Questions about recording vimyl to computer?

For me, streaming is a no brainer. People complain because a service costs $15-20 a month. Are you kidding me? I used to spend sometimes hundreds a month on discs and vinyl for a few titles. Now for less than I paid for a single CD 30 years go I have access to millions of songs in high resolution. 

the convenience and selection is unbelievable. Last night I sat down with the latest copies of Absolute Sound and Stereophile (also a ridiculous bargain at a dollar a month or so each)  and went through the music reviews, Everything I was interested in was instantly available on a streaming service for me to listen to while I read about it. Or as you read a hardware review and the reviewer discusses the songs he used to evaluate it, you have instant access  to listen to what he is talking about. Amazing. Something we didn't even dream of a few years ago.

@herman 

People complain because a service costs $15-20 a month. Are you kidding me? I used to spend sometimes hundreds a month on discs and vinyl for a few titles.

Good point. One difference is that you get to own the disks on tangible media. I think this is partly the reason for the vinyl resurgence. Back in the day, the cover art was considered important. But the times, they are a'changin'. And then there's hat vast library to choose from. Even I go to Amazon or Pandora occasionally to hear some obscure blues, mostly. 

herman

... recording vinyl is not like copying a CD. It is done in real time and requires your attention. It takes a lot of time .... Last thing you want is to put in a lot of hours only to discover there was a better, easier way.

Agreed! For all the effort it takes to record vinyl, I want the absolute best copy that I can make. This is the last place to cut corners.

... why do you want to do this? I thought it sounded like a great idea but after doing it for a while decided why not just spin the record when i wanted to hear those songs? What was I going to do with the digital file anyway that it made it worth the expense and hassle required to get the file?

Great question. A properly stored and handled LP is an archival medium - more so than tape. I have some LPs that were bought used and are more than 50 years old, yet still sound like new even after many plays. They don’t need digital "preservation."

But in addition to listening to LPs, I also play digital files. As we all know, not everything released on LP has been released on CD so in the case of some rare favorites, I’ve made my own digital copies. Then the track can be put in a playlist for digital playback.

There are also some instances where a digital release is so sonically inferior to its LP counterpart as to be unlistenable. So I sometimes will digitize an LP so that I can hear the preferred version when I’m listening to my digital playlists.

Without drifting OT, this is all why I see the analog/digital debate so absurd. They can both sound great and they coexist quite nicely.

@cleeds

I’m not doing this to preserve the LP’s. Just like cassettes that I used to record too, these will be played on a different (& easier) medium. I too have 50-60 yr old records. And you are correct that they play fine. But at 69 yrs old I sometimes just want to listen rather than go through the vinyl ritual. This is the only reason to digitize. FWIW my vinyl setup is quite good and I listen 90% vinyl. But i foresee a time that I just may want to press a button and let the digital player play it for me. It probably won’t be as good as my vinyl. But its better than not playing m,y music. Besides, I have some music which is not on digital.

artemus_5

I’m not doing this to preserve the LP’s. Just like cassettes that I used to record too, these will be played on a different (& easier) medium.

Understood - I only mentioned the preservation aspect because so many cite it as a reason to digitize an LP. Yesterday's cassette or reel-to-reel mixtape is today's playlist.

... at 69 yrs old I sometimes just want to listen rather than go through the vinyl ritual. This is the only reason to digitize ... i foresee a time that I just may want to press a button and let the digital player play it for me. It probably won’t be as good as my vinyl. But its better than not playing m,y music. Besides, I have some music which is not on digital.

Same here. For convenience, you can't beat digital. But digitizing an LP is so tedious and time-consuming I'd typically rather stream or play my existing digital files than endure the LP-to-digital transfer process. But there are exceptions, and it is possible to get virtually perfect digital files from LP.