Analog to Digital Music Conversion

Analog to Digital Music Conversion

Jim Meskauskas

March 20, 2008 SIRS - Computer Users Group 1

SIRS - Computer Users Group 2March 20, 2008

IntroductionMany of us:

Have a vinyl record collection Like to still listen to those albums Hate to toss away all the history &

memories Would like to convert our music to digital Struggle with how to make the conversion

and money


Points We’ll Cover

Should ”YOU” convert your collection? Options available Equipment needed Walk-through examples:

Conversion process using Roxio 7.5 Collection management using Windows Media Player


Should “YOU” Convert your Collection?Things to consider to guide your decision:

Do you have a lot of records to convert? Have many of these albums been repurchased as CDs? Are they in really bad shape? Are you an audiophile (ardent music lover with a keen ear)?

Do you have mostly tapes to convert? More difficult to “clean up” music due to tape stretch Spoken word converts relatively well


Should “YOU” Convert your Collection?

Things to consider to guide your decision: Do you have access to cable or Sirius music? Do you listen to single songs or albums? Are you looking for “near perfect” recordings?

or Do you want a database of music? Do you download music to a portable device? Would you like to share your music? Do you want to commit the time?


Once you Make the Decision

Equipment Needed

A dedicated converter

Record players that are designed to handle conversions

Examples


Dedicated Equipment Sampleswww.frontgate.com


Dedicated Equipment Sampleswww.ion-audio.com

Personal music player = iPod SPECIFIC!

Not yet compatible with VISTA


Dedicated Equipment Sampleswww.crosleyradio.com



Equipment Needed Dedicated converters

Or Turntable Stereo system (need an amplifier)

And Computer

Audio card or audio input jack Music management software CD burner (or MP3/iPod player) Large disk drive if building a library



Walk through an example using

A laptop computer

Roxio Easy Media Creator (7.5)

Windows Media Player


Example Using Roxio Easy Media Creator

Wire output from turntable or receiver to computerTo computerFrom stereo equipment



Tell computer where to look for input

These choices depend on your computer hardware

and software

This is to insure the signal from the player is being received by your computer and software



Fine tune recording levels

We’ll talk about this setting in my next slide

This choice depend on your software options

Notice my choice here was based on using the microphone input jack


AUDIO FILE TYPES Format technology evolving to handle larger amounts of data WAV files used in most older file systems

Inefficient storage of data Fairly large files Audio format used in most older autos and CD players

MPEG-1 (Movie Pictures Experts Group) called Mp3 Can “compress” music 90% from original Used in most wide variety of new equipment Compatible with emerging digital capabilities

AAC (Advanced Audio Coding) used by iPod Better quality across more bit-rates than Mp3 Not compatible with many mP3 players

WMA (Windows Media Audio) used byMicrosoft Targeted to compete with Mp3 and RealAudio for streaming audio Zip-like file compression w/o loss of data


Example Using Roxio Easy Media CreatorSet output location and auto parameters

Useful if you want to pick

a piece of music off a recording

Be careful your settings don’t stop the conversion due to the pause between

record tracks!

Particularly important to control saving location if you’re

building a database of music



Set output format

Can use mono if recording

“spoken word” media Higher settings gives higher quality but bigger files


Example Using Roxio Easy Media CreatorSet track identification specifications


The Roxio Sound Editor


The Roxio Sound EditorNotice track separations

Export Tracks/Clips to save


The Roxio Sound Editor

This tab pulls up another menu to specify file type and quality

settings

Don’t forget to set the file(s) output location

Information from the editor show here

Notice I didn’t title the tracks


Migration to Database & Management of Your Music

This now shows the individual tracks and where the are on my

computer


Migration to Database & Management of Your Music

iPod Rhapsody Napster PhatNoise Many others

Showcase

Windows Media Player


Migration to Database & Management of Your MusicWindows Media Player

Through WMP file settings, the files I saved from the editor automatically

load to my library

Highlight the songs to use

the WMP library search tool (internet

search)Right mouse

click

Select ‘ Find Album

Info’



This screen helps you to find and upload data about the album and tracks, including the album art



Type in the artists or album name

Pick the correct album

Click to Search



When your satisfied you have the correct album, select ‘Finish’



Here it is cataloged in my music database



Drag to Sync window

Sync to your portable player



You can also burn your music to a CD by dragging to the

burn window


In Summary:•Many options for analog to digital conversion and management of your music collection are available

•Conversion of your analog collection is achievable but time consuming

•Conversion is a good option to save a large collection

•Good quality is achievable with reasonable effort

•Highest quality recordings require sophisticated software

•Conversion of well used tapes do not give good results due to tape stretch

March 20, 2008 SIRS - Computer Users Group 32

Analog to Digital Music Conversion

Questions & Answers

Analog to Digital Music Conversion

Documents

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