skylive5 Posted July 24, 2007 Share Posted July 24, 2007 If I have one obsession in life it is music. Decent music. The problem that I have faced over the years has been the change in media. 45's, LP's, reel-to-reel, cassettes, and then CD's. So I decided that I would convert all of that to mp3's on my computer so that not only would it be available for listenting while on the computer, but for the compiling of CD's for the road and in the living room. I then discovered that I could place a LOT of music on a DVD and play through my TV and Stereo from my mp3 capable DVD player. So I went out and bought some hardware that would go from my stereo amplifier to my computer so that I could convert the LP's and Cassettes. Long and arduous to say the least since the computer and the stereo are in different parts of the house. Went slow but I was making headway. Then my son-in-law said that he saw a turntable that used USB right to the computer. Off to the store I went and this puppy is a great piece of equipment! Sits right next to the computer and life is good for converting LP's to mp3. Well, except for the involved process of cleaning the recordings up in what I call my "washing" software. But it was worth all the work since 99% of all the clicks and so forth were taken out and I have some pretty nice quality recordings. So..... I have finally completed my mission of transferring my LP's and Cassettes to mp3. Or at least 85% of them. 10G of music.... and by Thanksgiving I will have another 27G added on. Now I know that 10G isn't much compared to a lot of you, but I will bet that 9 of it most of you don't have. LOL And once I add the other 27G I should be able to compete with most of you for variety if not in amount of music. (Not that there is a competition.) Been interesting listening to music I haven't heard in a long time and while memory lane isn't the greatest place to travel to most of the time this time it was worth the trip. Just thought I would mention what has been keeping me busy during the time leading up to training camps and the real start of FF season. (I have also spent a tremendous amount of time converting my VHS collection to DVD...but that is another story.) I would also like to thank the ones that helped me retrieve the proper software/hardware to get this project on the way. Especially the software that allowed me to capture the info I needed in the music directory so I could list everything in Excel without having to type it all by hand. That saved oodles of time let me tell you...and I am a very fast and accurate typist. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Azazello1313 Posted July 24, 2007 Share Posted July 24, 2007 just make sure you make backups! for LPs i've always just used a regular old turntable/deck played through a regular old amp, out the headphone jack and into the sound card. anyway, i wish i could get as organized as you have, especially with the spindles full of "unofficial" recordings i have down in my basement. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AtomicCEO Posted July 24, 2007 Share Posted July 24, 2007 Then my son-in-law said that he saw a turntable that used USB right to the computer. Off to the store I went and this puppy is a great piece of equipment! Sits right next to the computer and life is good for converting LP's to mp3. Well, except for the involved process of cleaning the recordings up in what I call my "washing" software. But it was worth all the work since 99% of all the clicks and so forth were taken out and I have some pretty nice quality recordings. So..... I have finally completed my mission of transferring my LP's and Cassettes to mp3. Or at least 85% of them. Did you get the TEAC model? My dad wants one, but I've been looking at the Ion model. I heard good reviews about it's quality, but mixed reviews about it's durability. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
skylive5 Posted July 24, 2007 Author Share Posted July 24, 2007 Did you get the TEAC model? My dad wants one, but I've been looking at the Ion model. I heard good reviews about it's quality, but mixed reviews about it's durability. I got the Ion. Works fantastic. Since I already had LP ripper software didn't use the software that came with the turntable so can't comment on that. As far as durablility.... needles wear out.... other than that...been doing great. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
skylive5 Posted July 24, 2007 Author Share Posted July 24, 2007 just make sure you make backups! for LPs i've always just used a regular old turntable/deck played through a regular old amp, out the headphone jack and into the sound card. anyway, i wish i could get as organized as you have, especially with the spindles full of "unofficial" recordings i have down in my basement. That is what I was doing in the beginning. The problem is that the stereo is one room and the computer is in another. With the USB turntable life is so much easier. Now if they would just come out with a USB Cassette player....... LOL Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ursa Majoris Posted July 24, 2007 Share Posted July 24, 2007 I'm still converting tapes and LPs and 45s to CD...... Still, it is then trivial to rip the CDs to the computer if I want to. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Azazello1313 Posted July 24, 2007 Share Posted July 24, 2007 one thing to think of if you're thinking of ripping an LP to CD...if it's something somewhat popular they may have a used copy on amazon or half.com for like 2 or 3 bucks. remastered in a studio, with liner notes and everything else, often with bonus tracks, etc. the only LPs i've ever worked up the energy to rip to digital are ones that have never been reissued on CD. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
