Miscellaneous Sudden GAS attack averted-good or bad? USB Turntable

[ESJohn]

While killing some time this afternoon, I stopped at a Salvation Army store nearby. Nothing really interested me until I saw a turntable similar to this one in its box. It is the type that connects to a PC via a USB cable and the box indicated that it sends recordings from LP's (33, 45, and 78) to Audacity which in turn separates it into its various tracks. The marked price was $14.99 "as is" and they were running a 50% off sale. I certainly wasn't looking for such a device but was sorely tempted. I do have Audacity v 3.6 on my PC and have a limited amount of knowledge as to how to use it.
I walked out of the store without it but during lunch, began thinking that it might be nice to own one as I could use it to make backing tracks. Then I realized that it probably wasn't practical after all as I would need the score to the original music in order to take advantage of that idea. Still, maybe it would be nice to own one as I could simply have the music from some of my albums (some go back to the 1910-1920 era) to enjoy here. It would also be a great backup to some which are irreplaceable.
It might still be there. Should I drop whatever plans I have for tomorrow morning and grab it?

The one I looked at is similar, but not exactly the same brand as this one shown. The picture is from Ebay of a model that is selling for $23.00.

 

[Ivan]

It's a gamble

Can you afford to lose $7.48?

 

[greenstripe]

You'll only be able to get a left and right audio track (providing the record is stereo) it won't be able to break down the recording in to the individual instrument tracks as per the studio master where the instruments will often be recorded separately.

There is software that can use artificial intelligence to try to isolate tracks from a recording that you could then use on your newly created digital recording.

It's probably starting to sound like rather a lot of work though, and you may be better placed spending your $15-$20 on purchasing the songs that interest you in a digital format as it will probably be of better quality than you can rip using a USB turntable.

If you have vinyl that you can't get in a digital format then go for it, and if you just fancy buying one it's not like it's a fortune.

 

[Vetinari]

I have a plug in device that copies lp's and coverts them to mp3. It separatel songs into separate tracks, one mp3 per song. It does this by listening for the 'sience' inbetween songs. Mp3 quality varies greatly depending on condition of the lp, in some cases, the lp doesn't sound too bad but the recording seems to increase the noise level.

 

[thomsax]

I have Steinberg soft ware (WAW or MP3), Turntable to MP3 and a Compact Cassette player to MP3. All works. A CC side, LP or EP side are one tracks on my equipment. Steinberg is more advanced. The CC player to MP3 is good. Old CC are not "age well". I have many CC recordings.

I don't know if I would buy a turntable to MP3. Better to listen to vinyl records via an ordinary Hi-Fi.

 

[ESJohn]

Appreciate the suggestions and comments. I couldn't figure out where I would put the unit so I decided against the idea.
Prices on new ones really aren't that bad should I decide to own one someday.

 

[eb424]

Getting the music sheet is easy in music notes..3 for £10..its what i do but use karaoke version and mute the lyrics..

 

[jonf]

If you want to digitise LPs you should consider how high qality you want the output to be, and also what the quality of the source is. If you want high sound quality, this sort of thing probably won't be satisfactory. A few years ago I copied my LPs onto CD to provide a good sound quality version I could either play in the car or use to rip to a fully digital copy on my PC. I wanted to preserve as much of the sound quality as I could so I used a Linn turntable and a Traxdata CD recorder for a nice clean analoge to digital copy. Cost was a bit more than $14.99........