If you have neither of these capabilities, ART’s $129 USB Phono Plus v2 preamp (discontinued, but available from and other resellers), amplifies the signal (and corrects the RIAA curve) while providing a USB connection. In that case, you’re going to need a USB audio input, such as Griffin Technology’s $40 iMic, which will also act as apreamp. Or perhaps your Mac doesn’t have a microphone or line input at all-a problem for both cassette and LP importing on some older Macs. You can typically find these phono preamps on eBay and the like starting at about $25. In that case you’re going to need something called a phono preamp, a device that boosts output levels for line-level recording and corrects the signal (you may already have such a device if your turntable is connected to a digital AV receiver). Perhaps you have an unamplified turntable that’s been gathering dust for decades. However, most people will likely fall somewhere in between in terms of equipment. A USB turntable will automatically adjust the RIAA curve (see “The RIAA Curve” for more details) and amplification levels for you, and makes importing audio a snap. Ion Audio’s $99 Ion TTUSB05 turntable is a good choice. You should be able to get one of these at your local electronics store for less than $5.Īt the opposite end of the spectrum, if all you have is a stack of old records, and no way to even play them, much less import them, you may want to consider a turntable with a USB connection. All you need is a Y-cable, with red and white analog component-audio connections (often called RCA) at one end and a 1/8-inch stereo (or minijack) connection at the other. If your Mac has a microphone input and you are importing from a cassette deck or an amplified phonograph, you’re almost set. Aside from the computer, you’ll find inexpensive options for all of these. At a minimum you’ll need the means to play back your media-a cassette deck, a turntable, or both-plus the right cables to import everything, enough hard-drive space to store your audio, and, of course, a computer to capture and digitize the audio. Getting Startedįinal Vinyl: Make sure that the noise level is high enough for Final Vinyl to detect gaps between tracks when auto marking.The first thing you’ll want to do is make sure you have all the right equipment.
With just a few steps, very little money, and a reasonable amount of time, you can bring those classic recordings into the digital era. They need not languish unloved and unheard simply because they’re in an old format. If your music collection stretches back several decades, odds are you have at least a few beloved analog titles on cassette or vinyl. Plan automatically renews after trial.While it’s fantastic to be able to instantly download an album from iTunes or to your iPod, many classic recordings will never make the jump to a digital store.
PC with a 1GHz Intel or AMD processor with support for SSE2 and 512MB of RAM.