A couple of pages/months ago, I explained that the NAD uses Vinyl Studio, which has a no-cost tier (called "VS Lite") as well as one with a price tag. The free version digitizes the LP and allows you to split up and save the raw tracks WAV. To reiterate, you can also clean up the pops and clicks, but you can't save the fully cleaned-up albums unless you spring for the software.

Interestingly enough, the August issue of Stereophile arrived today, and it has a review of an audio company called Channel D's new "Pure Vinyl" LP recording and editing software and a couple of its phono preamps. Both the program and the preamps are pretty pricey ($299 for the software; $3799 or $1599 for the gear). Channel D isn't a name I'm familiar with, so even though I haven't read the piece yet, I'm obviously curious about it; it's about 5000 words or so.

Audacity will allow you to break up the tracks individually but I chose not to just for convenience. I didn't want to spend a lot of time copying and pasting tracks to individual files and then renaming them. Audacity saves its files in a proprietary format that most programs won't open, but it lets you convert those files to either WAV or MP3 formats once you have cleaned them up. I was able to make most of the vinyl I converted almost as quiet as a CD. I figure for $35 you can't beat it.

"Copying and pasting tracks to individual files and then renaming them"? Wow, that does sound labored. Vinyl Studio has windows to enter the names and times of the tracks in the album sequence before (or during) digitizing. After recording is finished, breaking the tracks is simple; you just go into the sound file (it's rendered as a waveform graph like you might have seen in GarageBand) and use your cursor to edit or break it. Sometimes I've altered the playback to my liking, by giving more or less space between tracks.

Btw, I just finished that Stereophile piece, and the gist of it seems to be that many of these programs are great once you get the hang of them, but for most non-techies they're also really clunky and non-intuitive, so there's always a learning curve. I actually didn't find that to be the case with Vinyl Studio. On the other hand, the author of the Stereophile article, Michael Fremer, seems to have experienced all kinds of speed bumps before getting into the Pure Vinyl program, whose stated aim is to make the digitized file sound better than analog with the help of 24-bit/192kHz resolution capability and a RIAA equalization curve option. If any Outlaws wanna try it themselves, "Pure Vinyl" is available for a 15-day free trial at channld.com/pure-vinyl.html.

Audacity has the capability to add a label track for song titles, lyrics and notes but it is too much work just to listen to albums I have had for 40 years. Thank goodness I always kept them in great condition because they sound as good today as they did when I was a kid.

I thought I'd resurrect this thread since I've been successful at digitizing my first two LPs with many more to go. I'm using a GemSound PL-USB versus the Behringer (mentioned in pervious posts) for analog to digital conversion. The GemSound is selectable for both line or phono input and outputs via USB plus it can be powered by USB or a wall wart. I've got a bare bones setup at this point with just my turntable connected to my iMac via the GemSound.

I'm using Audacity to record and edit my LPs. Audacity is fairly complex but at the same time offers a wide variety of ways to edit the recordings. I split up what has been recorded to the appropriate tracks then edit (click removal, transitions between songs, etc), add the song metadata and then export AIFF files that I then import into iTunes. My first two attempts (Donald Fagen Nightfly and Steely Dan Aja ) were from pretty clean LPs and so transferred well. I've got a couple of LPs from Goodwill that are next that will test and expand my knowledge of Audacity's editing capabilities.

Eventually I'll have the GemSound connected to the Record Out of a Pioneer integrated amp of the same vintage as my turntable. I've got an equalizer of the same era that I may also insert before the GemSound to provide even more adjustment capability. But not to get ahead of myself, does anyone have suggestions that made using Audacity easier and more effective? There are so many choices on how to edit any insights from current users would be appreciated. Thanks!

I have done about 15 of my albums. I just clean them up and export them as MP3 to iTunes. Works real well. What I really like is that I still have the .aup file as raw data if I want to redo the album for export. The Behringer also has a line input but I have it connected to the tape out output of my 990.

Cleaning albums is a big topic over at AudioKarma but I keep it pretty simple. A little Dawn detergent in a spray bottle of distilled water and then a soft paint brush run along with the grooves a bunch of times and then rinsed with more distilled water. Dry them with a micro fiber towel and then let them sit in a dish rack for a bit before playing or storing them. I protect the labels with a contraption made of wing nut bolts and gasketed round electrical box covers. Works well and makes a pretty big difference in the playback.

Since I'm storing the files in AIFF I'm not sure if I'm going to keep the .aup files because I can edit an AIFF in Audacity too. I can also use iTunes to make mp3 or AAC versions for my iPod. Its not the original "recording" but probably close enough. Though I can see how keeping the .aup file would be handy. Mmmmmmm, I may need more hard disc space!

So you are not using the phono preamp of the Behringer, just the ADC? I'll eventually have that configuration which should be better as I'd expect the phono preamp in a '70s Pioneer to be an improvement over the preamp in the GemSound.

Are you breaking up the recording into songs or are you leaving them as one big file? I'm trying to figure out the best way to reduce the surface noise between tracks but not make it so quiet that it sounds funny. Any suggestions?

I have a 1 TB external hard drive which I keep all my music and pictures on. If my PC crashes I still have all the music and Pix. My wife has gotten into the habit of disconnecting it when she's on the net so its pretty safe but I am thinking of getting a second one just for disaster recovery.

Finally started doing this using an Apogee Duet 2. Unit will do up to 24/192, but I am doing 24/96 since the mac has some limitations past that for some things I am doing. Using Audacity like you are, but I am leaving the files full of the LP noise, as it's minimal, and most of my albums I've had for 30+ years and the noise is sort of like an old friend at this point.

Duet does a really nice job, and is also an improvement over the DAC of my 990 during playback of all my files.

The Apogee is a little more than I wanted to spend. The Behringer is cheap but effective.