skylive5 Posted July 24, 2007 Author Share Posted July 24, 2007 one thing to think of if you're thinking of ripping an LP to CD...if it's something somewhat popular they may have a used copy on amazon or half.com for like 2 or 3 bucks. remastered in a studio, with liner notes and everything else, often with bonus tracks, etc. the only LPs i've ever worked up the energy to rip to digital are ones that have never been reissued on CD. Which is most likely a good half of mine at least....probably more. Another thing with that is I now have albums that are LP, Cassette, and CD. Getting a bit tired of buying the same ol' same ol' that I already own twice. And it isn't like I am ripping anyone off since not only do I own it all at least twice.... I have nothing on my machine that I don't already own. Besides... what else does one have to do whilst waiting for the NFL season to begin? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ursa Majoris Posted July 24, 2007 Share Posted July 24, 2007 one thing to think of if you're thinking of ripping an LP to CD...if it's something somewhat popular they may have a used copy on amazon or half.com for like 2 or 3 bucks. remastered in a studio, with liner notes and everything else, often with bonus tracks, etc. the only LPs i've ever worked up the energy to rip to digital are ones that have never been reissued on CD. Good point. I'm enjoying the opportunity to reacquaint myself with stuff I haven't played for years, though. Also, most of my tapes are irreplaceable as they were recorded from radio. That "cleaning software" Sky mentioned sounds interesting for when the time comes to rip the CDs that were made from the LPs. Most of my LPs are in excellent condition so I don't have the snap, crackle pop very much but it sounds like software that would be useful nevertheless. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Azazello1313 Posted July 24, 2007 Share Posted July 24, 2007 That "cleaning software" Sky mentioned sounds interesting for when the time comes to rip the CDs that were made from the LPs. Most of my LPs are in excellent condition so I don't have the snap, crackle pop very much but it sounds like software that would be useful nevertheless. ya know, those cleaning and noise reduction softwares can be useful (i've used one called audio cleaning lab, as well as nero wave editor) if you end up with a lot of noise....they do a pretty good job removing pops and such. but you ususally lose a little fidelity, and my experience is that if you have clean vinyl playing on decent equipment, you're best off doing as little processing as you can, i.e. none. i'd decide on a record-by-record basis whether to subject them to "cleaning". Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kid Cid Posted July 24, 2007 Share Posted July 24, 2007 ya know, those cleaning and noise reduction softwares can be useful (i've used one called audio cleaning lab, as well as nero wave editor) if you end up with a lot of noise....they do a pretty good job removing pops and such. but you ususally lose a little fidelity, and my experience is that if you have clean vinyl playing on decent equipment, you're best off doing as little processing as you can, i.e. none. i'd decide on a record-by-record basis whether to subject them to "cleaning". Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ursa Majoris Posted July 24, 2007 Share Posted July 24, 2007 ya know, those cleaning and noise reduction softwares can be useful (i've used one called audio cleaning lab, as well as nero wave editor) if you end up with a lot of noise....they do a pretty good job removing pops and such. but you ususally lose a little fidelity, and my experience is that if you have clean vinyl playing on decent equipment, you're best off doing as little processing as you can, i.e. none. i'd decide on a record-by-record basis whether to subject them to "cleaning". Cool. That's pretty much what I was intending. I don't have any filtering between LP and CD right now, so I was thinking of cleaning the sound as necessary when the CDs are ripped. I don't have much of a noise problem due to the LPs being kept rigorously well over the years. BTW, in two years time, my oldest ones will hit 40 and are still in great shape - will CDs last that long? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rocknrobn26 Posted July 24, 2007 Share Posted July 24, 2007 Having heard a lot of the CD's/LP's Sky ripped, I can say they are excellent! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jaxfactor Posted July 25, 2007 Share Posted July 25, 2007 I read your previous post about what we all did on the 4th. You replied that you were using your new toy(USB turntable). I am a music lover myself and can get abvsolutely lost in it. I have about 500 LPs and need to invest in one of these toys myself. I read an article last week in the newspaper here in Jax saying alot of stores just can't keep them in stock. They're off the shelves in no time. Any truth to this? I'm going to wait till I get my new PC then I'll be busy for awhile doing what you are doing Sky. What are you gonna do with the LPs when finished? Sell them to collectors? