tape that are not available in digital format, even if paying for them is not an issue, so at times, manual conversion is the only way to get an old audio track into a digital format.

Let?s cover the hardware first. On the computer side, you need one with a sound system and line-in jacks. That excludes most laptops (most don?t have such jacks) unless you use an add-on PC Card or USB sound card, but almost every desktop computer meets these requirements. However, if quality is important, you might want to use a computer with a high-quality sound card rather than the integrated motherboard audio systems that many PCs have these days. Don?t get me wrong, audio on the motherboard will work and can do the job, but it often doesn?t have the frequency response and freedom from electrical noise found in a more premium audio system.

The other thing that you need is a stereo system that can play the source material (Vinyl, cassette, open reel tape, 8-track, whatever) and that has ?line out? jacks. Virtually any stereo system will meet this requirement. But do note that you can?t just connect a bare turntable directly to a computer. While the level of a turntable cartridge output might be compatible with a computer?s ?Microphone? jack (if the computer supports dynamic microphones), when recordings are made on vinyl the frequency response is intentionally ?screwed up? (called ?pre-emphasis?) to counteract physical limitations of the vinyl recording process, and then the playback audio preamplifier is expected to compensate for this by feeding the sound through a ?de-emphasis? network. All tuners, receivers and amplifiers with a ?phono? input handle this internally, but there is no input on a computer that directly supports it. So you need to connect the turntable to a stereo system or at least a preamplifier with a ?phono? input and line level outputs for proper sound reproduction.

Connect the Line-out of the audio playback system to the Line-in jacks of your computer?s sound system with common stereo cables (normally having a pair of red and white RCA phono plugs) and your hardware configuration is done.

[If you want convenience and don?t mind spending some money, another solution to vinyl conversion is a ?USB Turntable? made just for vinyl to digital conversions. There is one made by Ion that is sold by Amazon (as well as other electronics outlets), and you can see information about at: http://www.amazon.com/Ion-iTTUSB-Turntable-USB-Record/dp/B000BUEMOO. This one is about $130; there may be other such products on the market as well.]

With the turntable connected to the computer, the next step is to convert the analog audio to a digital file. Basically, you play the record and record the line-in signal on the computer. It?s possible to do direct conversion to MP3 or WMA, but a more conventional approach is to do the initial capture as a ?wave? (.WAV) file, because this is more easily captured and edited. You need some software that will record the ?Line In? input of the sound card to the desired file format (whatever it is). For wave files, such software comes with virtually all computers and sound cards, and can also be bought separately if necessary. If you need a program that can do this (and a lot more), a free one that is very good is ?Audiograbber?. It is available at http://www.audiograbber.com-us.net/. This program can also perform some of the other steps about to be described. Alternatively, the full retail versions of both of the major CD recording software packages (Nero and Roxio) have software that can perform all of the steps required and described in this paragraph and below (the OEM versions of Nero and Roxio that come with computers and optical drives are stripped down and do not necessarily include these components in all cases).

When you do your first recording, you need to do some experimenting to set the ?level? (record volume) on the recording correctly so that the captured wave file is ?as loud as possible without being too loud? [technically, we want to use the full dynamic range of the sound card without clipping]. Hopefully your sound recording software has some kind of level indicator to show you what the level is and when the music is clipping. You want to turn the level up as far as you can without getting any clipping anywhere in the song (given a choice, a bit low is probably better than any setting which clips (and thereby distorts) the highest-volume passages of the material). Unfortunately, the ideal setting will vary from song to song and record to record, so some experimentation may be necessary, which may require playing or even recording the song several times. This is one of the ways in which the process can become time-consuming.

After the song is captured digitally, you may want to do some editing and cleanup. I usually trim the beginning and end and if necessary adjust the ?fade in? and ?fade out?. I also usually ?normalize? the song to get maximum dynamic range. I prefer to do this with an audio editor that has an oscilloscope-like display of the audio waveform, but exactly what you do and how you do it will depend on your skill level and on the software that you are using.

Another thing that you can do at this point (to varying degrees depending on the capabilities of the available software) is to ?fix? the recording to remove noise, clicks, pops, wow, flutter, hum, tape hiss and ?rumble?. The details of this vary with the available software, and significant cleanup may require using purchased (and potentially expensive) cleanup software. If you get too aggressive with this, also, you can ruin the material, but in some cases you can achieve dramatic results turning an old, scratchy vinyl record into something which sounds a lot more like it was originally recorded on CD. Again, this depends on your skill level, and on how much time and money (for software) you want to put into this aspect of the conversion. But even if you do no cleanup at all, you will still have a digital version that will sound no worse than the original source material.

