# Converting vinyl records to mp3



## tonora (7 Nov 2006)

Sorry if this has previously been covered.
I have a large collection of vinyl long playing records[remember them?]-Normally played on a 20 year old pioneer hi fi system!
Any suggestions on how I can compress the collection into a few files on my PC and play on my i pod whenever nostalgia overtakes me?
Thanks in advance


----------



## DrMoriarty (7 Nov 2006)

Essentially the same procedure as described here, but if you've a good quality turntable you should be able to get slightly better results than from cassettes.


----------



## bankrupt (7 Nov 2006)

There are also several inexpensive software packages out there that will remove cracks, pops & rumble from the recordings and break tracks up automatically.   download.com has a few examples.


----------



## pnh (7 Nov 2006)

Tried this sometime ago but was dissappointed with results-there for various programs available for removing all that vinyl noise-but i didnt like the results-apart from which its very time comsuming.
I see various sites offering USB turntables now such as  http://www.gizmodo.com/gadgets/peripherals/usb-turntable-simplifies-vinyl-ripping-211634.php
Good luck if u have the patience.


----------



## Niallman (9 Nov 2006)

Yeah, like pnh says, it is very time consuming plus the file size generated while recording with the software I had was enormous so my pc slowed down to a crawl. Had to do it track by track and the results just weren't worth all the hassle. If you're feeling nostalgic, why not just sit down for a half an hour and listen to the vinyl the way it should be!


----------



## philboy (9 Nov 2006)

Hi,
An easier alternative to converting them yourself  If you have a computer & a broadband collection, you can use file sharing program called _<snip> _(it's free).
You can use this to download the songs that you have on your vinyl in mp3 format. They are 9/10 good quality & it will save you the trouble of converting the songs yourself. A user guide on how to use it is on its website (its very simple anyways). It contains millions of songs including very old & not very popular/mainstream songs. Remember to scan all the files you download for viruses just to be sure they are safe. If you don't have an anti-virus program, just use this free one http://free.grisoft.com/doc/1

_[Edited by DrMoriarty to remove link. Downloading copyright materials without payment is illegal in Ireland, and AAM does not condone it.]
_


----------



## inigomontoya (9 Nov 2006)

Not sure if you've got cash to flash, but this USB turntable might be an interesting option:

[broken link removed]


----------



## Flexible (9 Nov 2006)

Same thing http://www.iwantoneofthose.com/gadgets-gizmos/mp3-audio/usb-turntable/index.html


----------



## aldark (10 Nov 2006)

I agree with previous posters' opinions - it's difficult to do if you require quality output.  To do it right you're effectively re-mastering your record - not the easiest of jobs.  The steps involved in doing this are as follows :- 

1.  connect record player to digital/audio conversion device e.g. soundcard

note that you will have to ensure that the record player has had riaa equalisation - you may need to use a phono pre-amp if the deck doesn't already do this.

2. use audio/sampling software to record the analog signal presented to the sound card.  When you record the sound, you're actually converting the continuous analogue input into lots of little bits - this is called sampling.  Windows has a tool called soundrecord which will do this, but there are lots of better options - ones I've used are wave repair, goldwave and Cooledit.  Most sound editor software does this.  You will need to choose a sample rate for the analog input - 44.1Khz is cd quality, 48 is DAT quality etc, but watch your dac device - my cheapo usb soundblaster card sampled everything in 48Khz, so sampling for standard cd audio at 44.1 meant that the signal was resampled - loss of sound quality.

3. When you do the sampling you could choose to start and stop recording at the end of each song resulting in a number of song audio files (.wav) or you could have one large audio file for the whole album.  Some of the sound editors allow you to break up a larger audio file into bits based on the gaps between songs - e.g. waverepair.  Others allow you to produce a cue file which can be used by cd burning software to place gaps at points during the burn.

4.  Now you've got one or more audio files which may or may not need cleaning up.  If you listen to your digitised audio, you might be surprised by the sound quality - hiss, crackles and pop!  (tapes are much worse than records)  There could also be gaps in the audio, e.g. when you changed sides, cued the needle etc.   If you can't stand all the hiss etc. you will need to use sound processing software e.g. cooledit, goldwave to remove it - this is a complex process which will not be very well covered by their manuals - a lot of experimentation, a/b testing and browsing of the internet will be required to do this well.   Mind you, as any kind of sound processing involves changing or destroying parts of the original signal, its quite common for the sampled audio to be burned as is on cd.  It won't sound like a cd, but then it isn't really, is it?!  Think of cd re-issues of pre - 1960's classical recordings and you're closer to the mark.  I have done this for records and tapes that had sentimental value, but the quality of the audio is usually more palatable if processed.

