You may wonder whether it is wise to pay to download all of your favourite old music that you already possess on vinyl if you grew up in the 1960s, 1970s, or 1980s and have a sizable collection of vinyl albums.
Here is a comprehensive tutorial on digitising vinyl.
Is there a method to convert your old music so that it can be played on a computer or phone? There certainly is. Using a turntable that has been expressly designed for the task or by connecting a conversion device to an existing turntable, you may digitise all of your old record albums on your own. See these suggestions for converting vinyl to digital.
Go turn on your records.
The Burj Khalifa-sized stack of Duran LPs and singles is now in your possession. Or maybe it’s a collection of vintage Miles Davis recordings. You merely want to get those old vinyl albums converted to a digital format so you can listen on your computer.
The good news is that converting vinyl to digital just requires a small investment in money and doesn’t require you to be a rocket scientist, audio engineer, or computer programmer.
Making your own vinyl to digital music
Up until a few years ago, converting vinyl to digital required connecting your existing turntable to the audio input jack on the back of your computer. However, this required first locating an audio preamp because a regular turntable only produces relatively weak audio signals.
Your digital recordings wouldn’t have sounded as good without it. Not to mention the confusing array of connections, adapters, and, well, you get the idea. Fortunately, if you give electronics manufacturers a hint of a market niche, they’ll quickly and with a wide range of products fill it.
There are now turntables available with a direct USB output; simply connect it to your computer using a standard USB cable, run some software, and you’re good to go. The majority of these turntables, depending on the brand and type, are rather reasonable.
Of course, none of these are recommendations; they are only illustrations of what is available and what to anticipate to pay for base model gadgets. Find out which is ideal for your needs by conducting your own study.
You’ll also need patience if you want to convert vinyl to digital. Because music is transferred in real-time, allow an hour to record every 58 minutes of music.
Like many other things in life, quality may be purchased with money. The budget turntables are probably not going to produce the results you’re after if you’re a true audiophile. Although USB turntables are convenient combination devices, they are frequently of poor quality and may have trouble working well with older and slower computers.
A good traditional turntable or tape deck connected to an external USB audio interface is the optimal solution, according to several users with vast experience digitising LPs and tapes, according to the incredibly useful Audacity page on USB turntables. In most cases, USB audio interfaces are free of the transmission issues that USB turntables and tape decks encounter as well as the sporadic clicking sounds that can occur with sound devices integrated into computer motherboards.”
When converting vinyl to digital doesn’t make sense
Be aware that many classic albums are now available in remastered editions, which means many of them may sound even better than the original vinyl, if you’re planning to convert your whole Beatles collection to the digital format.
Yes, the downloads will cost money (or you can buy the CDs, even old, and convert those relatively easily), but you will save time, effort, and the cost of purchasing the necessary equipment. This may even deliver higher quality than what you could get from budget or mid-range turntable setups.
What you must avoid doing with your vinyl records
This kind of hold on an album is essentially a declaration of war, as anyone who has ever spent their hard-earned money on a highly desired vinyl record will understand.
Remember to handle your records with clean hands and to hold them by the label’s centre or the thin outer borders whether they are new or vintage.
Following the vinyl to digital conversion
It’s crucial to correctly arrange your audio files once you’ve downloaded them to your computer so you can easily find your favourite songs whenever you need them. Each song should be labelled with its title, and each album should have its own folder (with the album name, artist, and sometimes other information like genre and release date).
If you accomplish this correctly, syncing that data and automatically downloading album cover artwork for all of your converted music should be a fairly simple process. Learn how to obtain album artwork for your music collection here.
You’ll soon be singing along to your old favourites, and the greatest part is that you’ll now be able to take them wherever you go, whether it be in the vehicle, seven miles in the air, or on a trip to Tahiti.