Finally, once you have the wave file the way that you want it, you can use any number of software programs (including Audiograbber, Nero, Roxio, MusicMatch, Windows Media Player and probably software that came with your sound card) to convert the wave file to an MP3 or WMA file. Note that if you use Audiograbber to do the MP3 encoding, it requires separate installation of an MP3 codec. If you don?t have one (the full retail versions of the Nero and Roxio packages usually install one), the ?Lame? MP3 codec is well regarded and is available without cost at http://lame.sourceforge.net/.

It?s possible to capture and encode directly to MP3 or WMA in a single operation with some software products, but personally I find that I?m not happy with the results unless I can trim the start and end and normalize the file prior to encoding. Also, I recommend that you ?tag? each song so that the song information (title, artist, etc.) is actually ?in? the MP3 or WMA file and will be displayed when the song is played (on most MP3 players). For tagging, I find Winamp and MusicMatch Jukebox to be the best available tools (both are available online for free download, although both have paid (but still low-cost) ?premium? versions that can do a lot more. See http://www.winamp.com and http://www.musicmatch.com for additional information on these programs.

This should get you well on your way towards completing your conversion project.

Submitted by: Barry W. of North Canton, Ohio

Discussion is locked

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Do CD's Last?
Oct 19, 2006 11:05PM PDT

I have read - unfortunately, I don't have a record of where - that cd's created on the sort of drive available on home computers do not last indefinitely. Supposedly, such drives work differently than the devices that are used commerically to make cds. Instead, the data stored on home-created cds degrades and becomes unreadable after a relatively small number of years - something like 5. Can anybody comment on this?

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degradation?
Oct 19, 2006 11:17PM PDT

This has been a topic for discussion since home recording in any media came about. I was told by "experts" years ago that VHS tapes recorded at home would be lucky to last 10 years. In my vast collection of unlabled tapes that I'm now converting to DVD, the oldest I've come across so far was from 1982.

I know I have cd's I've recorded in my collection that are older than 5 years. I believe that how you treat the media you have has a lot to do with how long it lasts. Some of those old tapes look like they were just pulled from the package.

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It depends on the medium and the care and storage
Oct 19, 2006 11:31PM PDT

Not all digital media is created equal. The name brands are usually better made.

And yes - commercial CDs are created through a different process than home-burned CDs and DVDs.

Storage is CRITICALLY IMPORTANT. Keep CDs in a cool, dry place and out of the sun. High heat and humidity are very destructive as is exposure to UV light.

There are many links on the net - Here's one:
http://www.clir.org/PUBS/reports/pub121/sec4.html

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Yes, CDs do last
Oct 20, 2006 9:02AM PDT
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Records and Tapes to CD
Oct 19, 2006 11:10PM PDT

Another approach is to by a CD-R Music box. These devices connect to your stereo and take the inputs and burn directly to CD0R Music CD. RCA and a number of others make these devices. EBay is a good source to get on as most are very expensive new. I got my RCA for $120. It can put breaks in between songs manually or automaticlly (though auto takes very clean, quite tracks).
I started doing my record collect and have been working for over a year, on and off, to complete the project. One thing with this method will either be a plus or negative, no cleanup is possible, you get all the records pops and hisses. If you want clean digital sound then the computer is the best approach (more expence as you'll need editing software).

Mike McAllister
m.mcallister@rocketmail.com

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Vinyl to MP3
Oct 19, 2006 11:25PM PDT

I started about 3 months ago and have done about 200 albums with about 200 to go. I have been using something from DAK (search DAK record to vinyl) the hardware and software cost $75 (including shipping). I am VERY pleased with the results. Their phone support is great. This process is time consuming. It takes (20 x 2)minutes to play both sides, another (20 x 2) minutes to process out the noise and skips (a step that can be skipped on like-new albums), but I always do it. Then another 10 minutes to edit the track tags, and I always like to get a picture of the album off the internet to display in the directory folder. Good Luck. The hardest part of this job was getting started.

http://www.dak.com/reviews/2020story.cfm

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What about Mac Format OS X
Oct 19, 2006 11:32PM PDT

Do you have an explanation for using mac's to convert vinyl?