5.  OK, now your audio is cleaned up, it should be burnt to cd.   Most pc's ship with their own cd burning software so just follow the usually simple instructions.  It is easiest to split a large .wav file of a whole album into smaller songs - very few cd burning tools support cue files.

For more info, a good resource to start with is :-http://www.delback.co.uk/lp-cdr.htm


----------



## nlgbbbblth (11 Nov 2006)

tonora said:


> I have a large collection of vinyl long playing records[remember them?]


 
Despite numerous articles in the media regarding vinyl's continuing success in holding a reasonable market share of *new *music sales, many people still hold the perception that the format has been dead since the early 1990s.

So far this year I have purchased 30 new albums (i.e. albums of new material released in 2006).

21 of these have been on vinyl while in the case of three others I chose to purchase the CD version.

So much for being a dead / obselete format!


----------



## pnh (11 Nov 2006)

Yes I guess there will always be a niche market for vinyl-and nostalgia plays a part-but as for transfering to MP3-I found that that when u spent ages tweaking the sound and trying to remove all those pops and clicks u end up with a very unattractive end product-Ebay is a good source for replacing old stuff now available on CD-and sometimes the CD has bonus stuff.


----------



## Derm (17 Nov 2006)

I have had vinyl transferred to cd here:
[broken link removed]
They did a good job. Personally I wouldn't invest in any new vinyl, I dont see any advantage. They say that if you have a really high end vinyl system that it will sound better than cd but how many of us can afford that?


----------



## liteweight (18 Nov 2006)

You could always do as Mr. LW does and create your own as a hobby.


----------



## jnh (20 Nov 2006)

> Personally I wouldn't invest in any new vinyl, I dont see any advantage. 11-11-2006 11:52 AM


 
I much prefer to buy vinyl over CD, although a lot of my listening is from my iPod, whether it be in the car or on the move. A few vinyl purchases in the past year have come with a mail-back card which entitles the buyer to a free download of the album. This to me is a great idea and will probably see a resurgance in vinyl purchases from the people who rip their cd to MP3 for use on their PC/MP3 players. Aesthetically, vinyl will always win over any other format.


----------



## Derm (29 Nov 2006)

Thats an attractive offer and a great idea but it still wouldn't convince me. I cant see why there would be a resurgance, i doubt that most "popular" titles are available. I agree you cant beat it for aesthetic value.


----------



## IrishGunner (4 Dec 2009)

Ok bringing up an old post and technology has changed 

Looking to get a turntable to link to PC to convert old vinyl records to MP3 on desktop anyone recommend sotware / program that can do this?

Would you need a large memory PC to do it ?


----------



## nlgbbbblth (4 Dec 2009)

Best software is Audacity.

It's free and easy to use.

http://audacity.sourceforge.net/

The wiki page is very good and has lots of info / tips.

http://wiki.audacityteam.org/index.php?title=Main_Page

It does take up a fair bit of disk space but once you have converted the tracks into mp3s or WAVs you can then delete the audacity file.

MP3s should be encoded at 320kpbs for maximum sound quality - or even better, use wav files.

Avoid USB turntables - they're crappy and lightweight.

Vinyl still has plenty of life as a format - both for new releases and second hand stuff.


----------



## PetPal (7 Dec 2009)

Slightly different question but does anyone know of a good piece of equipment to convert CDs to hard drive and then play them from the hard drive?  The Brennan JB7 does this but it's expensive and I'm told that the quality isn't great.  Any suggestions?


----------



## IrishGunner (7 Dec 2009)

Why avoid USB turntables? I was looking at [broken link removed] in komplett and seems reasonable but dont knowthe name ion. Checked Cnet and it does what it states on the tin


----------



## Pique318 (8 Dec 2009)

PetPal said:


> Slightly different question but does anyone know of a good piece of equipment to convert CDs to hard drive and then play them from the hard drive?  The Brennan JB7 does this but it's expensive and I'm told that the quality isn't great.  Any suggestions?


