transferring record collection to digital

[admin_exported]

Hi, I have a massive collection of about 10,000 records which I no longer have the room to store and would like to transfer some them from analogue into a digital format. Does anybody recommend any particular equipment or system that does the job a) easily as I am technologically inept & b) reproduces a good sound quality? I have been toying with the idea of a Brennan but is there a better way of doing it? Cheers

 

[nads]

it will be cheaper to re buy what you can, but most PCs and your turntable and a phono stage will to it.

i gave up and bought a better deck and still buy vinyl. but i will never have that much.

 

[John Duncan]

Personally, I'd get a subscription to Spotify Premium.

EDIT - sorry, hello and welcome to the forum!

 

[Charlie Jefferson]

Hi, I have a massive collection of about 10,000 records which I no longer have the room to store and would like to transfer some them from analogue into a digital format. Does anybody recommend any particular equipment or system that does the job a) easily as I am technologically inept & b) reproduces a good sound quality? I have been toying with the idea of a Brennan but is there a better way of doing it? Cheers

Blimey!! Makes my mere 2,000 LPs look a bit meagre.

b) not sure it exists or if it does, may not be compatible with a).

In my own case, I own many duplicates of my vinyl on CD and the rest I use Sporify to cover. Yes, there are doubtless some LPs that I don't own on CD or digital file or even not available in Spotified form, but personally I can live with that.

Good luck!

 

[amcluesent]

It'll be mind-numbingly tedious to do! Digitising LPs is referred to as creating 'needle drops', so Google for that for loads of info.

At a basic level, you'll need to get the line-level signal to your soundcard, i.e. by connecting from the amps 'record out' to a decent sound card and connect the record player the amps MM/MC phono input.

Then play each side of the LP and capture the input to data files using a program like Audacity. Then you'll need to split the recordings into the tracks and 'tag' them with artist, track name etc. so this info appears when played using a music streamer.

 

[John Duncan]

It'll be mind-numbingly tedious to do!

Precisely. Call it 2 hours each, 2 a day every day, that'll take you 14 years...

 

[plastic penguin]

Just out of curiosity, how faithful to the original recordings are these iTurntables, once converted?

 

[tino]

It will take an eternity to digitise 10,000 records ... so unless you have nothing to do for the next 10 years ...

Alternative options are:

1. Investing in one of those LP laser archiving players (http://www.elpj.com)

2. Keep your favourite records, digitise those or play them on your existing turntable, sell the rest

plus buy a Spotify (or similar) subscription to listen to music that you don't necessarily want to keep in any format anymore wheher it be in LP, CD or digitally.

PS It took me a couple of months on and off just to do about 70 LPs, and a further couple of months to post process them e.g. cleaning any unwanted noise, tagging, artwork etc.

 

[Anonymous]

That will be an immensely tedious undertaking.

I have nowhere near that many, my method was to buy the cd of my favourites, rip and stream, old cd's are really inexpensive nowadays.

You could always sell some to finance buying your favourites?

 

[The_Lhc]

It'll be mind-numbingly tedious to do!

Precisely. Call it 2 hours each, 2 a day every day, that'll take you 14 years...

I'll wait...

 

[chebby]

A decent turntable with one of these...

http://www.rega.co.uk/html/Fono%20mini.htm

http://www.whathifi.com/review/rega-fono-mini-a2d

...as well as being a thoroughly good phono-stage (for normal analogue listening) it has the all-important Analogue-Digital USB connection to stick in your computer.

Free software like Audacity will enable you to set levels and 'record' your vinyl. (Like a glorified cassette deck.)

 

[chebby]

Precisely. Call it 2 hours each, 2 a day every day, that'll take you 14 years...

He said some of them...

Hi, I have a massive collection of about 10,000 records which I no longer have the room to store and would like to transfer some them from analogue into a digital format.

 

[John Duncan]

Precisely. Call it 2 hours each, 2 a day every day, that'll take you 14 years...

He said some of them...

Hi, I have a massive collection of about 10,000 records which I no longer have the room to store and would like to transfer some them from analogue into a digital format.

Which is fine - I'd suggest he does the ones that aren't on Spotify...

 

[Anonymous]

I ripped my CD collection, over 300 CDs, to PC a while back and that took me ages. Even a proportion of 10,000 is going to be somewhere near that amount, and you're talking vinyl not CD.

Ripping 10,000 CDs even is not realistic I think, therefore the only way to go is something like spotify, and for those albums not available, keep the record and player to play them on.