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Macs
Oct 19, 2006 11:49PM PDT

Nothing about the external workings would be different. You have a different choice of software for the Mac. I use Peak LE to record, and Jam to sequence. Both are available for OS X.

If you don't have RCA in jacks, you can get a USB device that will take the RCA plugs from your analog source and connect to your computer through the USB ports.

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Vinyl to CD - Mac OSX
Oct 21, 2006 10:21PM PDT

I use an Edirol USB Audio Interface to connect my turntable to my Quicksilver via USB (USB 1.1 works just fine).

Toast comes with something called CD Spin Doctor which I find very easy to use. It's intended precisely for this task - converting vinyl to CD. Many choices to export the audio file.

My old Sony turntable didn't have a ground wire ... and I was delighted to find that there was no hum on the line anyway, so I didn't have to bother with that.

Works like a breeze!

(Now I have to figure out how to convert my PAL VHS tapes and capture video on a DVD! Wink )

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Vinyl/tape conversion to digital
Oct 19, 2006 11:32PM PDT

From the very long, very complete reply...
or, you could get a Mac w/ Garage Band. Game over. Only downside to any of this is that the recording to the computer happens in real time.

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Converting old Vinyls to CD /DVD
Oct 19, 2006 11:48PM PDT

Hello,

I have been doing so for some years now. I purchased an old good quality turntable for 25$ at a second hand store and used the program Goldwave (www.goldwave.com) to edit and organize my programs - fantastic, tou can really clean those tracks, filter, addd features, convert to MP3...
Be sure that the turntable is well grounded to the computer to eliminate 60Hz pickup.
Enjoy,

Michel

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Audacity
Oct 20, 2006 12:00AM PDT

The response from Barry is very complete.

I would only add what I use for similar cases:
Download free SW Audacity from the SourceForge.

Connect your standard turntable to the line input of your PC soundcard and make a digital file with audacity (one file per song is fine but too much labour). Try making just one "long" file, it you can accept that (have to check if Audacity allows those long files, I have not tried this).

Note that Audacity will allow you to get rid of clicks and other vinyl artifacts, but this takes lots of time if the original vinyl is not in very good condition or if you have a high level of exigence...

Then export the Audacity file to mp3 format and finally, if you want a CD with CD audio format, convert the mp3 format to CD format using Nero or (older, not newer) versions or RealPlayer. Its simple and the results should be acceptable, but it depends on the quality of your sound cards, as it performs the analog to digital conversion.

Good luck.

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Audacity records forfreakinever~
Oct 20, 2006 12:42AM PDT

I once used Audacity for some field research with a friend, a directional mic and my laptop.

She was in a herpatology class and we were monitoring for amphibians. Audacity worked great... my laptop wasn't taxed by the task and it made a perfect recording for several hours.

Audacity doesn't seem to have any problems with long recordings. If the file gets bigger than the maximum filesize for your file system it might become an issue. Other than that, none that I can see.

Cheers

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Pro quality tools
Oct 20, 2006 1:00AM PDT

Hi folks,

There's been a lot of good advice on this subject here. As have been discussed, there are lots of issues to consider for vinyl or other analog media transfer including turntable issues, soundcard issues, noise reduction, enhancement, etc.

Here's a white paper on the issue of transferring vinyl. I use the DC Six software myself and think it is very good if you are serious about this stuff.

http://www.tracertek.com/newway.htm

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Burn the MP3's to disc
Oct 20, 2006 1:46AM PDT

It's not necessary to convert MP3's to CD format. Just burn the MP3's to disc using MusicMatch or WMP or Nero, etc. I like MusicMatch because I feel that it's more user friendly when working with music files.

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Great phono Preamp
Oct 20, 2006 12:19AM PDT

No one here appears yet to have mentioned one of the simplest ways for getting phono output to the computer, and that is the DAK Preamp/Mixer.
http://www.dak.com/reviews/2020story.cfm
(You'll have to overlook the 'busy' page, but yes, this is the same DAK many of us gadget types remember from back in the 70s.)
For $75 you get all the cables you need and a wonderful preamp/mixer. The sound quality is really excellent, and I have used it for both phono and tape input. It also comes with very useable software to edit the WAV files, do the tagging, edit out LP noise, and convert to MP3.

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USB Turntable, the way to go!
Oct 20, 2006 12:22AM PDT

While Barry's article is correct and very well stated, there is a little more you may benefit from knowing.

I have the USB Turnatble built by ION and marketed by Numark (a very respected brand of DJ turntables). You actually gain much more speed using this type of system. It is not 20 minutes a song, rather about 30 minutes per side of an LP record from start to finish!

