OT USB turntable recommendation

[d_douglas]

I have a collection of vinyl from my younger days that I want to record, then sell for huge $$ to buy a Crumpton ;) - OK, more likely, the proceeds will go into our kid's university tuition investment funds.

I would like opinions on what type of system I should be using. Here are my criteria:

- It will be on a Mac (either my 7yr old MB Pro or our 1 yr old Imac)
- setup ONLY with computer - I sold my actual stereo years ago.
- keep it under $200 all inclusive
- simple to use
- can manage some poorly treated vinyl (this is a wish, as mistreating my LPs as a teenager is my own fault :(


Does anyone have good advice on what to use? I have heard good things about an Audio Technica model and some Ion models. I know there are audiophile quality systems out there, but I am not interested in those - low budget is the key.

Thanks in advance!

[Ken Robb]

I doubt that there is much demand for music from abused vinyl recorded over a mediocre playback system.

[d_douglas]

I am not sure what you mean, but I sense sarcasm? :)

I am recording the vinyl for my personal use and trying to sell the vinyl to make some $$. Some of it is in good shape, some not so good. I am quite sure that I wont be getting my custom Crumpton upon sale of these LPs - but I do expect to profit a bit.

Mainly, I would like to clear the LPs out of my life and retain some memories of the music that I grew up on. Constructive feedback, anyone?

[rice rocket]

Digitizing and then selling the media doesn't fall under DMCA fair use. :no:

[jtakeda]

Unless your records are insanely rare you can probably already find the titles for download and save a TON of time.

If you're set on recording, the USB turntables have fairly bad sound quality.

You only have a few options for USB turntables, audio technica is probably The most reputable of the brands that offer them.


On a side note, what kind of vinyl do you have? You might have a buyer right here.

[mtechnica]

USB turntables in general suck for many reasons, most of which is the integration of the interface and turntable itself. The combination of all of these things (and the cartridge) packed into one low cost device basically means all of it is garbage. If you want to rip vinyl and have results that are worth a damn/your time DO NOT use a cheap USB turntable.

What you want is:

1.) Normal turntable. Find an old direct drive table or other solid vintage table such as a technics.

2.) Get a good cartridge, shure, audio technica. Re-wire the table with new RCA's if necessary.

3.) Buy an external USB phono interface such as an art.

Then at this point you also have a solid analog setup that you can plug into a vintage reciever/speakers for musical enjoyment, should you ever want to.

As far as ripping vinyl, there is a HUGEEEEE learning curve for this. My only advice for now is to either do it right or don't do it at all. Also start learning how to use a program called audacity.

Good luck and seriously don't bother buying a USB turntable.

[d_douglas]

Digitizing and then selling the media doesn't fall under DMCA fair use. :no:

Really? I bought these LPs years ago, used them extensively, am retaining a copy in a different format for myself, and now am selling them - I can hardly see that being an issue.

Now, whether by law it is teh case or not is another question, but I seriously doubt that anyone would take issue with this.

Are you saying that you are not allowed to record a CD (hasnt everyone done this?) onto your computer and sell the CD for a few bux at a garage sale? For reference, I NEVER download movies or music from the internet - I always pay.

I don't want to turn this into an ethical debate, as I am quite comfortable with my plans, but if you wish to continue this discussion via PM (to enlighten me in case I will be sent to jail and my kids wont see me until they're in university) I welcome your reply.


As for the collection, there are some rarities. I listened to punk music as a teenager and through my 20's, so there are original issues of classics (Clash, Stiff Little Fingers, Black Flag and SST catalog stuff right up to crazy stuff like the Cromags, DRI, SNFU etc.) I also have a number of classic jazz, R+B, Bowie, yada yada yada in there. There are some recordings in there that are worth something, condition aside.

I have monitored these on Ebay over the years (like, maybe once per year) and some of the ones I have go for some considerable cash. I probably would not sell on Ebay due to the condition of them - most are not audiophile quality.

[staggerwing]

Are you saying that you are not allowed to record a CD (hasnt everyone done this?) onto your computer and sell the CD for a few bux at a garage sale? For reference, I NEVER download movies or music from the internet - I always pay.

