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Its scratches are deep enough to fall into, it's got one small gouge, and, like me, it's slightly warped. Still guessing? It's Dave Brubeck's Elementals 33-rpm long-playing record I found in a bargain bin nearly 40 years ago. And it's the perfect excuse for a kick-back, springtime experiment: Turn a dingy old vinyl album into a pristine-sounding audio CD. (What, you think every column's got to be about gnarly Windows problems?)
I know what you're thinking: Transferring LPs to CD-R discs is another of Bass's harebrained schemes. But think of it as another use for that CD-RW drive you bought as a backup device. And you're sure to smile when you listen to the immaculate sound of one of your favorite old LPs (or audiotapes) on CD.
Once you're done, you can retire your turntable and vinyl albums. CDs are easier to handle than LPs, and you can listen to them almost anywhere, even on a PC.
Recording an entire album onto my PC and burning it to CD took maybe an hour, but I spent two days digging through the garage looking for the right equipment, hooking it up to the PC, and finally futzing with the software. First, the futz.
The Transfer Software
The $99 Easy CD Creator 5 Platinum from Roxio (a recent Adaptec spin-off) and EnhancedAudio's $99 Diamond Cut Audio Restoration Tools 32 both record music from an LP onto your hard drive and run filters to remove unwanted noise.
Easy CD Creator is a terrific tool for many disc-burning tasks--backing up your data, creating music CDs, or printing CD labels and notes. It also includes Spin Doctor, a feature to help remove pops, clicks, and hisses from old records and tapes as you convert them to digital format. Spin Doctor is a snap to use, but it's too dumbed-down for me. It has just two useful filters--noise and pop removal--and few other tools for adjusting the sound or removing distortions.
While Easy CD Creator is more the general practitioner, Diamond Cut 32 is a specialist. It's jammed with audio-tweaking features: 17 noise filters; a graphic equalizer; and tons of presets for recordings from live performances, shellac records, 78s, and 45s. The product's downside? It takes time to learn, and it lacks built-in CD-burning capabilities. My workaround for this is MusicMatch, a free program for playing music and burning CDs. You can find MusicMatch, as well as a fully operational trial version of Diamond Cut 32 (good for 30 days or 10 hours of use), in our Downloads library.
Audio Hardware Checklist
It takes some equipment to put LPs on CD, but don't go hog-wild until you know you'll be converting several recordings.
A record turntable: You may remember these, and may still have one. If not, prices start at about $100--check AudioReview.com for advice.
An amplifier: Your stereo can boost the sound from the turntable to the PC. Connect the turntable to the amplifier's input port and the amp's output port to your sound card. Don't want to disconnect the wires on your amp? I found a preamp at a yard sale for $20. It boosts the sound from the turntable and connects to your sound card just as an amp would. Not all shelf systems have a line-in jack for a turntable, however.
PC sound card, speakers, and cables: If your PC's sound card has a line-in or microphone port, it'll do fine. You'll need a Y-cable with a stereo miniplug at one end for the line-in or microphone jack on the sound card, and two RCA plugs at the other end for the preamp's left and right audio channels. A Y-cable costs about $5.
Take Five (Megabytes)
Prepare your PC: Defrag your hard drive and make sure there's plenty of free space. At 10MB or more per minute of recording, you need at least 2GB to store five average-length LPs. Here's your chance for a cagey rationalization: Buy a new drive and dedicate it specifically to audio recordings. You can easily find 10GB drives for less than $100. That'll give you breathing room for the music.
Time to go. Only another 120 albums to transfer before I can stash my turntable in the garage, right next to my eight-track.
Contributing Editor Steve Bass runs the Pasadena IBM Users Group. Sign up for his Home Office newsletter.
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