You're just talking about 'Ripping' the CD onto your PC so you can listen to your music on the PC without any further need for the CD ?

Any media player software will do this. Windows Media Player comes as standard and does it well.


----------



## PetPal (8 Dec 2009)

Pique318 said:


> You're just talking about 'Ripping' the CD onto your PC so you can listen to your music on the PC without any further need for the CD ?
> 
> Any media player software will do this. Windows Media Player comes as standard and does it well.


Thanks Pique, however that's not exactly what I was looking for.  I want to "rip" the CD onto a hard disk.  That hard disk would be part of a "machine" (a music player) through which I could then play the music (throw away the CDs).  The advantage this "machine" would have over and above the computer is that it would, apparently, catalogue the CDs for me, taking its information from the CD itself at the time of "ripping".  So I would end up with a small piece of equipment that plays music (that I have ripped onto it) and that displays on a small screen exactly what music is available to me.  I can just tell the "machine" that I want to play, say, "Imagine", and it will find that song on the relevant album that I have previously "ripped" onto it.  I want to be able to play by CDs without keeping the CDs physically in storage, AND have a very good index available to me of all the music that I have on the hard disk, so that it's very very easy for me (as a non technical person, in case you didn't realise!) to very quickly play the exact song that I want to play at any given time.  I hope that all makes sense.  I know that the Brennan JB7 does all of the above, but wondered if there another piece of equipment that does the same, because the Brennan isn't available in Ireland as far as I can tell.  Thank you.


----------



## Complainer (8 Dec 2009)

PetPal said:


> Thanks Pique, however that's not exactly what I was looking for.  I want to "rip" the CD onto a hard disk.  That hard disk would be part of a "machine" (a music player) through which I could then play the music (throw away the CDs).  The advantage this "machine" would have over and above the computer is that it would, apparently, catalogue the CDs for me, taking its information from the CD itself at the time of "ripping".  So I would end up with a small piece of equipment that plays music (that I have ripped onto it) and that displays on a small screen exactly what music is available to me.  I can just tell the "machine" that I want to play, say, "Imagine", and it will find that song on the relevant album that I have previously "ripped" onto it.  I want to be able to play by CDs without keeping the CDs physically in storage, AND have a very good index available to me of all the music that I have on the hard disk, so that it's very very easy for me (as a non technical person, in case you didn't realise!) to very quickly play the exact song that I want to play at any given time.


iTunes (and I suspect several other music organisers) does all this and more. You don't have to reinvent the wheel here.


----------



## Spock (16 Dec 2009)

True, Complainer, but running iTunes means you need a PC on somewhere to serve up the music. What PetPal is looking for is a Hard Disc music player, common enough in the Pro Audio business. A couple of standalone user versions (that don't require an additional PC) I have seen are [broken link removed]  and Sonos, but they can be expensive. A cheap and cheerful option is the id-al player.

@IrishGunner, nothing wrong with the Ion USB turntables; certainly a lot easier than hooking up a turntable/mixer combo to a pc...


----------



## AlbacoreA (17 Dec 2009)

PetPal said:


> Thanks Pique, however that's not exactly what I was looking for. I want to "rip" the CD onto a hard disk. That hard disk would be part of a "machine" (a music player) through which I could then play the music (throw away the CDs). ..


 

What happens when if you lose or break the Hard Disk player or it simply gets corrupt, and don't have a back up on the PC and you don't have the CD's.
 In my experience, they all (hardware or software) tag/cataglogue the music differently, often not that logically. 
Also you want to pick a format that is generic, so that if you buy a different player in the future it will play your music.

The best way to do this IMO, is to have a generic library on an external disk, if only as a backup. Then you are not limited by software or hardware, and can make easy backup and updates. Editing Albums even entire Genres is much easier on a PC.


----------



## nlgbbbblth (30 Dec 2009)

IrishGunner said:


> Why avoid USB turntables? I was looking at [broken link removed] in komplett and seems reasonable but dont knowthe name ion. Checked Cnet and it does what it states on the tin



Cheap, light, plastic cartridge and light arm which is almost identical to late 1980s low budget midi systems churned out by the likes of Amstrad, Cathay, Akura etc. 
The Ion's tracking offset and tracking weight downforce is poor which will lead to record wear.  Bass heavy material will not track well.

For less than a couple of hundred euro you can  get a decent second hand deck and a PC soundcard which will do the job properly.


----------

