Methods for transfer of albums to CD


A friend of mine has a very large collection of mint albums, including a beatles import box set, and a franklin mint jazz anthology which includes some fantastic music. I own a computer with a HP cd burner, Roxio Easy CD creator 5 software, but no decent sound card. I was wondering if any of you have had any success at creating good sounding CD's from vinyl, and what equipment I might need. I am sure I need a sound card for the computer with an analog and/or digital input, and one of the add on phono pre-amps, which I would likely use later to add analog to my system. Any suggestions and or experiences, both good and bad, will be appreciated. My current system:

Cary 808 amp, SLP 2002 pre-amp, Theta pro gen and Data, B&W 802 Matrix II, and a Windows 95 based PC with CD burner.

Mike
mike7142
i never make mp3's out of them, just .wav's. there are programs that will convert wavs to cd tracks as it burns them. the discs will then play in any cd player that will play cdr's.
Something basic confuses me about this process. If you convert the wav files to mp3s and then burn a CD-R or RW, do you need a CD or DVD player which will specifically read "mp3 CDs" in order to play the burned CD back? Some of the cheaper Sony DVD players don't read that format, according to what I've read. Is this mistaken - I mean can these burned CDs be played back on any equipment, or is it potentially a problem? I think this is on topic.... Thanks for any input.
Not sure if anyone else mentioned this but I believe this is a task which the tubed ART DI\O was intended to do. Many "audiophiles" have been buying these for under 200 and modifying them to perform in their systems as DAC's. However the product was intended to be used as an A to D converter.

If you do some research on ART DIO, you will learn about some very excited people who have in their opinions found temporary (until the format war is complete) audio nirvana with this unit.
Sidssp:
do you (or does anybody else) know of software for a pc that will burn a 24/96 wav file onto a dvd in dvd-a format?
I am thinking about doing the same but instead of burning CD I would like to sample LPs to 24/96 PCM tracks and burn them on DVD. That way if I play them back through a high quality DAC I can preserve more of the hi-res of LPs.

I am also looking for a reasonable priced outboard 24/96 A-to-D converter with either RS-232 or USB output. Does anyone konw of any?
I wonder if anyone knows of a PCMCIA high grade audio card, or even an outboard audio card that can be used with a laptop. I use a laptop exclusively--and it's very convenient to be able to take it to the audio room and plug in directly to the system for either measurements or recordings--however, the audio card quality is what one would expect from a laptop--not so great. Any ideas?
i don't like using a stand alone because it doesn't give you the freedom that the computer does. plus, i just use a long cable run to get to the computer.
I've gone a completely different direction with my Philips CDR 880 which of course is stand alone. Results are very good and you simply integrate it into your system without having you turntable hanging around the computer.
I haven't used it, but the Terratec Phono Preamp, sold separately or packaged with the Studio software, seems like it could be the solution for transferring LP's to CD. The Studio software is supposed to help clean up damage or wear on the LP.

Check out these reviews and see if it makes sense:

http://www.3dsoundsurge.com/press/pr1710.html

http://www.proaudioreview.com/par/november00/TerraTec-Web.shtml

--Neil
the midiman audiophile 2496 can be purchased on ebay right now for under $200. when i bought mine, i payed closer to 450. :(

the same company makes both the lp ripper and recorder. here's their website.

http://www.cfbsoftware.com/

as for the "mp3 to cd" program, any one will do, i'm sure. i like the one i use, as it has some neat features like cd text and stuff.

please don't hesitate to ask if you have any more questions. just be warned: the audiophile 2496 is a bit daunting to set up initially, as it's intended for professional musicians and has lots of functions that many of us will never need. once you read the manual, though, it gets easier.

the "lp" program duo is the polar opposite, however. they have simple learning curve and omit all useless functions.
Yes, and Lazarus, could you also let me know where you got the midiman sound card and what the approximate cost was. And thanks to all for your input thus far.
Lazarus, could you post the website for downloading the shareware. Both programs sound very useful, and much easier than the Sonic Foundry that I mentioned, particularly since separating into tracks is not very easy on Sonic Foundry.
Check out the Card Deluxe by Digital Audio Labs. It's great and can be gotten for under $400.
i use an audiophile 24/96 soundcard made by midiman, which has gold plated rca inputs. i use "lp recorder", a great little program, to record the lp's, and "lp ripper" to break them into tracks and edit intro's and outro's. i then use mp3 to cd, which will take the .wav's created by lp ripper and burn them to cd. you'll have to register all of the programs, but ince you learn how to use them, they are utterly fantastic. the cds created are so close to the actual cd pressings, that cddb usually recognizes the album when i put it in my drive. and the quality is outstanding. in some cases as good as the official cd pressings. all of the programs i mentioned are shareware, but you'll need to register them after a few uses. they're well worth the price. i've archived many an lp. . .
I'm certainly not going to propose that you infringe on any copyrighted material. But to archive albums (I have done a few old jazz albums that are not available on CD that I wanted to listen to in the car) there is a fairly easy way. With the HP burner, you should have gotten sonic foundry's ACID program. It will allow you to record from the analog inputs of your computer. In this case you do need a good (or at least decent) soundcard. Use the line level in on your computer and be sure to turn off all other inputs (they create noise). Unless you really have a state of the art soundcard--this will not be audiophile quality, but it will be good. I found mine for the car were more than acceptable, but I don't think they'd measure up to the source material on the home system.