Portable Audio & Video

Digitize your old vinyls and enjoy the music on a CD player or iPod

Dig out those old vinyl records- if you still have them-digitize them, and give them a new lease of life on a CD, or as clips in your iPod. Digitizing the good, old songs on these long plays ( LPs ) – from turntable to computer-need not be some lost arcane art. Practically any PC or notebook computer can do the job these days. All you need is the right hardware and software. There is no need to spend heaps of money in these conversions. Plus, it is so easy, no complex audiophile knowledge is a required. The most convenient methods is to use an external device like the Creative Sound Blaster Digital Music SX . The device has several advantages:

( a ) It has RCA inputs, so you can plug the LP player’s audio output to the device  directly-no adapter needed. 

( b ) No external amplifier needed. It has designed to pre-amp and boost the incoming audio signals, so that they are punchier and have more presence. This works for both LP players and even your cassette-tape walkman. 

( c ) The comprehensive software bundle contains a specialized recording wizard with tools to reduce the typical imperfections from records, like hissing. 

( d ) As an external device, Creative’s gizmo works with every computer including notebooks. 

I used a HP Pavilion dv1609 notebook computer for this experiment, and the Creative Sound Blaster Digital Music SX. The turntable came with a stereo output in the form of two RCA cables ( red and white ) . 

Here’s how to transform your old sound into soothing music. 

( a ) Install the sound Blaster Digital Music SX software and connect the device to the computer using a USB cable. 

( b ) Connect the LP player to the Sound Blaster’s RCA audio inputs labelled, Line-In 1. Switch the input selector dial on the device to Line-In 1. 

( c ) Launch the supplied Creative recording software, Creative Smart Recorder, and use the step-by-step Recording Wizard. 

( d ) First, play the LP and then use the Smart Recorder software to analyse the audio signal. Next, use the various controls to adjust the incoming music.

( e ) Click the record button on the software, and play the LP. Watch for any skipping or bumps in the music playback. You may have to clean the LP and turntable pick-up, and redo the recording again, if there is. 

( f ) Stop the recording when the LP reaches the end. Flip over the LP and start another recording session. The software will then show you all the songs that have been recorded, even the silence between tracks. Delete these silent tracks. You can also combine tracks, in the case of songs which have been inadvertently split by the software. 

( g ) Now, the software will ask you to save the remaining songs in the audio format of your choice. Sticks with the default, wave stereo, if you intend to burn them to a CD, or convert to an audio format suitable for your music player, like WMA. You may want to further clean up the digitized tracks using a specialized audio software.

( h ) Launch your CD burner software and drag in your newly digitized songs to create an audio CD. Remember to rename the file names to the song titles. 

 

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Life long learning. 

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