The USB-TT is selectable from 33 1/3 to 45 speed wise and also has a +/- 10% slider. The package comes with Audacity, which is a very basic and simple to use utility. With a free plug in, you can capture in WAV, and export to MP3.. but more on that later.

The main feature of Audacity is the ability to time shift the file with zero quality loss. In other words, you can record a 33 LP album at 45 rpm speed plus the added 10% from the slider. That comes to a 35.9% speed gain over direct play at 33 rpm. That may not sound like a lot, but it is when you have 100+ albums or more to do. This will also allow you to record 78s and adjust those back to original track speed as well. I don't have any, so I haven't tried 78s, but I wouldn't expect any issues.

The other major help Audacity provides is the labeling of tracks inside the tool. You take 1 whole side of an album, mark the points where songs start with a label name and hit Multiple Export. It takes the WAV file, breaks it at each label into an individual file and uses the lable name to name the file. It also allows you to add meta data at the time of export. The free plug in allows export to MP3 format. Recording is done at 44.1kHz and output is 128Kbs, with very acceptable results (understanding this is coming from a record -> not exactly the best medium to start with).

Audacity also has a noise filter that allow you to take a snippet of record hiss (like before the track starts) and then apply the filter to the entire track. This causes a minimal loss of original signal, but removes a surprising amount of hiss. The finished track sounds better than the original played on the record player, by FAR.

One thing effects your sound quality more than anything else -> The condition of the record. Old records your kids have used as Frisbees will sound bad with many pops and noise. Mint condition records have very little negative noise (and Audacity will remove that).

This will not net you CD quality sound (nothing short of re-mastering the originals in a studio will do that!), but it will allow you to take out of print 33 1/3, 45, and 78 records and convert them to digital files (and store those bulky records!). The tracks also do have that homely and familiar tone about them that completely digital recordings sometimes lack. Point is -> they will still Feel like your old records and give you that warm fuzzy when you listen to them.

James, Dallas TX

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But what about the cons?...
Oct 20, 2006 1:35AM PDT

Oh, I forgot to add... The USB-TT and Audacity is a light load on the PC, more or less. I use a 1.8ghz Athlon, 1gb ram, Game Theater XP sound card w/ 2 dvd/rw drives & 2 250gb hard drives running Windows XP Media Center Edition.

The file space of the raw file is huge (I never save them), but MP3s are not too bad. 200 LP albums will roughly fit on about 80gb worth of space. It's about 3mb to 4mb a song, give or take.

As far as doing long tracks and breaking them up, the most I have continuously recorded is 2 LP albums (both sides). Here is the drawback-> Audacity must "re-render" the track after the speed conversion, and re-render it again after the noise removal. It then does it a third time upon export to convert to MP3 using the Lame codec and break the track into individual songs. Each render takes about 2 minutes for 1 LP's worth of track time. This is entirely PROCESSSOR dependant. Faster machines will do this much quicker. I find that 1 LP (both sides) is just about the right balance between convenience and render time. But my entire process is still only 30 min per LP album if you don't waste any time.

Also with the USB turnable, only USB to the computer is required. There are no audio connections or cables needed, however they are available on the unit, so you can use it as a regular turntable for you home entertainment system. An A/C cord for the the turntable is present, but the audio cable headaches are gone, and there is no need for expensive Monster Cables, etc. (Which BTW I am a BIG fan of in most cases).

One potential drawbacks - This is a DJ style turntable, it doesn't have any auto-arm movement or auto-stop when it reaches the end of the LP side. Personally I don't mind this, but it does mean that you shouldn't leave the turntable unattended or if you forget, it will just keep going, and going, and going....

Also, it doesn't have a cover or dust shield, which is common for DJ style turntables. Most are kept in ATA style professional music cases. As for mine, I'll spend $5 at Wal-Mart for some black vinal material and elastic and have the wife sew a cover for it.

J

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Audacity
Oct 20, 2006 12:26AM PDT

Audacity is a much better tool for cropping and fixing your vynil to digital recordings.

The noise removal tool, if used properly, can significantly reduce noise without totally destroying the original sound wave.

How you do this is by selecing a section of silence in the sound track where there is some noise you want to remove. Then you open Audacity's built in filter for noise removal, and get a noise sample.

