Best way to copy LPs to CD's using a Computer

I would recommend you bypass the PC altogether and simply purchase a decent consumer-grade CD recorder. You can find 'em on Audiogon or FleaBay for a couple hundred bucks. Do all your transfers and then turn around and sell the unit for a minor loss. To me, that's the cheapest and easiest way to get the job done...

-RW-

Interesting comments. Herman, I've used Tracer Technology's software (DC5) and setting levels wasn't too much of a hassle. Just like making a tape. Find the loudest passage (look at the grooves) and dial them in. DC5 lets you make an intermediate adjustment so if you don't use all the bits you can upscale it so it does. Not sure if that is sonically desireable or not. It is very easy to seperate songs using DC5 - very easy to graphically find the pauses b/t songs and insert breaks. As for song titles, you can often snag them online from a discography and copy/paste them in. It's good to choose software that has useful filters. DC5 can remove hum, surface noise, and pops and clicks. I mostly used it to remove pops and clicks, which you can either remove with an automatic filter, or for less sonic impact see them on the screen and "redraw" the waveform for that millisecond. It works really well.

For all these reasons, I WOULD recommend a PC application. Many of the consumer grade CD recorders require that you "stand by" during recording and hit a button to break the recording between songs. With a computer, or some of the better recorders (e.g. Alesis Masterlink) you can do that later. But it's easiest to do graphically, and for that the computer is superior. I would imagine that many consumer grade units do not allow post processing for pops and clicks. Plus, you already have a computer. Buy the ADC and resell that when you are done!

Best, Peter

Jcbach, yes Roxio is what I used, on a Mac, and Toast is one of the applications you'll need but the real work is in extracting the individual tracks from the one long track you'll get from each side of an analog album. That requires another application that came with Toast called Spin Doctor, I think.

In theory, the software is smart enough to find the end and beginning of the tracks and separate them but I found that never worked well enough to be useful and it was absolutely necessary to go through each long digital track manually and separate the song tracks.

If you're satisfied to just have one long track for each side of the album you don't need to do that but that means you'll have to 'search' for individual songs in the same way you would with a cassette tape.

Another problem is that unless you're monitoring the conversion process closely, in real time, you'll find small glitches in the digital copy later that you have no way to go back and fix.

That process, combined with having to fiddle with the equalization and noise reduction for most albums is the reason I found the process not to be worth the effort, compounded by the fact that almost everything was available on CD, anyway.

But, again, if you have music you can't get a copy of any other way, go for it.

I have not found it to be a "big pain in the hoo-hoo" as some others have. For me, it is like the old days when one recorded a cassette- cue the LP, set the levels, re-cue and have a seat and enjoy the music as it is recording.
When I record, my plan is to listen to the LP, i.e., listen to the music. Normally, almost always, when I play an LP or CD, it is with the intention of listening and enjoying. If it's something that I wish to record for my iTunes library (so I can EASILY rip a CD for a friend and/or myself to listen in the car) I don't approach the process as a labor intensive act.
It involves a small amount of thinking and preparing, not as much as it has taken me to type this, BTW.
If there are 10 other things you'd rather be doing, rather than sitting, relaxing, listening, tapping your feet, feeling the hair on your neck rising, better yet- having someone else feeling the back of your neck, while you are ACTUALLY LISTENING TO THE MUSIC IN THEM THAR GRUUUVS, then I agree, it might seem like a pain in the arse. Better to go work on the car, mow the lawn, clean your gun, kick the dog, watch tv, check your stocks, pick your nose. Ripping a CD without even having to listen to it is truly a convenience.

I have been trying to find a high fidelity way to do this for years, but i've never found a well documented example.

There is much more than just the software choice. What is more important is the hardware.

Hardware wise - How can we get our LP music to the computer with the absolute most minimum comprimise? Spdif clearly is not an option for high fidelity, there must be some better way.