LP to CD transfer

[M Holmes]

Paul Mather writes:

> > They'll be the CD-R write-once systems I guess. So presumably they could
> > write CD's from LP's (not illegal if I own the LP's).
>
> Not illegal?  I thought it was in the UK.  (Though I think people should
> be able to record their analogue media for archival purposes.)  Doesn't
> anyone remember the ol' "Home Taping is Killing Music" campaign on
> record sleeves?

It's always been legal to make one cassette copy of your own LP's for
your own listening. I presume the same law applies to one CD copy.

> > Is it likely that these could also be connected to a 'puter to write
> > stuff to CD like 'puter files and software?
>
> If it has a digital out, then you're presumably on easy street (aside
> from needing a system/card that can keep up with the bitrate).

Yeah? How likely is that? What sort of thing are we talking about? Mine
has a Soundgalaxy Waverider Pro 32-2D card in it for an 8x CD unit.

> Naturally, the quality of those samples will be dependent upon the
> quality of the A/D converter in the CD-write unit; you might do better
> with a cheap CD-R drive and an audiophile capture card for a PC,
> especially if you're wanting to edit everything you record from analogue
> sources anyway.  (In fact, the scenario you describe would probably best
> be served by a regular CD-R drive w/capture card and PC digital
> editing.)

OK, could you advise on hardware and software worth looking at? How
effective would the software be at ripping out the pops once the music
is digitised?

> We have a high-end digital editing system in the lab I work in.  I
> talked to the new guy who admins it, and he said that good editing
> software can be costly (Sonic Solutions, et al).  I'm sure low-cost
> editing software can be had for free (as others have mentioned), but,
> remember, you get what you pay for.  :-)

> If your ostensible aim is to digitally archive your LPs, have you
> considered just getting a pro-DAT drive? I'm sure it will beat the
> CD-write unit hands down in terms of price/performance (and the media
> is reusable!)

On the other hand I usually play CD's because of the convenience (though
presumably getting any track indexing on them would be tricky? Or could
this be done in software before the write to CD?)

> Naturally, you can't make CD-R bootlegs with a DAT unit,
> but you did stress these were for your own personal use, didn't you?
> :-)

Of course I'd only record *my* CDs for my own personal use.  Anything
else would be illegal.  However, I might offer to make copies of my
friends' LPs to CD for them to archive. It never hurts for anyone to
have a backup.

> Paul.

FoFP