After getting the noise sample, select the whole sound file and open the noise removal filter again. This time set the slider on the noise removal all the way to the left and listen to a preview. If there is still too much noise step it up one setting at a time and listen. You don't want to remove too much from the sound wave.

Hopefully if it wasn't really that noisy in the first place, you won't be able to tell much of a difference between the original sound wave and the new one other than the missing noise.

To save a WAV, MP3 or other playable format you'll need to "Export"... Audacity saves in a proprietary format.

Cheers

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vinyl to digital - 78s
Oct 20, 2006 12:31AM PDT

My turntable only does 45rpm and 33 1/3rpm. The free program Audacity has a speed conversion feature. This allows you to record old 78s at 45rpm and then speed it up to sound right. I had purchased a Magix brand program to do this but it did not have the range necessary (73.333%), but it did other audio processing capabilities.
Audacity is available for WIndows, Macs, and Linux computers.

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Sound cards are the essential part.
Oct 20, 2006 12:35AM PDT

You can use just about any machine, as long as it has a sound card and a piece of recording software. Be sure to use the GOLD type of cables to connect everything, you don't want to induce any static or hum. A good source, be it cassette, reel to reel, eight track, vinyl or CD needs to be fed into a good amplifier, and the line output of that goes into the line input of the sound card. Decide on a name for the directory to store the files, and make a few samples to be sure that path is okay and you can find them later when you want to listen or record to CD's. The PCM format is essential, and files should be saved in the .WAV format. Depending on the sound card, the music should be at least 16 but, with at least 44 Khz response for stereo. Check the inside of the computer to be sure that the audio cables to and from the sound card and CD burner are routed away from and power cables and if HUM is present, they may need to be wrapped in foil and grounded to eliminate any noise induction. Sixteen bit recordings will take up about 10 Mb for every one minute of recording. A good turntable, cartridge and needle are essential for vinyl, and other playback devices should have clean playback heads. They quality is then dependent upon the condition of the media and how they were stored. Vinyl, cassette, eight and reel to reel are subject to warping, and tape media will begin to shed oxide over time, so be sure to keep the heads clean and the rubber wheels free of any buils up that may occur. Good luck.

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Good answer
Oct 20, 2006 12:38AM PDT

Barry W of North Canton Ohio has given some sage advice. You mentioned that you have an 80G hard drive. Careful, your intended project will fill that puppy right up. May I suggest the purchase of an external HD with at least a three digit Gig capacity. Mine is 300G and I use exclusively for audio projects, backing off material to DVDs on a regular basis.

I use an application named LP Recorder to capture vinyl and cassette material, converting it into WAV format.

Also, an application name EAC (Exact Audio Capture), used to rip CDs, will take wav files and convert them to MP3 format. EAC works well with the mentioned Lame MP3 codec. EAC has built in utilities to handle finding and fixing bad input and can vary the quality (compression)of the MP3 encoding.

Good luck.

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10/20/06 Converting old vinyl records and tapes to digital
Oct 20, 2006 12:40AM PDT

Converting LPs to vinyl is a fun trip down memory lane, but also a time-consuming process.

If you are not confortable with gathering up the hardware and software yourself, you can get a "kit" from DAK industries (DAK.com) I purchased one of their systems last winter and am very satisfied with the system and the tech support (Drew). I purchased the system with the Turntable, amplifier, Audio-Capture Software & hiss-pop removal software.

They also sell just the components you need (i.e. you already have a turntable). Note- I have no affiliation with the company & am just a happy customer.

The software includes the audio capture and track-segregation functions. They sell a separate SW if you need to do Hiss&Pop removal (This works very well!). The "Wave Editor Pro" software shows the recorded wave graphic and lets you cut out sections of the recording you don't want (e.g. 5 minutes of silence when you forgot to go turn off the turntable recording Wink)

Finally, you can save the file as WAV or MP3. You will need another SW (like Roxio, etc) to convert and save the WAV/MP3 files to the CD format.

I have really enjoyed converting and listening to all my old albums, especially the one I know will never be on CD (e.g. 1954 recording of Dixeland Jazz quartet)

Good luck with your converting
Sincerely,
AAS

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converting old vinyl to digital
Oct 20, 2006 12:52AM PDT

In your answer to the question of the week, I did whst you first suggested. I got a mailing from Columbia House or some other record club, where for .01 cent you get 25 free CD's, most of which are old stuff, and found Cd versions of most of my vinyl collection,(which was about 300 albums from the 60's and 70's)and that was that! The other way, while challenging, at best, seems to me to be a very long and difficult operation. But that's just me, I am lazy by nature. Very well written and comprhensive though, very helpful!!!