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ursa Majoris Posted July 25, 2007 Share Posted July 25, 2007 What are you gonna do with the LPs when finished? Sell them to collectors? As long as the space is available, I'd keep 'em as masters in case of data corruption or whatever. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AtomicCEO Posted July 25, 2007 Share Posted July 25, 2007 I got the Ion. Works fantastic. Since I already had LP ripper software didn't use the software that came with the turntable so can't comment on that. As far as durablility.... needles wear out.... other than that...been doing great. It ships with the open source Audacity, which I like, but it's not for beginners. What software do you use? I want it to be as easy to use as possible. Good to hear about the durability. I read some reviews where people said it started acting funny after a while, but people always talk when they have problems, and are less likely to when they don't. Thanks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
skylive5 Posted July 25, 2007 Author Share Posted July 25, 2007 I read your previous post about what we all did on the 4th. You replied that you were using your new toy(USB turntable). I am a music lover myself and can get abvsolutely lost in it. I have about 500 LPs and need to invest in one of these toys myself. I read an article last week in the newspaper here in Jax saying alot of stores just can't keep them in stock. They're off the shelves in no time. Any truth to this? I'm going to wait till I get my new PC then I'll be busy for awhile doing what you are doing Sky. What are you gonna do with the LPs when finished? Sell them to collectors? I got the last one in the store.... but seems that they are available just about everywhere. Costco, Circuit City, Best Buy.... pretty much everywhere. My daughter gets all the music and hardware when it is time. No way do I get rid of 40-50 year old albums. LOL Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
skylive5 Posted July 25, 2007 Author Share Posted July 25, 2007 It ships with the open source Audacity, which I like, but it's not for beginners. What software do you use? I want it to be as easy to use as possible. Good to hear about the durability. I read some reviews where people said it started acting funny after a while, but people always talk when they have problems, and are less likely to when they don't. Thanks! I got this: http://www.cfbsoftware.com/default.htm when I bought the hardware to record from the livingroom to the computer room. Works great with the turntable so didn't install the software that came with the turntable. Pretty darn easy to use and the WAV corrector part of it is real nice. I record everything in .wav format... run it through the WAV Corrector several times.... rename the final product and then use another program (you don't have to the WAV corrector program will do it too) to convert it to high quality .mp3. Little bit time consuming .... but hey, all I got is time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AtomicCEO Posted July 25, 2007 Share Posted July 25, 2007 I got this: http://www.cfbsoftware.com/default.htm when I bought the hardware to record from the livingroom to the computer room. Works great with the turntable so didn't install the software that came with the turntable. Pretty darn easy to use and the WAV corrector part of it is real nice. I record everything in .wav format... run it through the WAV Corrector several times.... rename the final product and then use another program (you don't have to the WAV corrector program will do it too) to convert it to high quality .mp3. Little bit time consuming .... but hey, all I got is time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coffeeman Posted July 25, 2007 Share Posted July 25, 2007 (I have also spent a tremendous amount of time converting my VHS collection to DVD...but that is another story.) I am about to begin this task - who/what do you recommend? I have VHS and Hi8 stuff, and am concerned about the cost. Another problem is my Hi8 camera stopped working awhile ago, so I'd have to find a cheap replacement player or just hire a compnay to do all of it. Where do I start? Anyone with info, please feel free to jump in. thanks..... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ursa Majoris Posted July 25, 2007 Share Posted July 25, 2007 I am about to begin this task - who/what do you recommend? I have VHS and Hi8 stuff, and am concerned about the cost. Another problem is my Hi8 camera stopped working awhile ago, so I'd have to find a cheap replacement player or just hire a compnay to do all of it. Where do I start? Anyone with info, please feel free to jump in. thanks..... Might want to consider simply hiring out the job to a pro. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
skylive5 Posted July 25, 2007 Author Share Posted July 25, 2007 I am about to begin this task - who/what do you recommend? I have VHS and Hi8 stuff, and am concerned about the cost. Another problem is my Hi8 camera stopped working awhile ago, so I'd have to find a cheap replacement player or just hire a compnay to do all of it. Where do I start? Anyone with info, please feel free to jump in. thanks..... You have a PM. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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