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Turn Your Old Records Into A Digital Library Article
Turn Your Old Records Into a Digital Library
from:Many people kept their vinyl records after that technology bit the dust, upgraded to 8-tracks then cassettes and finally, CDs, still not able to part with the nostalgic albums and 45s. Some people still have a collection of 78s stashed away. Did you know you can convert all that vinyl to digital music and play it back on your computer and MP3 player? While it would cost you hundreds or maybe even thousands of dollars to pay someone to convert a decent size vinyl collection, you can easily do it yourself for less than a hundred bucks!
Ion USB Turntable/Archiver
You can find this little gem at Newegg for $79.99 and bring your favorite music from days gone by into the 21st century. It’s so easy and affordable and will be a fun project for those who have kept their records stashed away in the closet for decades, knowing their time was past but unable to part with them. All you do is plug the turntable into the USB port on your computer and you’re ready to go! You can immediately record 33 1/3 albums and 45s and if you do have any 78s you’d like to copy, the archiver comes with software that will allow you to copy those as well.
Quality
If you’re worried about the quality you’ll get out of scratchy old records, the Archiver has that covered as well. That’s because your recordings will be cleaned up a bit and will record with little of the “noise” you hear when vinyl records play.
Formats
The archiver gives you a choice of formats when you record your vinyl so that you can digitize them to play on your MP3 player, wireless phone, or even make CDs to play on your home or car stereo. In fact, if you haven’t gone digital yet, you can connect the Ion to your home stereo and step back in time as you listen to your vinyl the old fashioned way.
PC or Mac
The Ion Turntable works with both PCs and Macs and for Windows you will need XP or Vista. If you have a Mac, you’ll need to have OS9 or higher. You can use either the 1.1 or 2.0 USB ports, although you might find the process a little faster with the 2.0 USB ports. The system is plug and play so you won’t need to do anything unless you’re recording 78s and then you will just need to install some software. Customer reviews are pretty positive about the Ion and the Ion website offers support and extra cartridges. For an affordable way to digitize your old vinyl records yourself, you just can’t beat the Ion Turntable/Archiver.