6 February 2008--it's 1978

[RGMike]

BTW, I noticed our 10@10 Video Clip guy hasn't posted any clips in over a week...

[urth]

The Rafferty album was so interesting when it first came out, but I remember after a few plays it had such a sameness about it track to track that it became a bit of a burden to listen to.

I still have that LP. Now that you mention it, think I'll give that vinyl a spin later today.

I bought one of those USB turntables last month to start converting some of my old viinyl collection. Maybe I'll dig this one out first and give it another chance. It has been a few years....

//John

I'd like to put my vinyl & cassettes onto CD.  Anyone have any recommendations?

That's what I'm about to try. I'm going to pull them in to both burn them to CD and just convert them to MP3. I've got a server that has my whole CD collection in iTunes in Lossless for playback through the stereo, and that's the same quality I'm hoping to capture them now. I once bought a gadget from Ram Electrronics to pull stuff off a turntable and turn them into something digital, but it also required playback through the stereo at the same time, and that was going to be more coordination than I was willing to put in. My Denon turntable is off in a corner instead of in the entertainment center, so it wasn't going to work out for me logistically anyway.

There are USB turntables, and there are some gizmos (10cc reference?) out there that burn straight from vinyl to CD. If you chose the latter, I think you'd still be wanting to pull the CD in and post-process it to get rid of the pops and such, and then push it back to CD again. Just another step. I don't think any of this is going to be drop dead simple.

Plus - anyone got a Nitty Griitty Dirt Machine? That's another thing I'm starting to look at. I've a 1,000 albums in there to ponder, and I know they need some real care and cleaning.

//John

I started doing something like this a few years ago by plugging my cassette player into the microphone input on my sound card and using some software called Goldwave to record and remove some of the hiss etc. It worked pretty well, but it was tedious dividing the captured file into smaller files for each track. However, these newer turntables may have eased that process somewhat.

We reviewed one of these USB turntables a few weeks ago--an Ion I think--but it wasn't given raves.  (I work at CNET, so I see reviews of all kinds of gadgets come by my desk.) Which one did you get and what do you think of it?

[ggould]

It's kind of watered down prog for the mass market

pretty much hits the nail on the head for me! 

[ggould]

The Rafferty album was so interesting when it first came out, but I remember after a few plays it had such a sameness about it track to track that it became a bit of a burden to listen to.

I still have that LP. Now that you mention it, think I'll give that vinyl a spin later today.

I bought one of those USB turntables last month to start converting some of my old viinyl collection. Maybe I'll dig this one out first and give it another chance. It has been a few years....

//John

My old Phillips turntable has pretty much given up the ghost.  Are these new USB turntables fine for just playing records through the stereo as well?

[John@10]

That's what I'm about to try. I'm going to pull them in to both burn them to CD and just convert them to MP3. I've got a server that has my whole CD collection in iTunes in Lossless for playback through the stereo, and that's the same quality I'm hoping to capture them now. I once bought a gadget from Ram Electrronics to pull stuff off a turntable and turn them into something digital, but it also required playback through the stereo at the same time, and that was going to be more coordination than I was willing to put in. My Denon turntable is off in a corner instead of in the entertainment center, so it wasn't going to work out for me logistically anyway.

There are USB turntables, and there are some gizmos (10cc reference?) out there that burn straight from vinyl to CD. If you chose the latter, I think you'd still be wanting to pull the CD in and post-process it to get rid of the pops and such, and then push it back to CD again. Just another step. I don't think any of this is going to be drop dead simple.

Plus - anyone got a Nitty Griitty Dirt Machine? That's another thing I'm starting to look at. I've a 1,000 albums in there to ponder, and I know they need some real care and cleaning.

//John

I started doing something like this a few years ago by plugging my cassette player into the microphone input on my sound card and using some software called Goldwave to record and remove some of the hiss etc. It worked pretty well, but it was tedious dividing the captured file into smaller files for each track. However, these newer turntables may have eased that process somewhat.

We reviewed one of these USB turntables a few weeks ago--an Ion I think--but it wasn't given raves.  (I work at CNET, so I see reviews of all kinds of gadgets come by my desk.) Which one did you get and what do you think of it?

I just haven't even pulled it out of the box to try it out. Life is too damned busy! I got the Ion. There's a part of me that would love everything to come out pristine, but the truth I'm not near the audiophile I was years ago, and the high volume remastering of albums on CD has gotten so unbearable that I think the thing can get away with an adequate job and I'd be happy.

I'll try to remember to try the thing out. When I do, I'll try to remember to post some impressions here. (No, I'm not going to compete with Frank TV. There's a set of commercials that became Katrinas long before the Bosox completed their sweep.)

//John