The following "how to" instructions were valid when written. However, they are out of date. Today, a number of inexpensive (and some costly) devices and good software are available to convert vinyl records, audio tapes, music, old home movies, and other media to digital format. The August, 2009 PCWORLD magazine has a feature article (page 104) that contains an excellent summary of options. Although the article emphasizes the potential to use various services, it also outlines do it yourself options.
Revised: July, 2009.
The following is probably no longer the easiest way. But here it is for historical interest. and it remains the cheapest. If you have a turntable that works, this may still be your most direct route.
{Thanks to Diana Fox for the question that led to this article.}
I recently made a shocking discovery: Our collection of old 33 1/3 rpm phonograph LP vinyl albums went obsolete about the same time as 8-track tapes. Moreover, the hardware to play back the old phonograph records is no longer in plentiful supply. Just try to purchase a replacement diamond point needle for your old turntable. When the rubber belts and rollers that drive the turntable crumble to dust, you will probably be out of the phonograph business.
I decided to archive our vinyl albums by copying them into my computer and thence onto music CDs.
The first step is to get the albums copied into digital format so that they can be archived safely onto media that we can work with in the future. There are two elements to this process: Hardware and Software.
HARDWARE:
Your computer must have an audio processing capability. Look at the specifications for your system. At minimum you need a 16-bit sound card with a "line in" or "audio in" socket. If your sound card cannot generate and process PCM 16-bit stereo 44.1 kHz or better, you are probably wasting your time. This is the minimum for sound reproduction that approximates the quality of ordinary music CDs.
The turntable and the amplifier to which the turntable is connected generate analog sound signals that can be fed into the "line input" of your computer's sound card. My amplifier did not have a "line out" connector; but it did have a "headphone out" socket. If your amplifier has a "line out" socket, you need to determine the type of plug it accepts. In my case (amplifier "headphone out" to computer "line in") I was able to find exactly what I needed in the local Radio Shack store: a cable with a 1/4" RCA stereo audio connector on one end and a 1/8" RCA stereo audio connector on the other end. With the help of a good salesperson, your local Radio Shack or other audio shop should be able to provide the connectivity you need.
Run the output from the turntable and amplifier to the sound card "line in." Make sure you have configured your sound card driver software to accept "line in" inputs. If you are running Windows, you probably have Windows Media Player installed. As soon as your properly configured interface cable, driver card software, and Media Player detect the signal on "line in," Media Player will send the music to your computer speakers. Voila: The computer is playing the music from your priceless vinyl album through a pair of $10 speakers. Don't be alarmed if the music doesn't sound quite as full and rich as you think it should. The sound card and the computer algorithms don't use those $10 speakers to create the digital files we will be building next.
SOFTWARE:
Capturing music from CDs or from other sources, is called "ripping" in the hip world of sharing, downloading, and piracy of music using computer technology. You are going to copy your collection of antique vinyl albums into digital files that you then archive onto CDs/DVDs or other media. When you are finished you will be able to play your music back through your computer sound system or through a CD/DVD player. This is a perfectly legal thing for you to do so long as you don't sell (or give) the copies you make to other people.
Do this in a three step process:
Step 1: Capture the audio signal.
I like AUDIOGRABBER Ver. 1.83. Go to Google and type in "audiograbber." The first hit should be for the http://www.audiograbber.com-us.net/ web site. In this site you should be able to download the completely free software. There are other free or very inexpensive software packages for capturing and recording music. I like AUDIOGRABBER because the price is right and because it has a simple human interface that reminds me of a mixing console, and it has complete help files that explain how to do everything I want to do.
After you download and install Audiograbber, spend some time reading the help files and experimenting with the various options. Audiograbber can convert the signal from the amplifier to either a digital representation of the analog signal ( a "wave" file) or to a compressed representation (an "MP3" file.) You may use either of these options. I like to use "wave" (or "wav") files because there is less processing involved. However "wav" files use 9 or 10 times as much space on the hard drive.
To get you started: here are the menu selections I use to capture my old phonograph albums:
With everything wired and the music to be recorded coming out of the computer speakers: Bring up Audiograbber. In the Audiograbber main window, you can click on MP3 to convert directly to this format while sampling. You could do this if, for example, storage space were a problem. In the Audiograbber main menu select FILE>Line in sampling. Then see the "Audiograbber Line in Sampling" window. Click on the "Mixer" button. The "Recording Control" window opens. Select "Line IN." Use the line in "fader" (slider bar) to adjust the volume. Adjust the volume output from the amplifier until the Volume meter shows optimal signal. Read the Audiograbber help file on this topic: You want a signal that seldom travels out of the 20%-60% range and seldom hits 100%. Set the track split sensitivity for about 5. You may need to adjust this depending on the music. Type in the artist and album names. Stop the turntable. Reset the needle to the beginning point. Click the Record button in the Audiograbber Line in Sampling Window. Lower the needle to begin recording. When recording is through, you may enter tag information for the various tracks.
Audiograbber automatically saves the data files in its default directory. The files are named using the parameters you provided for artist and album names.
As noted above, Audiograbber will either generate wav or MP3 files directly. If you have wav files, Audiograbber will convert the wav files to MP3 files for you. You can play the MP3 or wav files on your computer using Windows Media Player or one of the other player applications that are available for free download.
MP3 files play on a variety of personal devices.
Step 2: Archive the music data files for safekeeping.
This project started with a desire to get the sound off of the vinyl discs and onto more modern media. I recommend that you copy the data files to data CDs, data DVDs, or Memory Sticks, etc.
Step 3: Convert to music CD format.
Now, assuming that you want to listen to the music on your stereo system and hear an approximation of the quality of the vinyl album sound, you need to "burn" the computer music file to a music CD. Nero Express came bundled with my CD/DVD drive, so I use Nero Express. The interface is very straight forward. Nero Express automatically handles the file conversion. So, whether I am working with "wav" or with "MP3" files, it produces a music CD that plays on most CD players.
If you have an optical device that will burn CDs, but you do not have software that makes the conversion, do a web search for "free burn music CD." There are several good free utilities for this purpose.
After you have produced a music CD, test it in a stand alone CD player. Just because the CD works in the computer that produced it, does not mean it will play in all consumer CD devices. You may have to experiment with the "burning" or "ripping" parameters. Your drive may produce a music CD that works on some players but not on others. CD-RW may not work in all players.
Finally, Two years after I developed this procedure, I have learned that there is a device on the market that promises to read vinyl and generate music CDs. I have not seen this in action, but the advertising seems to promise an easy process.
New: 10 May 2006
Revised: 19 March 2008
Revised: 21 July 2009.