Technically, yes, that is exactly case. The license is tied to possession of the original media. What is to stop they guy that picks it up at your garage sale from burning a copy for himself, and passing/selling it off to another, that may in turn to the same?

Can't say, with a straight face, that I've never crossed that line. However, I always try to find a way to support those bands that mean something to me. In some ways, today it is easier than ever to support smaller artists by purchasing content directly.

[druptight]

Having sold an extremely large collection of media after ripping it all (CD's in my case), I'd also highly suggest going out and finding out what the market is for what you have. I can tell straight off, that if the jackets aren't in fairly pristine condition AND if the records aren't in near mint condition (your really need both here), your value is EXTREMELY low unless you've got some seriously rare vinyl. There's a market for the mint stuff but not much of a market for the abused stuff.

Take a selection of 20 or 30 of what you think are the crown jewels of your collection, and take it to the 'bay (or your local used record store). Find out what you're talking for value in mint condition, then adjust for the condition of your stuff. I think you'll find that for the money you'll get in return you're better off picking up an old turntable off of craigslist, plugging it in, and sitting back with a whiskey and enjoying.

OT: I worked at a record store for years, and had a CD collection that was in the 1500-2000 disc range - when I moved in with the missus she told me that they'd basically never be displayed in the house unless I had a dedicated music room, which seemed like a distant impossibility. I cut my losses, ripped and sold everything. I did OK, managed to average about $2 a disc, which wasn't a bad take home for an archaic medium.

[jtakeda]

You sir, have a PM

[fuzzalow]

Simply sell the LP's. Not all of them will be worth what you hope them to be worth. It is unlikely you will get a windfall although the profit on them percent-wise will look good on paper because these LPs are equivalent to found money because you bought them so long ago.

Forget doing needle-drops with the LPs to retain the music. It is a tremendous amount of work and is not worth doing - it involves editing the clicks and pops off the .wav file. I understand perhaps wanting to save the music from the LP as it hasn't had the dynamic range squashed out of it as most of the remastered digital versions do. And some of the punk stuff may not be available in digital form. But getting great quality needle drops from a USB TT won't happen. IMO it is not worth buying a USB TT to do this project.

Original jazz LPs are worth more than pop/rock. Gotta be in great condition, a trashed LP is just like one of thousands of abused vinyls - an audio buff won't pay squat for that.

[mtechnica]

It's not necessarily a tremendous amount of work, everything just needs to be hooked up and functioning properly, if you have an understanding of levels and waveforms it takes a few attempts to get it sounding right but it's not a problem. For personal rips I wouldn't bother editing out noises or splitting up tracks or anything, record the wav of the whole album side at proper levels then convert it to flac. Done. Most of the time and difficulty is in the equipment and initial setup, then it's a matter of how much time you want to put into the ordeal. But ripping for personal listening isn't as critical and time consuming is ripping for archiving purposes. Even mediocre condition albums can produce listenable results.

[d_douglas]

Thanks all. yes, it doesn't need to be audiophile quality - I never had that in the first place, so there is no need for perfection.

I will happily buy the digital version off iTunes if a song or two is all that I require - I actually am not concerned with the 'vintage' quality of the sound of the LPs. The need to record these things directly comes from having some recordings that are no longer available (eg., Soul Asylum when they were an 'unknown' band - I watched them play in my little town when they were teenagers - this means something to me) so tracking them down on the web is a near impossibility.

Anyhoo, back on topic, I feel like my audio equipment tastes are the equivalent of desiring a Trek or whatever, but honestly, i am not too interested in sipping whiskey in my man cave while listening to Butthole Surfers - it just isnt my thing. (Sorry, that was rude - all the power to ya for loving that yourself!)

Best of a bad bunch of USB turntables? I think I could unearth a belt-drive Dual turntable if buying a DAC would give better results. I literally do not have a stereo of any kind now - I bought 'nice' speakers that run off my Imac.

Thanks folks.

[Davist]

I used my old turntable, new cartridge (as advised above) and bought an "RIAA moving magnet preamp" for about $20 or so with RCA jacks out and put into my (whatever quality came with pc) soundcard.

