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Re: [ARSCLIST] Anyone familiar with "Spin It Again" Software to convert Lps and Casettes?

Hi Steve:

You are right about SoundForge lite, but I figured the other Steve wasn't even considering a soundcard or interface capable of 96/24. I've never used Goldwave so I can't comment about the interface. Bottom line, if it were me doing it I would certainly use 96/24 if I had that capability and would get software capable of working in that resolution, so you give excellent advice.

And you and Richard are correct about there being decent if not very good cheap USB solutions that, because they are external to the hash factory inside a computer, stand a much better chance of running quiet. Some of the less flashy but well-rated USB interfaces actually cost less than Soundcrapper Audigy. And either should be leagues better than anything on-motherboard either from Intel or one of the Taiwan laptop motherboard makers.

One thing I didn't mention before is that a really bad excuse for doing bad transfers is "the stereo is in the other room." Come on, anyone can temporarily move a cassette deck into the home office and hook it up to the computer. Yeah, the LP playback system will be a little bit more of a struggle.

Interesting note about cassettes -- they may not be as dead as some think. I've been purging the equipment pile and put two old (1980's) consumer cassette decks that work but are probably past their prime out in the hall of my office building with a "free" tag on them. Both were gone very quickly. I came to find out that two younger guys in the building had never actually owned cassette decks, just car stereo players and boomboxes, and still had piles of cassettes they want to listen to. They both planned to hook the decks up to their computers. I asked one of them, you never bought the albums on CD? He said, why should I pay for something twice? Obviously not an audiophile but not a dummy either.

-- Tom Fine

----- Original Message ----- From: "Steve Abrams" <steveabrams@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
To: <ARSCLIST@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Tuesday, April 03, 2007 7:38 PM
Subject: Re: [ARSCLIST] Anyone familiar with "Spin It Again" Software to convert Lps and Casettes?


I think that Goldwave may be a better bet at this end of the market. For one thing, it records at 24 bits and 96k, which Soundforge Lite cannot do. Also Goldwave is unlimited shareware and you don't have to pay for it, though you should.

It is even more important to have a half-way decent sound-card. There is nothing wrong with a common or garden Creative Sound "Audigy" card - an o.e.m. will cost less than cheap recording software; it enables 24 bit recording and also has a setting to record "what you hear"; that is to say, any stream, without the need to use clumsy software like "Total Recorder", which is no longer free. . You can also get a cheap card that will work through a USB connection. In either case there will be a huge increase in signal to noise; the gunge that infects even expensive computers from IBM/Lonovo, Dell, HP et al. simply diappears.

SA

----- Original Message ----- From: "Tom Fine" <tflists@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
To: <ARSCLIST@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Tuesday, April 03, 2007 11:19 PM
Subject: Re: [ARSCLIST] Anyone familiar with "Spin It Again" Software to convert Lps and Casettes?


Hi Steve:

Here's my theory on this, one man's opinion, etc.

In transferring your personal collection, the paycheck clock might not be ticking but your time still has value. Thus, I can't see why you'd not want to do it in as high quality as possible, so there is never a hint of a reason to do it again. As such:

1. you should never transfer and save as MP3 or other lossy file formats. Transfers should be in WAV, at least 44.1/16-bit. Yes even for cassettes of OTR. You'd actually be surprised how much some software can improve the sound quality, especially if you use a decent cassette deck. So I'd also forget about the boombox.

2. cassettes and reels should be played back on as good equipment as you can find. Your computer soundcard should be at least half decent grade (ie not the crap that Intel builds into their motherboards), and your chain should be hum-free. You should transfer at a reasonable level, especially if you're only using 16 bits. You can be conservative with levels and then normalize if using 24 bits.

3. grooved disks should be cleaned and played back on a good turntable, good cartridge with good stylus and through a good preamp. Anything else is doomed to produce crapola results. Bad sound is bad sound, no matter what the format.

Take a few steps to build up a decent transfer chain, be patient and work with as good source material as you can find and your time will be very well spent and your digital library will be a point of pride instead of something groaned about. If your time is worth anything, I can't see why you wouldn't go the highest quality route possible. As for that software, $50 buys you the "lite" version of Sony Soundforge, which I think is much better and less kludgey looking.

-- Tom Fine

----- Original Message ----- From: "Steve Ramm" <Stevramm@xxxxxxx>
To: <ARSCLIST@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Tuesday, April 03, 2007 9:31 AM
Subject: [ARSCLIST] Anyone familiar with "Spin It Again" Software to convert Lps and Casettes?


I know we have the experts here so I'll hope for replies.

I saw this software advertised in Goldmine and went to their site. Though I
am not really interested in transferring all my vinyl or 78s to Mp3s or CD -
my  stereo equipment is in a separate room from my PC - I do have a large group
of  cassettes - mostly radio shows which I;d like to record as separate
indexed  tracks (and even some Reel to Reels). The cassettes should be easiest as I
can  use a boom box to play them into the PC. (I haven't figured out yet
where the  INPUT jack goes into my PC. I'm A PC nerd when it comes to the physical
technologies).

Anyway, the testimonials seem good. I'm wondering if anyone has used this.
It also cleans up the sound but probably not up to the standards of ARSC
members. I'm not worried about super sound. I'd just like to be able to find
tracks.

Anyway, there is a free trial - and the Goldmine ad says that if you use
word GOLDMINE in order you get 10% discount.

Here is the URL:  _http://www.spin-it-again.com-about.com/_
(http://www.spin-it-again.com-about.com/)

I'll await comments but this could be a big help to me.

I use Total Recorder from High Criteria to record streaming-only podcasts
and love that. This could be another inexpensive software I can't do without.

Thanks for help.

Steve RAmm



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