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| Author |
Message |
scott
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The vinyl-to-CD at home item
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Aug 23 01:55 UTC 2001 |
Lately I've transferred a few vinyl albums to CD, using my PC and of course
some software. This all got hashed over in the last music conference (I
should link the item, come to think of it. It's still mostly relevant!)
Anyway, in the last couple of months I've had conversions with a couple of
people from the "vinyl era" (I'm from the tail end) who are just now realizing
that they could burn their precious/rare vinyl to CD using a commodity PC,
if only they knew how. I sense a big trend coming here.
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| 17 responses total. |
krj
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response 1 of 17:
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Aug 23 02:12 UTC 2001 |
((Um, I already linked that as item:7 in music3, so you
should retire item:20 which is a duplicate link.))
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tpryan
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response 2 of 17:
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Aug 23 02:37 UTC 2001 |
There it is, across the living room. The new PC totally
capable of turning vinyl/tapes or audio sources into CDs. I
don't see where I do it, though.
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dbratman
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response 3 of 17:
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Aug 23 16:49 UTC 2001 |
Would I do it, even if I had the equipment right across the living
room? Probably not, or not very much of it. The fact is, for as long
as I've owned LPs I've had the much simpler & easier to use technology
to turn them into reasonably durable and highly portable cassette
tapes, and I've never done much of that either.
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cmcgee
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response 4 of 17:
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Aug 25 14:13 UTC 2001 |
I didn't want to turn my LPs into tape because of the linear
inaccessability. With CDs I can play one tune over and over again, just
like I used to, or skip tracks I don't like, just like I used to. Tape
technology wasn't as easy.
So now I'm ready to turn my LPs into CDs. Many of them I've already
found at Borders, but quite a few are limited editions made by favorite
folk bands that never were distributed much beyond concert sales
directly to me.
So direct me to the PC!
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dbratman
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response 5 of 17:
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Aug 27 20:31 UTC 2001 |
Tape wasn't that much less easy, and I'm not one to play one track over
and over like that. What tapes and CDs can do, but LPs can't, is get
played in a car and on a Walkman. That's a significant enough shared
plus over LPs, and tapes are not _that_ much harder to use, that if I'd
do the CD-burning route I'd have done the tape-dubbing one.
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scott
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response 6 of 17:
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Aug 27 23:41 UTC 2001 |
Somebody used to make a "portable" turntable, which basically looked like a
big plastic clamp over part of the record. Can't really imagine taking my
LPs to the beach, though. ;)
What CDs can do that tapes can't is be copied again and again without
generation loss. Also, in the case of out-of-print LPs it's a nice way to
archive the stuff for future generations.
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scott
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response 7 of 17:
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Aug 27 23:50 UTC 2001 |
Perhaps somebody who's done recording under Windows could post what software
they like? I've been using Linux; my recorder is yarec, my subsonic filter
is done in ecasound, and I use snd for editing.
I've heard of people using Cool Edit Pro for recording and liking it.
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dbratman
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response 8 of 17:
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Aug 29 23:54 UTC 2001 |
Scott 6: For the purpose at hand, which is copying an LP on something
you can play portably, CDs lack of generation loss isn't that
significant. Unless you're concerned about sound quality, and a
generation of people who listen to MP3s certainly aren't.
Alas, CDs are not an archival medium. In a few decades, your CDs will
decay and become unplayable. As for storing the data in a computer
file, the history of storing computer files gives very little hope
that "future generations" will be able to make any use of it. By far
the best archival medium for storing sound developed to date is an LP
in a vault at a cool temperature.
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scott
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response 9 of 17:
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Aug 30 00:07 UTC 2001 |
Yeah, but who cares if CD-Rs go bad? If I can do a clean copy every 5-10
years then I don't really have to worry about losing the data. Especially
if I'm not the only one preserving a copy of that album. :)
Also, doing CDs has basically become easier than doing tapes (doesn't help
that both of my cassette decks are dying...), especially when it comes to more
than one copy.
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krj
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response 10 of 17:
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Aug 30 06:33 UTC 2001 |
I need to digress here and ask about going (digitally) from minidisc
to CD. Leslie has 8 minidiscs of concert performances from her
summer music program in the Czech Republic, and she's offered to
distribute copies to some of her colleagues. So the first step is
to get the minidisc tracks into the PC. We are assuming that our
laptop soundcard is such that we don't want to go through an analog
stage, but would prefer somehow to go digital out from the minidisc
and then convert the files on the PC to the CD format.
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scott
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response 11 of 17:
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Aug 30 11:37 UTC 2001 |
Hmmm... well, I've done a few MD to CD transfers, all through the analog audio
input of a sound card. Still really good sound. I think the standard is some
kind of optical digital signal which the higher-end Soundblaster cards have,
but you'd have to buy a deck MD player to get the same output.
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tpryan
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response 12 of 17:
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Aug 31 21:58 UTC 2001 |
My portable MD does not have optical out. It does have optical
in, and can handle digital dub from DAT to MD, including transfering
the index marks). My deck MD does not have an optical out, either.
After editing down the music on the MD, it would be nice to just be
able to transfer the tracks as individual tracks.
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dbratman
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response 13 of 17:
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Sep 1 00:05 UTC 2001 |
Scott 9: What are you going to make your clean copy of a CD-R _from_?
I thought the whole point of transferring your LPs was not to have to
worry about your LPs any more. And your turntable, which (I've learned
to my cost) will freeze up and go bad if not used regularly.
And you said that part of the advantage of electronic storage was to
preserve the music for future generations. So yeah, you should care if
your CD-Rs go bad.
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scott
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response 14 of 17:
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Sep 1 00:23 UTC 2001 |
I make the cleanest copy I can get from the LP. Sorta like the way I used
to buy an LP, then make a tape to actually listen to. Most of my vinyl is
still in really good shape, but it's a pain in the ass to actually put them
on the turntable. Well, compared to throwing a CD in and not having to flip
it over halfway through.
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dbratman
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response 15 of 17:
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Sep 4 16:37 UTC 2001 |
Right, but if the CD decays, then you have to do that "pain in the ass"
stuff all over again.
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scott
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response 16 of 17:
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Sep 4 18:00 UTC 2001 |
Not really. I just have to remember to burn a copy of the CD every few years,
which is why I write the "date burned" on each one I do.
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gelinas
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response 17 of 17:
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Jan 6 02:28 UTC 2002 |
A discussion of vinyl-to-CD conversions has come up on the SEMiSLUG mailing
list.
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