Converting LPs to Digital

[LowTech]

It doesn’t appear to me that there is a really good solution out there that doesn’t come with some sort of compromise.

My preference would be to save the files in a loss-less format.

Has anyone had any luck converting LPs?

[Aaron Ledger]

Wow, I haven’t done this since the late ’90’s. Back then, I hooked up the record player via a receiver’s TAPE outputs into a sound card for recording. Today, you can get record players with USB output if I am not mistaken.

[oliverredfox]

USB turntables + lose-less recording isn’t bad; you still are going lose a little of the flavor just like with CDs.  I hear laser turntables are really good for backing up/playing older LPs.

[Aaron Ledger]

Hypothetically, you could capture in 24-bit 192 kHz and probably have something that is pretty close to the original vinyl.

[LowTech]

I’m not looking to preserve the vinyl experience I just want something better than MP3.  The problem that I’ve read about USB turntables is that the software leaves much to be desired and is often sub-par.  Using a phono preamp and regular turntable relies on third party software, which isn’t so bad but apparently has a steep learning curve not to mention the cost of all of the gear.

I was curious if someone in the MR community has messed around with this sort of thing recently.

[oliverredfox]

Don’t use the software included with USB record players; you’re right most of it is bad.  It’ll act like any sound input device so just use a program like Audacity to record the tracks and you’ll be fine.

[Aaron Ledger]

I second the Audacity recommendation. It is free and it works well from my experience.

[LowTech]

Naturally a USB turntable would be ideal for a variety of reasons so I would have to search for one with decent reviews.  Any suggestions?

Audacity is what I saw referred to as having a steep learning curve.  I would prefer something intuitive but for the price maybe this would be the best bet?  I suppose that my biggest fear is that I have to manually cue each track and record it so that side one of Pink Floyd’s Dark Side of the Moon isn’t one big ole track.

 

[Crim]

http://www.hardocp.com/article/2011/09/20/creative_xfi_hd_usb_sound_card_review/7

If you already have hardware and just need some kind of input box this seems decent enough.

[Author]

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