Vinyl collection, now what?

Keep collection of your uncle, buy yourself a nice Direct Drive turntable like this (with a cartridge and phono stage), listen and enjoy!

I bet all those tracks available for free in apple music or elsewhere.

Owing a collection is not like owing a files or having access to the files online. It’s completely different experience with physical media, especially if it is related to one of your family member.

You can’t properly convert your vinyl without expensive cartridge/turntable and analog to digital converter.

@hleeid I'm not familiar with that preamp but upon looking at the specs online it seems to be pretty high end.  As I understand there is an option to add a phono board to it.  If you already own this preamp you will need to know which board it has, if any.  At any rate, in my journey I tried several phono preamps before landing on the one I have now.  Your ears will tell you what you like best.  As high bang-for-buck preamps go, it will be hard to find anything better than the Parasound JC3 Junior.  I have the JC3+ and have tried upgrading it, but everything else I heard did not best it.  The Junior is supposed to be very close to the JC3+ but at half the price.  What's great about it is it has loading adjustability for a wide range of cartridges, and the adjustments are very easy to make.  All the controls are on the back of the unit.  No opening up a case and configuring dip switches, etc.  This preamp gives you room to grow as you try other cartridges, as you most likely will if you love vinyl as many of us do.  There are others in this price range that are also excellent, but I don't have experience with them.  

i own 4 turntables, and 5 tonearms, and thousands of records. i love vinyl. i do own over 1000 2xdsd digital files ripped from vinyl, with gear exactly like mine. but i did not do any of those rips, and would never take the time to do it.

the wrong reason to get into vinyl is digitizing records. if your goal is to hear good music, sell the records and invest in digital streaming. digitizing records has a very steep learning curve and is a pain the ass to do. and the results are unlikely to be as good as good streaming unless you make a substantial gear investment.

vinyl is a big commitment and don’t even think about it unless you are planning on being all in. dipping your toe into vinyl will never get that music effectively into a digital format.

lastly; 5 years ago a case could be made for digitizing vinyl for music access. but that ship has sailed with high rez streaming. it’s so good that digitizing records is foolish. put the money into better digital gear. if you do go all in for vinyl playback then yes; that can get you better sound than streaming. but the vinyl ’all-in’ threshold is pretty spendy.

vinyl is a big commitment and don’t even think about it unless you are planning on being all in. dipping your toe into vinyl will never get that music effectively into a digital format.

While I agree with that, you have to start somewhere to see if a larger investment is worth it, to you. I reintroduced myself to vinyl after a 35 year hiatus, with basically a ‘re-starter’ set-up. After a year and half, I realized vinyl was worth a larger commitment and recently spent a significant amount on a new rig. Now my digital really can’t compare to my ears, so am now thinking of upgrading my digital front end. The viscous cycle/rabbit hole 😁

But, you never know until you try. If vinyl isn’t for you over the long haul, you can go on and still be happy with a fairly inexpensive set-up. But if you do make a larger commitment, and realize what vinyl is capable of, your current digital set-up may not satisfy you anymore in comparison until you upgrade there as well. Ahhh....the fun we have.

Some good advice here as well as interesting questions. I have no advice but do have a question:

Why did your still-living uncle will you part of a record collection he is still using, knowing that you do not own an analog front end? I do realize you said he is crazy. You also said he is an audiophile. Do you think these terms are interchangeable? Many people do. Sometimes I wonder about myself.