convert all my vinyl records to mp3

I think it would be great to upload the kind of music I’m into onto a computer, I already have the mp3 turntable but this computer is on it’s last legs as it is, I should get a laptop, then I could always take my favourite songs with me, plus when it’s from a direct source you don’t get viruses, it would force me to understand the sheer magnitude behind the sheer thousands of songs on that shelf

http://www.microsoft.com/windows/windowsmedia/knowledgecenter/howto/FromVinyltoComputer_StepByStep.aspx

Bought an ion USB turntable.

Decided the software that came with it didn’t do enough (in particular, it didn’t split tracks). Trying out other software. Goal for today is to decide on how to proceed. Expect the process to take a long time (I have hundreds of albums, but am in no rush).

I’m a little more than halfway. I have about 70 records right now. I’ve gotten all the ones that I listen to regularly done so that I can listen to them on the go. Now I have to find the motivation to get the ones done that I don’t listen to so much.

hi everybody

It took me about three months but I managed to convert all my vinyl music to mp3!

How much do you value your time?

I found that it will take you at least an hour to convert a standard length LP album. First you’ve got the time it takes to actually play the album itself—you can’t record it any faster than you can play it. Then you have to add the time to “crop out” the individual songs from the album side. The MP3 encoding software that came with my USB turntable (Audacity) doesn’t recognize the beginning or ending of the individual songs. Then you have a little time to type in the metadata (song name, artist name, album name, track #, etc). Then you have the time it takes to encode the song as an MP3. All of this is not even counting the time it would take if you want to then run the songs through separate software to remove the pops and clicks. My turntable came with “Soundsoap” to do this.

To make matters worse, my computer’s processor wasn’t able to both play the song and record it at the same time. It couldn’t keep up. I had to disable the playback feature so that I could record the songs without any gaps. Admittedly the computer I used for this is old and a newer, faster computer may be able to handle this fine. If your computer can handle that, it may be more worthwhile, since you can enjoy the album while its recording.

If you take the average album on iTunes at $10 and consider the time you would save and the incredibly superior quality of the download, there is no question that its worth the $10 compared to the brain damage of converting from your vinyl.

However … I had a few albums that I simply could not find anywhere on any legal music site. For these, it was worth the time. There were also some songs on iTunes where they require you to buy the whole album. I only wanted the one song and already had the vinyl. These were worth converting as well.

i saw a converter in the last Urban Outfitters catalogue i got in the mail

$130!!!
i can’t afford that

I moved my digital turntable from the living room (where it was used with my laptop) to my home office (where it is now plugged into my desktop, which has a better soundcard), and I converted a few more LPs. I have worked out a somewhat better workflow for the conversion but want to try a different software to see if that helps.

Has/does/can anyone use a home digital studio such as a Korg 1200 to download records?... Also, I saw John Meloncamp on a Colbert interview …He mentioned that he downloads vinyl using a Teak manufactured ipod….Anyone?