good program for turning my lps into mp3s?

[joecool]

any thoughts? i know i need to hook up the output from my stereo to my pc, got that working. now, what's the best way to make mp3s? should i make wav files first, then mp3's? if so, what app will take a wav & make an mp3 (musicmatch 7.0 doesn't seem to)? or can i go direct from line in to mp3? also, how can i split individual songs out into seperate mp3 files instead of one big file per album side?

any input much appreciated!

-joe

 

[Maetryx]

Roxio's Easy CD Creator can handle the task, and does it with a series of wizards if I recall correctly. You tell the program how many tracks your are recording and after it captures the entire side of the album, it figures out where the most likely breaks between songs are and splits the wav file there.

I don't I'm *almost* sure that it encodes to MP3 as well.

If you'd rather have a more professional tool, SoundForge is a robust solution with a steeper learning curve but a lot more tools.

 

[joecool]

thanks - anybody know of any good share/free ware? (i'm cheap!)

 

[Workin']

Use Goldwave to record to .wav files. Make sure the .wav file you create is 16 bit, 44.1 kHz, and stereo. You can also use Goldwave to split up the songs into individual files. Goldwave is shareware.

Then use LAME 3.91 to encode the .wav files into mp3's. LAME is free. However LAME works from a command prompt, but there are many GUI frontends for it. Take a look here.

 

[joecool]

thanks, workin'. goldwave seems to be one of the preferred choices for burning wav files - lots of options, can clean up hiss, etc.

does anyone know of a single app that can do the whole job, soup to nuts? it'd sure be nice to simplify the process!!!

 

[Workin']

I know Cool Edit Pro can do it - for $399

 

[joecool]

yikes!!!! anybody know of an app that can do it all for, oh, say, less than $50?!

 

[ojai00]

I'm pretty sure MusicMatch Jukebox can do it. I'm not sure that the trial version can do it, but the purchased one can (for about $20). Hope this helps.

 

[joecool]

oja, i've got the plus version of the latest version of musicmatch (got it with my herc gtxp!), can't see how to do it - i guess i can burn an mp3 from my line input, but don't see how it can split out the individual tunes - think it'll just make one big mp3/album side. anybody know how to turn this into individual mp3's (1/tune)?

 

[Workin']

You are better off recording to one big .wav, then using Goldwave to split it into individual songs, then encoding those to mp3. I haven't found any software that reliable detects the breaks between songs. So unless you don't really care how it turns out you are better off doing it by hand.

 

[joecool]

by hand, eh? ... bummer. i was afraid of that. i've got 200 albums or more i want to convert. sounds like a multi-year project!

 

[RSMemphis]

Rosoft Audio Recorder.

It has an Autotrack function, meaning when there is no signal (you can set the cutoff) it starts a new WAV file.
It's free with adware, or you can purchase it.

I have used it before, I did not like the adware so much, so I did as many albums as I needed and then deinstalled everything.

 

[Workin']

<< by hand, eh? ... bummer. i was afraid of that. i've got 200 albums or more i want to convert. sounds like a multi-year project! >>

It's not hard and takes only a few extra minutes per album.

BTW, if you are going to do 200 of them you might want to take the time to do it right, or else you will end up with a bunch of crap and have wasted all your time.

I had a few hundred LP's to convert, so I bought Cool Edit Pro and learned how to use all its tools very well. I'm as cheap as they come but if you want to do a good job you need good tools. I think I'm a lot fussier about it than most people - if the converted file doesn't sound as good as a CD, I am not satisfied. There's something very disconcerting about listening to a CD with clicks, pops, and other defects in the sound.

 

[mk]

<< Then use LAME 3.91 to encode the .wav files into mp3's. LAME is free. However LAME works from a command prompt, but there are many GUI frontends for it. Take a look here. >>



Just a little addition to Workin''s advice on encoding MP3's; here's aList of recommended LAME settings.

 

[joecool]

<< I had a few hundred LP's to convert, so I bought Cool Edit Pro and learned how to use all its tools very well. I'm as cheap as they come but if you want to do a good job you need good tools. I think I'm a lot fussier about it than most people - if the converted file doesn't sound as good as a CD, I am not satisfied. There's something very disconcerting about listening to a CD with clicks, pops, and other defects in the sound. >>



huh, funny, some folks actually like the hisses & pops - gives it that real "olde time" sound ...

 

[Workin']

<< huh, funny, some folks actually like the hisses & pops - gives it that real "olde time" sound ... >>

huh, maybe old lacquer 78's or wax Edison cylinders, but not modern music or modernperformances of old music.

edit: and LAME 3.92 just was released on 4/14/02

 

[joecool]

FYI, played with goldwave over the weekend, this is def. the app to use for ripping lp's. lots of advanced features if you want them but very easy to use with all the default settings and does a great job. after recording a single album side as a single wav file goldwave did a great job of cleaning up the hiss & pop and finding the individual songs & saving them as seperate files. it can convert to mp3's too if you get the lame or bladenc dlls. i went ahead and used musicmatch to convert the wav's to mp3's since it's so speedy, then inserting tags was a breeze! best of all, the limitations on the trial version are minimal so you can really check out all the features ... tho it's good enough i think i will pay for it. this is going to be fun... !

tried rosoft & frankly it stunk. setup was a pain, took quite a while to finally get it working, & then it's just kind of flaky. i wouldn't recommend it at all.

bottom line, goldwave is good enough that it's all you'll need to convert lp's to mp3's, forget about all the other stuff and have fun!

joe