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Thread ID: 137184 2014-06-03 01:45:00 Vinyl - CD ? Woody (710) PC World Chat
Post ID Timestamp Content User
1376365 2014-06-03 01:45:00 I have a heap of vinyl LP's (anybody remember what they were ??)
Is there an outfit which will transfer music to CD from vinyl records?
I know it's all old stuff now but there is a lot of music and a number of shows which are no longer available that I would like preserved to CD.
Any suggestions appreciated.
Cheers and thanks
Woody (710)
1376366 2014-06-03 01:58:00 You could use audacity. (audacity.sourceforge.net) But as it says you should use an amp. Or something with phono input on it

Or you could buy a USB turntable
Speedy Gonzales (78)
1376367 2014-06-03 02:39:00 I'm sure there are places that'll charge you for it and do a great job but I expect it won't be cheap. I did my own many years ago just using Nero 6 and a line out from my stereo. (edit, actually I think I used the headphone out to conect to my PC)
I recorded .wav files of each side of an LP then used Nero to cut it into tracks and burn them to CD. It was along time back but I still have the disks and they still sound great, I would recommend storing a lossless backup on a hard drive or two if you can spare the space though as writeable optical disks are not the most reliable long term storage medium.

You stick with standard .wav files for the recording and burning process as it's the same audio format as the audio CD and is the best quality you can manage, recording to a compressed format is not recommended.
I used Nero as I had it at the time and it had a wav editor included, there are plenty of other options such as audacity already mentioned. It is possible to try and remove noise from the recordings but personally I have not had great success with that from LPs, tapes on the other hand I've had great success in removing noise from. I prefer to preserve LP's "warts and all" and leave the noise in.
dugimodo (138)
1376368 2014-06-03 04:03:00 Found this place www.eagletv.co.nz w
But at $50 +gst per LP I'm not sure I'd go that way myself. A USB turntable as Speedy suggested would be a lot more economic.
dugimodo (138)
1376369 2014-06-03 06:27:00 Dickie Smith has these, www.dicksmith.co.nz
Encodes each side of the LP as a single file onto a memory stick or card, then you have to separate the tracks if needed. I used audacity and entered the tags in as well.
Whenu (9358)
1376370 2014-06-03 09:39:00 Given that CDs are in a slow spiral to oblivion in favour of magnetic or solid state storage, I'd suggest you jump ahead 2 decades and forget the CD altogether. Paul.Cov (425)
1376371 2014-06-03 12:05:00 I have converted a few albums from vinyl to cd using Audacity. They were ok, but not perfect, or maybe I was not all that good at it. Flashdrive is a better storage medium though now.
I have a Dick Smith USB turntable which I use. Now I just connect it to the Soundbar and can play my vinyls anyway, so don't need to convert them.

LL
lakewoodlady (103)
1376372 2014-06-03 21:14:00 Depends how particular you are about the end result, soundwise. If you already have an amplifier with a phono stage you could use one of these from your line out/tape out sockets into your pc. www.trademe.co.nz
I bought one of these as I have a separate phono stage and wanted to use it.Not top of the line by any means but very good.

Or if you already have a decent turntable but no amplifier/phono stage this one does both phono input and tape input. www.trademe.co.nz
Neil McC (178)
1376373 2014-06-04 00:58:00 Thanks Guys - Speedy, Dugi et al, I'd originally thought of getting a pro house to do the transfer, but at $50 per disk! best I give that a miss.
I do have a good turntable with mag cartridge but haven't used it for about 25 - 30 years (stored under a bed somewhere).
I do have audacity so it looks as though I get backside into gear and try connecting things up myself.
Thanks again
Cheers
Woody (710)
1376374 2014-06-04 03:34:00 I spent hours using Audacity and free music match jukebox to convert from tapes and vinyl. As Dugimodo says, storage on disks are unreliable. I had discs stains after long term storage. My DJ mate used cool edit pro, now renamed Adobe Audition which has dozens of effects, reverbs, sound and boost settings, etc, but of course it costs.

You may want a organizer such as MediaMonkey (www.mediamonkey.com/) to quickly sort and catalog HD tracks or Disclib (http:) for CD's.
kahawai chaser (3545)
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