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Adding to a really good response
Oct 20, 2006 12:58AM PDT

Adding to a great set of instructions, I would add that after fighting with the Roxio sound editor, I found the "Insert track marker" under tools to be invaluable. It saves a lot of time as you can record the source without monitoring it and come back later looking at the occilliscopic display to break and name the tracks very quickly while you edit the leadin/out and do the conversions all at once. I also would suggest using a ceramic cartridge turntable directly into your sound card,unless you are a true audiophile.

I've had a lot of fun doing conversions of unavailable tape and vinyl.

Good Luck.

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Converting LP's to CD's
Oct 20, 2006 1:08AM PDT

Check out this website (http://www.polderbits.com/) for software that is available for converting LP's, singles, and cassetes to CD's. It appears that this software has a much simpler way of coverting than the way stated in the CNet article.
My 2 cents worth.

http://www.polderbits.com/

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converting vinyl records
Oct 20, 2006 1:29AM PDT

The process is simple. Play your LPs on a turn table. From the turn table out connection, run a compatible line that can be purchased at most electronic stores. Plug the cord jack into the line in connection at the back of the computer. I've found it extremely easy to use a program called "Audacity" which free from Open Source. Start the LP, punch "record" on Audacity. You can input the songs one by one and save them. Then, I use Windows media player which can read the Audacity Wave files to convert the music to a CD which can be played by any CD player. I have found, however, that the more expensive CDs sometimes won't play on an older CD player.
Follow these steps and the process will be easy unless you want to use expensive programs that let you do more.

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converting old vynil records to dics
Oct 20, 2006 1:29AM PDT

Hello Ferdi W;
A great article on one of my favourite hobbies;
Time is not a problem;...I am a senior and the hobby is a wonderful relaxer as well as a memory starter.
Herb Hall Canada

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audio editing programs
Oct 20, 2006 2:01AM PDT

I've been done conversions for a while.

Two programs I have found very useful are Goldwave www.goldwave.com and Wave Corrector www.wavecor.co.uk.

Neither of them are free, but you can download demo free demo versions of both of them.

Goldwave has a very nice user interface and an extensive set of capabilities. I have found it very useful when manually editing out pops/clicks.

Wave Corrector is only slightly better than Goldwave at doing automatic repairs of pops/clicks. But it does generate a time tagged list of all of the pops/clicks in a file - a feature Goldwave lacks.

I generally use Wave Corrector to find the precise spot of a pop/click and Goldwave to do the editing if I decide to correct it. NOTE: Many of the artifacts identified by Wave Corrector as pops/clicks are really just music, so simply using the automatically generated corrections may slightly degrade the music.

Both are about $50 US. If you were only going to get one, I'd get Goldwave. I find both very useful though.

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10/20/06 Converting old vinyl records and tapes to digital
Oct 20, 2006 2:02AM PDT

I tend to agree with the last poster. I'd go with the audio component route, which you must still have, if you are running a turntable. A couple or two Christmas seasons ago, I bought myself a stand alone, Sony Audio CD recorder, since I wanted to retire my 30+ year Akai GX-230D open reel machine, from any further recording. Parts and supplies are becoming way to difficult to get.

Anyway, this has sort of become an annual Winter project, to convert any real vinyl keepers to CD. OR when I purchase a new vinyl (Which I do through catalog sales), and it a a particular keeper, especially a multi LP set, I will put that on CD.

I use a three step process to insure the best recording possible: 1) I use my ZeroStat gun, that I bought years ago to zap all static, 2) Then I give it a damp cleaning with my Discwasher brush/Fluid (Which I still have), Then I run over it with my Audioquest brush. Finally ready to record. Now you will still get that occasional/inevitable pop or tick. Just ignore those. Because IMHO, the analog sound of those LPs is much better and will be conveyed onto that CD. You'll hear bass, the sound of that kick drum, etc. on your home made CDs, like you have never heard on a mass produced one.

Just remember this, your PC, no matter how good it is, is not an audio device. It was never designed as one. All the parts are too close, the power supply, etc. I occasionally feed the audio of my PC over to my home theatre speaker amp/receiver, and have to tolerate the slight hum, that I have tried everything to eliminate. I just have to conclude that the power supply/transformer is just to close to everything else in my PC, and since not designed as an audio component is probably not properly shielded.

Good luck and happy recording.