Vinyl to HDD Transfer

[truenorth]

I have been using various versions of "Spin Doctor" a component of "Easy CD Creator" software for years and now i am having some compatibility issues with the program (mainly ver.4) and i also have ver 5 platinum (which is incompatible with win xp). So can somebody recommend a free program that will allow transfer from an L.P. to a computer HDD. WAV is acceptable.Thank you,truenorth

[Karnac]

Audacity should have the features you want. Second link is a tutorial.

http://audacity.sourceforge.net/

http://wiki.audacityteam.org/index.php?title=Transferring_tapes_and_records_to_computer_or_CD

[truenorth]

Karnac, You would not believe the amount of searching i had done on Google and could not find anything but limited "free' trials or programs you had to buy. I had all but given up when i modified my search phrase and up came "audacity".Just prior to coming on for the last time tonight i had already downloaded the program. I read their tutorial and couldn't find anything that talked about vinyl to HDD transfers. I just happen to have the program open when i spotted a small window in it with the term "line in" in it.Hey that sounds like what i want. So all that remains now is to try (that is for another day). I was sorry to lose "spin doctor" as i was very familiar with it and it did a pretty good job very easily. thanks for the suggestion,truenorth

[patio]

Audacity is a seriously good app for being FREE...

[truenorth]

I hope to give it a trial run today--my mourning period for "Spin Doctor" is almost over.truenorth

[ale52]

I've got a PC connected to my stereo system and use Audacity to copy vinyl-to-hdd.  Works great!

Alan <>< 

[truenorth]

Well fellow CH members I have been playing with it for about 4 hours now and it sure is a lot more detailed and full of features --much more so than my "Spin Doctor" was. I have successfully transferred one complete side of an LP to audacity. I have been flipping back and forth between the tutorial and the program trying to figure out how to get rid of the "noise" elements. It can be done but in "spin doctor" it is an automatic selectable function. I know that is a potential of overall project quality loss as opposed to Audacity (which allows manipulation of each wavelength). But God that's slow and i only have few remaining years with over a 1000 LP's to still transcribe. It is like having an sound studio. I do have on one of my computers another very sophisticated sound editing program (Dutch or German) that i purchased years ago that i finally gave up on as it wanted to make a sound studio expert out of you. Given that my auditory functions are not what they were decades ago and that less years remain on the clock than are behind me i feel i must apportion my priorities a bit more these days.However once i have learned more of the way it works it may become easier. I have also converted the unedited file it creates into a .WAV file so some progress is being made. Thanks to all of you that have given suggestions and comments. truenorth

[Karnac]

truenorth,

Have a look at this page...number of alternatives and the old version of Cooledit 2000 looks interesting.

http://www.delback.co.uk/lp-cdr.htm

[truenorth]

Karnac, Wow!!! That guy sure has a good deal of knowledge on the subject. Yes he does (did) seem to prefer the older version of "Cooledit". However if i read his comments on his links to it the version he links to has limitations regarding its limitations due to the changed ownership and he implies some problems regarding "registration??". I will take a look at it though but it seems to me i need to settle down and try to adapt to something new. One thing i liked to do in "Spin Doctor" was use the automatic track splitting (it did that after the full-both sides--of the LP were recorded). Whereas in "Audacity" it is another function --which i have yet to find. Ah well a work in progress. thanks again.truenorth