What do I need to start ripping my vinyl to a Laptop

Davidajcook

Active member
Mar 9, 2025
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Hi there, I just joined and am looking for some guidance.

I have a reasonable collection of Vinyl, and want to enjoy it on the move as well, so am looking into the ways of ripping it to a laptop.

I have a Technics SL1200 MK7, and a Yamaha R-N803 D Network Receiver/Amp

I know I need some sort or pre out or DAC converter I think

But would appreciate any suggestions on what exactly I need to make this happen.

Thanks in advance.
 
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Do you have any vinyl that is very very special that cannot be found elsewhere?
If not, spare yourself all the trouble, work, time, expenses and go streaming.
Why make your life difficult when there´re easy solutions that enable you to enjoy music fuss free.
I get what you are saying, but I am also taking early retirement so thought it would be a nice way to spend some time doing it as well. Plus what I listen to isn't freely available online, well not as much as I would like.
 
But would appreciate any suggestions on what exactly I need to make this happen.
TIME will be your number 1 need - if you're intending to do things properly.
For those of us that have had a go, the phrase "life's too short" has come up.

However, it is satisfying to have favourite vinyl (material unavailable in any other format) as FLAC files - and especially when you can completely eliminate the loud click / pop that's always been part of your playback.

You've got a few choices.
Have a look at the Korg DAC10R and ART Phono plus for examples.
If your receiver has a phono preamp you could use a fixed line output (such as tape out) to record onto something like Audacity or Adobe Audition via your laptop - which will allow you to chop and edit the continuous file into tracks - to which you then add metadata / album art.

...be sure you want to do it 👍
 
TIME will be your number 1 need - if you're intending to do things properly.
For those of us that have had a go, the phrase "life's too short" has come up.

However, it is satisfying to have favourite vinyl (material unavailable in any other format) as FLAC files - and especially when you can completely eliminate the loud click / pop that's always been part of your playback.

You've got a few choices.
Have a look at the Korg DAC10R and ART Phono plus for examples.
If your receiver has a phono preamp you could use a fixed line output (such as tape out) to record onto something like Audacity or Adobe Audition via your laptop - which will allow you to chop and edit the continuous file into tracks - to which you then add metadata / album art.

...be sure you want to do it 👍
Thanks for this response, gives me something to look into, appreciate this.
 
TIME will be your number 1 need - if you're intending to do things properly.
For those of us that have had a go, the phrase "life's too short" has come up.

However, it is satisfying to have favourite vinyl (material unavailable in any other format) as FLAC files - and especially when you can completely eliminate the loud click / pop that's always been part of your playback.

You've got a few choices.
Have a look at the Korg DAC10R and ART Phono plus for examples.
If your receiver has a phono preamp you could use a fixed line output (such as tape out) to record onto something like Audacity or Adobe Audition via your laptop - which will allow you to chop and edit the continuous file into tracks - to which you then add metadata / album art.

...be sure you want to do it 👍
If a lot of vinyl is to be digitised then a cheap turntable designed for just such a thing might be more appropriate.
 
If a lot of vinyl is to be digitised then a cheap turntable designed for just such a thing might be more appropriate.
That's true, to make things a bit easier.
But "in for a penny, in for a pound" - you only do it once - and with that Technics deck, subject to a decent cart and phono stage, he's got a chance to make it worthwhile....for special vinyl.
(Once he's found out what's involved in doing it properly, he'll soon forget about doing his non- special vinyl 😉).
 
That's true, to make things a bit easier.
But "in for a penny, in for a pound" - you only do it once - and with that Technics deck, subject to a decent cart and phono stage, he's got a chance to make it worthwhile....for special vinyl.
(Once he's found out what's involved in doing it properly, he'll soon forget about doing his non- special vinyl 😉).
Agreed.
It's a lot easier to do the same with a CD however it doesn't matter which turntable you use as its quality isn't going to effect the quality of the resultant digital file, or files as it will be as he's going to have to rename them manually, as far as I am aware.
 
I've never done it, but I'd think all you need is a sound card (with inputs, which used to be common) and a phono pre-amp. And the aforementioned time; but as someone who still buys and rips CDs, I don't see that as a problem.
 
A good quality ADC will make an exact copy of what comes from the cartridge/Phono stage, the better the cartridge/phono stage, the better the recording will be. (It works exactly the same as the Hi-Fi in that the better the cartridge/phono stage, the better the sound)
In a simple form, just get a 2 RCA jack to 3.5mm stereo jack cable to connect the output of the Yamaha to the line input of the laptop, then use the software mentioned above. (If you want better quality, then get a USB audio interface for your laptop and use that)
The way I did mine was to just record the record while I was doing something else and then sort out the naming etc. when I had the time.

Bill
 
...as someone who still buys and rips CDs, I don't see that as a problem.
CDs are no real problem (although that's not what I was saying when doing 1000+, after finding the best cover art and correcting poor spelling in automatically added metadabases).

But (properly done) vinyl ripping is a different story altogether in terms of time consumption.
 
Hi there, I just joined and am looking for some guidance.

I have a reasonable collection of Vinyl, and want to enjoy it on the move as well, so am looking into the ways of ripping it to a laptop.

I have a Technics SL1200 MK7, and a Yamaha R-N803 D Network Receiver/Amp

I know I need some sort or pre out or DAC converter I think

But would appreciate any suggestions on what exactly I need to make this happen.

Thanks in advance.
I been ripping my Vinyl using my AT LP120 deck comes with Audacity software plugs into laptop via USB it is time consuming but i enjoy it i then rip it to CD to play in the car .
 
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How to rip 78 rpm.
 
I been ripping my Vinyl using my AT LP120 deck comes with Audacity software plugs into laptop via USB it is time consuming but i enjoy it i then rip it to CD to play in the car .
Precisely, there are sub £300 turntables designed to do exactly this so buying an external ADC that you will have no need for afterwards seems pointless.
Buying a turntable designed for exactly this purpose in mind and then selling it on after you're done makes sense to me.
 
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Precisely, there are sub £300 turntables designed to do exactly this so buying an external ADC that you will have no need for afterwards seems pointless.
Buying a turntable designed for exactly this purpose in mind and then selling it on after you're done makes sense to me.
Why spend money on another turntable when he already has a good one, particularly as that all he needs is a phono to 3.5mm jack lead to achieve everything he wants.

Bill
 
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It'll be whatever the resolution of the ADC , it will not know the quality of the input it is receiving be that cartridge a cheap AT or a Koetsu
An album that has been mastered poorly will not sound as good as a master that has been done correctly, pop them on to CD (16/44) and the good master will sound much better than the poor master, even though they have been digitised exactly the same.
A good analogue source will sound much better than a poor analogue source, even though they have been digitised the same.
A good cartridge will sound better than a poor cartridge even though they have been digitised the same.
 
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About 20 years ago I bought a cd recorder and copied lots of vinyl that way. I could then rip the cd's on my pc if I wanted them in file format. It was time consuming but I just did it for albums that were not available on cd at the time.
 
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