Get Those Vinyl Records into Your iPod

December 27, 2011, By James Pilcher 1 comment

How many of you have a stack or stacks of vinyl LP records collecting dust in your closet? I figure that anyone my age or older who is into music probably will answer "yes." You know, mid-40s? Stood in line to get the latest Van Halen or Cure record (yes I had eclectic tastes even back then).

Well, a few years back, I renewed my love affair with the "SSTT-POP!" sound.

When I heard it again after having stored my turntable for nearly 10 years, the smile nearly broke my face. "That's one of your favorite sounds in the world, isn't it?" my wife asked.

My answer was yes. A record player's needle finding the groove is still tough to beat.

I grew up with vinyl records, much preferring them to cassettes and even compact discs in the early days of that new technology. I think some music sounds better, fuller and richer on vinyl than on CD or digital download as long as you have a good turntable with a pristine stylus.

Of course, they still haven't invented a turntable that will work in the car or play both sides without having to flip it—or that will store hundreds if not thousands of tracks. And a lot of rare records, including some in my own collection, have never been turned into CDs or sold on iTunes.

That leaves three alternatives:

• Buying a CD recorder that hooks directly into the stereo. But the recorders go for more than $200, which becomes a budget issue. 
• Replacing all those records on CD or through an online store such as Amazon, iTunes or Google Music, which would cost much more than this writer earns over a very long period. 
• Digitizing your vinyl collection, which will allow you to make permanent CD versions of your favorite LPs, 45s and even 78s—if you can find a player to play them. 

New Ways of Doing It

After a tip from a colleague, I decided I would digitize some records. I was surprised how easy it is. A lot of other people have already written about this on the Web: Just type "turning vinyl into CDs" into your favorite search engine. 

I tried it myself a few years back, using my beloved Technics linear- tracking turntable hooked into my desktop at work. Using the third side of the double live LP "We Want Miles," by Miles Davis, I burned a Windows Media Audio (WMA) format cut of "My Man's Gone Now," with the slight crackles not distracting from Miles's beautiful muteless trumpet. Then I did the second side of Supertramp's "Breakfast In America" (avoiding the nauseatingly perky "The Logical Song").

There are also turntables now that have built in USB plugs, allow you to plug directly into a computer. My mother-in-law got me one a few years back, and I have been slowly but surely working my way through my vinyl. It came with a decent set of software that allows you to break up the tracks.

Newer models that run about $150 now have a feature that allows you to rip directly into an iPod—check it out here.

One thing that is difficult about the newer model, however, is controlling both the peak sound levels and the quality of the sound. Some of my Pink Floyd is VERY distorted, as is my Police "Ghost in the Machine." But it saved me the $10 to $15 it would have cost to replace it, and now I can get my fix of "Demolition Man" anytime I want.

NEXT: Go Old School