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Vinyl rips - still worth it?

Streaming is getting better. Is it still worth it, to record vinyl to digital files?

I would like comments based on experience. 

One basic issue should be mentioned. When you record a LP you are the owner of this recording. You can bring it along and play wherever you want. It is not just something you rent, like with streaming. You can play it regardless of an internet connection. And if your main system breaks down, or you get out of vinyl playback, you can still have a large library of your vinyl albums, in digital format.

Some factors are quite clear. The better the LP production and sound, the more value of a recording. The better your analog playback chain, and the recorder, the more value. The chance rises, that it will sound better than streaming.

Your experience is welcome.

My personal view is that, with fairly good LPs and a fairly good playback system and recorder, vinyl rips are still worth it.

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billstevenson
352 posts
 

There is a lot of music on old records that is not available otherwise.  Plus you can create you own mix.  I say go for it and have fun.

ghdprentice
6,967 posts
 

My digital streaming leg of my system sounds as good and sometimes better than my very good vinyl leg. I don’t think recording my vinyl would improve the sound.

Since I think it is pretty natural once streaming’s sound quality is equal to or better than that of your vinyl collection, most folks focus changes from the few thousand recording you have heard many times to the millions you have not. So, the question is tricky.

Personally, I do not waste my valuable time copying music when I have millions of albums at my finger tips.

mapman's avatar
mapman
22,198 posts
 

I still do it but with decreasing frequency. Only with records I have that I have to hear and not on Qobuz. I listen while “ripping” the record then it always gets streamed from there. If I did not have a very easy and good quality record cleaner (HumminGuru) I’d probably do it even less now. Sound quality is a wash and streaming with Roon is night and day more versatile in every way compared to playing a record. Once in a while I may get an urge out of habit to play a record just because.

mijostyn's avatar
mijostyn
8,570 posts
 

It depends on what you are using to rip the records. Using Channel D's Pure Vinyl software on an Apple computer at 24/192 the rips are indistinguishable from the real thing. This is the program Michael Fremer uses. It is also ergonomically brilliant and makes ripping vinyl a simple job. I use it to raid friend's record collections of rare records. 

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