Playing vinyl on the second gen

[spear]

I'm going through a bit of a second childhood at present.

 

The pillion and I have been together 41 years and married for 39 this year.

We both love our music and always have, and from the early days (early 70s) we used to buy the odd vinyl LP, transfer it to tape, and put the LP away. That way the tape could wear out and the LP was (is) 'as-good-as-new.'

 

We have around 200 albums, and when CDs became the new thing we obviously stopped buying vinyl. (Our CD library runs to nearly 1,000 discs.)

 

Just prior to Christmas I was in an Aldi store and spotted a weekly special - a 'record player' (turntable) / cassette deck combination with SDHC and USB ports. The box said you can record vinyl or tapes to either of the digital media and transfer the resultant files as MP3 files to PC, iPod etc. For the outrageous price of $49, what did I have to lose? So I bought one. (Incidentally, the best $49 ever invested!)

 

Meanwhile, at home, I knew I had a desktop 'music mixer' console programme on my PC - Audacity to be specific - so I dragged out the LP collection and have begun to transfer each album to my PC.

 

I'm able to add the bit of extra bass that I prefer, increase dB etc etc and not only have MP3 files but can also retro-convert the files to WAV.

 

To cut to the chase I'm slowly building up our CD collection by around another 200 discs and loading up my iPods with so much more MP3 travel music that it's obscene.

 

The entire process is not as quick as 'backing up' discs as you can imagine, as the LPs have to be played and recorded in real time. But it's nice to hear them all again whilst this is happening and I'm doing other things in my study.

 

Have loaded a lot more MP3 files onto thumb drives for the car's audio system as well.

Now I have to decide if I'm going to keep my original vinyl albums or sell them off.

 

The latter is a really attractive proposition because I've researched what sort of prices they are bringing on the open market, and believe me, there is a lot of audiophiles out there paying big bucks for good vinyl.

 

I think I may be sitting on a gold mine.

 

May as well do it now because when I'm dead and gone, nobody else (apart from the pillion) will appreciate their worth and I can otherwise only envisage them going to land fill.

[Riderduke]

I got one a computer turn table for christmas. I have not used it yet but gonna start to convert my vinyl into MP3's also. Glad its working out for you. I hope mine works as well as yours does.

[spear]

Have fun David.

I am!

[XV1100SE]

CD's don't have the sound range that vinyl did so other than the ocassional "pop" they sound better. Some people are saying that vinyl is making a comeback... so all the youngsters are going to think it's the next best thing !

 

I also have a usb turn table and keep meaning to transfer my albums to the computer. Might be a good job to do on a cold snowy weekend like we are about to have. One of my favourite albums is a half-mastered audiophile release of the Supertramp "Crime of the Century" album.

[frankd]

Must be a vinyl week.....My Technics turntable hasn't worked for 10 years, and I got the bug to fix it. It was real easy...it just needed a new drive belt. I went online, found it, ordered it, and now it's installed. I've been enjoying some of my old vinyl also. Most of my vinyl is in great shape because I used to record them on cassettes with Dolby C, and usually played the music that way. Of course, I'd switched to CD's and my IPOD like everybody else. Vinyl played on a good stereo does sound a lot better than CDs. The bass is deeper and also the sound is smoother. I did get another surprise. While looking online for the drive belt, several used Techinics turntables for sale came up also, and the price they want for them is unbelievable.

 

Frank D.

[djh3]

Thought about doing this a few years back. I have some albums I really liked and its really hard to justify buying the music again on CD being I already paid for it once. Plus a couple of them I dont think I have ever seen available on CD.

[muffinman]

Any one have an easy way to convert 8 Track tapes to mp3

Jeff

[ediddy]

Hey spear,

I was just going to put a post on here asking for suggestions. I have some vinyl albums from the early 80's that are in tip top shape and I was wondering if I could record them to cd or mp3. It's getting harder and harder to find old music. I was in the Ernest Tubb record shop in Gatlinburg, TN in october and was talking to the manager about old music and he said if there is any old music you want you better get it while you can because they are finding it harder to get old music. Some of you here might remember the Statler Brothers doing Roadhog and the Cadillac Cowboys. I found the Cd at Ernest Tubbs record shop about four years ago and mentioned this to the manager. He said to hang on to the cd because they can't get any more either.

