Entertainment For Lively Minds
Vinyl to I Pod help needed
Posted by Chris Young on 13 November 2009 - 10:07am.
With Santa busily getting ready for his big day and wish lists required I need a bit of help from the Massive.
Does anyone have any experience of those Vinyl to MP3 devices?
I would like to get one that is easy to use, is not overly expensive and gives a good result so that I can listen to some of my old vinyl on my I pod.
I believe they are also available to transfer from cassettes which would be secondary for me but still of interest. Apologies if this has been done before but any helpful advice would be most welcome.
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Yes...
ION USB turntable. Present from the FPO last Xmas. Fantastically easy to use with excellent results. Spent all of Boxing Day with a Empire State sized pile of 7"'s with the kids under firm instructions from their Mum not to disturb!
Thanks
I have looked at this one. Is it pretty easy to set up? I'm fairly useless at techy stuff. It does sound like the kind of Boxing Day I have in my mind's eye though!
Doddle
I'm no tech head and it worked like a dream. Install the software (comes with both Audacity and something called E-Z Transfer) plug the turntable in via USB and you're ready to go. Really easy and very satisfying!
Sounds perfect
Thanks again
there's some threads about this already
http://www.wordmagazine.co.uk/content/converting-vinyl-mp3usb-turntables...
but it comes down to if you have turntable already and pc with a soundcard you just need free software like audacity.
if you have laptop like me you may need an external usb soundcard see link .
that or standalone digitiser.
Whatever system you use.
I went through this process a year or two ago. Recording individual tracks was simple enough but whole album sides required a little more patience. If there is a clear silence between tracks the software recognised it ok but if a track slides into another then you have to intervene in some way.
The reverse is also true. If there's a bit of a gap in a song then the software I used (cant remember what it was called) might interpret it as a new track beginning. If you've got time on your hands though, it can be a pleasant enough experience.
Enjoy! (I did)
Not quite as easy as you'd hope...
I agree, this isn't quite as straightforward as banging on the record and hitting record, unless you only do one track at a time.
Using Audacity, you record a whole side (or album) and then manually split the tracks. I've never used any software that claimed to split recorded vinyl by detecting silence that actually works, as the "silence" between tracks rarely is. It's just as easy to split manually as it is to clean up the mess after trying to do it automatically.
I also find that I have to use software to take a harsh top end off stuff recorded this way (I have the Ion turntable, which is really good in other respects), so don't expect to do this without some fiddling about.
One good thing you can do is to record at 45rmp and then use Audacity to reduce the files to 33 and 1/3 - at least this speeds up the process a bit
The E-Z transfer software with the ION does this......
providing there is a 1 second gap between tracks. Worked very well on most LP's but had trouble with Live albums and "concept" albums (nightmare with the London Chamber Orchestra's version of 'Tommy').
I've always found it does exactly what it says on the tin.
It's basic
but audacity avoids this problem by recording everything and you having to split stuff up.
On the whole I only digitise singles or the odd lp track.
I'm a technonumpty, but find
I'm a technonumpty, but find Audacity easy enough to use for transferring albums, splitting the stuff up manually (though the fact that you can't use z or punctuation when tagging results in some post-hoc track renaming.)
But I really did need the Audacity instructions that came with my mp3 turntable though, I would never have worked it out just using the standard instructions and Help function (I know 'cos I tried). Once I had that though I've was happily able to use Audacity to transfer stuff direct from my dodgy old cassette player.
has anyone ever recorded 78s using this process?
I'm told it's possible with the Ion but a)78s require a different stylus and b) I couldn't see how to convert the speed
Generally however it is a very easy process.
Incidentally, did you know that you can use Audacity to record programmes on the Listen Again service from the BBC, and then convert them to mp3? You just have to remember not to touch any keys or use other programs while doing it as otherwise it will record those sounds too!
Is there...
...a device that will record MP3s from the line-level output (eg 'tape out') from an amplifier?
see my link above for full details
do you mean a standlone device ? you cna plug into you pc soundcard if it has one (you need to check it's audio in not the mic port on a laptop)
Thanks, Chris G
Unfortunately, computer is in one room, amp and turntable in another, so a standalone device would be best.
not sure of the quality
but olympus voice recorders record mp3s via a y cable into the mic socket.