LP collection to CD? How can I do it?

[vagnermarks]

I have a collection of LP and I would like to save them in CDs.
How could I do it?

1) Is this a good suggestion?
Creative Labs Sound Blaster Audigy 2 VALUE PCI Internal Sound Card - OEM - 7.1 Channels, Max Sampling Rate: 192kHz, 24-bit, 1024 Voices, Connectors: Line level out, Microphone in, Line in, Telephone Answering Device in, Aux In, Digital I/O. Model# SB0400.

2) What kind of free program should I use?

3) Which is the best mode: MP3, Monkey, Lame, MPC, WMA, Ogg ? Which one could give me the best sound quality ?

4) It is important to have enough memory and free space in my HD !?

5) Is there something more that I should take care before go ahead?

6) Which kind of midia I have to use?

Somebody could give me some instructions because I really don´t understand nothing about it and it is my first time !

Tks

 

[the_Prisoner]

Try looking at <A HREF="http://download.com" target="_new">http://download.com</A> and do a search for programs.

I assume you have a turntable and some kind of phono input? hehe.

the Prisoner

I'm not a number, I'm a free man!

 

[folken]

Toms just did an article about this recently:
<A HREF="http://www.tomshardware.com/consumer/20050505/index.html" target="_new">http://www.tomshardware.com/consumer/20050505/index.html</A>

<A HREF="http://www.folken.net/myrig.htm" target="_new">My precious...</A>

 

[umheint0]

Analog recording are inherently noisy, as I'm sure you know. Your ADC will only work as well as the worst component in the system. Make sure your turntable is as clean as can be. If possible get a new needle too. Get the best RCA's you can, as short as you can. Get the best sound card you can. Those three will greatly affect the quality of the conversion.

Now, to answer the questions.

1. No, it isn't. I hate Creative, and I loathe them for recording purposes. Their line in is as bad as a tin can and string. Get an M-Audio card, or you can get away with that ADS box as well. Just stay very, very far away from Creative for recording purposes.

2. There are lots of choices for recording. <A HREF="http://audacity.sourceforge.net/" target="_new">Audacity</A> is supposed to work really well, and it's completely free. I've never used it personally as I don't do much recording, but it looks very clean, and it's very small.

3. This is a matter of size versus quality. MP3 is very popular, and the Lame codec is the best. 192kbit would return the best combination of size and quality, in my experience. Monkey is a lossless codec, but you'd only see the advantages in actual digital recordings. Ogg Vorbis is considered the definitive codec. It's growing in popularity, especially among audiophiles. It's biggest advantage is high quality with low bitrates. It's not as popular, but it's growing. I'd say go with MP3 if you want to share your music, or Ogg Vorbis if it's just for you.

4. Yes, always.

5. Just what I suggested above. The quality of your recordings is dictated by the quality of the source.

6. Media? A CD is a CD, that's all you need.

umheint0's phat setup --> <A HREF="http://home.cc.umanitoba.ca/~umheint0/system.html" target="_new">http://home.cc.umanitoba.ca/~umheint0/system.html</A><--

 

[KeillRandor]

First, to further recommend the suggestions made in the post above - apart from one:

IF you have the hard-disk space, (and it may be a big if), then the best format to master any (potential CD) recordings to, is 16-bit, 44.1Khz WAV files. I know they take up more room, but they have the best sound quality, which should be what you're looking for when copying LP's across to CD. If you need more room, then you can always convert them down to MP3's after burning.

(This is what I do with my Dad's LP's/Tapes when converting them to CD. (I have a DAW though, which helps )).

Keill.

'Stupidity is an often fatal disease' - R. A. Heinlein