[spear]

Any one have an easy way to convert 8 Track tapes to mp3

 

 

 

Jeff

Muffinman.

Eight track. Damn, that's bringing back some memories.

Mate, as long as your player (and it would have to be portable) has some sort of output such as RCA you can do it. The recorder would need an 'AUX IN' port (mine has) and you would need an RCA-to-stereo adapter to get in to that port.

Nothing is impossible - and impossible is nothing!

[rmac345]

I have been on the same "winter" project of converting my "top grade" vinyl to mp3s for the last couple winters...not much riding up here from Oct - May. Tedious project, but well worth the over 20,000 songs I have in my music library. Patience my friends... it's well worth the wonderful "tunes" on the bike.

[djh3]

8 track was on the first gen's right?

[spear]

8 track was on the first gen's right?

:rotf::rotf:

[kevin-vic-b.c.]

8 track was on the first gen's right?

 

Unlike the ultra modern second gen with high quality casset decks!

[djh3]

Hey you can atleast get a cassette in "dolby" LOL Yea I know yea what the heck were they thinking?? I mean heck even in 99 most cars were going to CD players. I have tought a couple of times about just pulling the tape deck out and either making it a storage slot or putting in an AMP/MP3 player. But so far just cant make myself do it. Part of it is its still got warrenty I guess. Shoot I dont even use th CD player on the bike, I have had it out of the bag since the wife and I took a trip in Oct and we needed the space. Aux input and Pandora.

[spear]

When I bought my second gen from a bloke I knew, the CD stacker was gone from the top box. He said it had crapped itself and he couldn't see the sense on spending money on a new one when it was taking up room and there was an MP3 auxiliary input on board.

I agreed with him.

I've left the cassette player there - "just for ol' time sake".

[Barrycuda]

Any one have an easy way to convert 8 Track tapes to mp3

 

 

 

Jeff

 

 

Jeff, try here: [ame=http://www.amazon.com/Honest-Technology-ARD2M-Recorder-Deluxe/dp/B001B5LAMU]Amazon.com: Audio Recorder 2.0 Deluxe: Software@@AMEPARAM@@http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/21Ik6KVf47L.@@AMEPARAM@@21Ik6KVf47L[/ame]

[JohnT]

Any one have an easy way to convert 8 Track tapes to mp3

 

 

 

Jeff

Hate to rain on a parade but don't be surprised if you only get to listen to the track that is playing when you put the tape in. At their age, when the tape hits the splice / sensor they tend to come apart. I recently tried to dub some of my old 8 tracks, but stopped after the third one did this.

[muffinman]

I was actually thinking of this

http://http://www.amazon.com/Xitel-INport-Deluxe-Record-Computer/dp/B000HE7M3M/ref=pd_sxp_grid_pt_1_0

 

 

JohnT I have already retaped alot of my tapes so I could enjoy them it easy to do just need a little patientce

Jeff

[baylensman]

i just threw a new pioneer in the mark8 (Yes i know) but it has a little dongle haning in the glove box. i took every mp3 i had, put in on a stick (thumb drive, usb recordable media whatever) i now have around 5 gb of rock and roll at my finger tips ( plus some ray steven jeff foxworthy and clettus judd just for fun) I wonder what would fit in the fairing of the RSV???

[spear]

My tin top - VW Tiguan has a USB connector in the console to which I can attach a 16GB stick. I'm running around 100GB of music. Love it.

The GPS on my bike takes a 32GB mini-SD card. I can plug that into the AUX jack of the bike and ride all day and not hear the same track twice. Love that too.

Generally love my music.

[dacheedah]

My brother is into restoring old high end electronics and has a huge vinyl collection. Many people don't know what they have and he swears the audio quality is much better than the digital.