My wife has a figure skating coaching business, so we need to cut/edit music. The program we found (sorry, it's PC) is called "gold wave" (about $50 iirc) and does the click / pop stuff and track cutting by itself. I "ripped" about 100 vinyl records and some that just don't exist any more for the ipod use, still have the records, came out better than expected. Didn't take long at all. Literally about 15 minutes to 1/2 hour other than recording.

Quite honestly, it exceeds the quality of the itunes standard download, which surprised the heck out of me. Get some Klipsch pro media 2.1 speakers on the bay or elsewhere cheep and have a great time. Now if all my records weren't 80s stuff... ah well, life is imperfect..

[bart998]

I received the Icon Profile Pro turntable as a gift a couple of years ago:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/like/111225751304?lpid=82

I've been able to upload 100's of vinyl lp's to itunes using it with very satisfactory results.

Cheers.

[rustychisel]

great topic, reading the responses carefully because I have a large collection of vinyl, I mean large, north of 7000 albums and 2500 singles and EPs and have thought about recording many of them for, oh, I've been thinking about it for 12 years or so now...

Incidentally, Audacity, the app, works really well on older Macs, is a free download, and the learning curve isn't too steep. Highly recommended for sound editing.

[crownjewelwl]

I got one as a gift...it is still in the box

I will give you a deal...pm me if you care!

[Ken Robb]

I am not sure what you mean, but I sense sarcasm? :)

I am recording the vinyl for my personal use and trying to sell the vinyl to make some $$. Some of it is in good shape, some not so good. I am quite sure that I wont be getting my custom Crumpton upon sale of these LPs - but I do expect to profit a bit.

Mainly, I would like to clear the LPs out of my life and retain some memories of the music that I grew up on. Constructive feedback, anyone?

Sorry, No sarcasm intended. I misunderstood your original post and thought you hoped to sell copies of your old LPs. Whatever you want to invest in the way of time and money for your future listening is obviously for you to decide. I have a large collection of vinyl and CDs and I agree with the guys who said that they have to be in mint condition to have any value to me. It would be cool if there were a few guys who wanted to do this so one turntable could be passed along once each guy's collection was ripped.

[jtakeda]

If sound quality is not of importance than USB turntable is fine.

For those wanting good sound quality other preamps and such are needed.

[oliver1850]

A Saints lp that I've digitalized is playing on shuffle as I write this.....

I've used both USB and better quality turntables to digitalize vinyl. Both can work, but as mentioned the USB type (Audio Technica is what I have) can be very hit and miss when it comes to tracking. There's no stylus or tracking force adjustment, and some lps just won't play on it. Put them on the AR or the Stanton and there's no problem. So it would be hard for me to recommend the AT for that reason alone. I assume other brands' performance is similar.

I've always used Cakewalk Pyro software. It's what I started with, and happens to be what comes with the AT turntable. I tried Roxio but didn't like it as well.

My computer has always been hooked up to a stereo reciever (or seperates) and real speakers. Hard to beat 100 wpc (or better yet 200+) into some efficient speakers like Klipsch or JBL.

[rustychisel]

The Monkey Puzzle????? :)

[Tony T]

Ripped my old vinyl with my Linn Sondek a few years ago.
Tagged tracks, added artwork and lyrics to FLAC then converted to m4a
After the rip, most of the conversion was automated. Sound quality was excellent. Took 6 months, but worth it (re-discovered a lot of music I hadn't heard in a looong time :))

[pdmtong]

the time it wll take to do this is too valuable to waste on a cheap $199 USB table. the time is the real cost.

the only system a USB table ouptut is good for is a clock radio or 3" car speakers.

[jtakeda]

the time it wll take to do this is too valuable to waste on a cheap $199 USB table. the time is the real cost.

the only system a USB table ouptut is good for is a clock radio or 3" car speakers.

Although I agree with you, it's also kind of fun listening to all those records.

also did you see the list of stuff he has? DRI Dealing With It is like 30 songs in 15 minutes. Shouldn't take THAT long.