|
|
|
|
Now that you have all the ingredients, it is time to start recording that old vinyl to the computer's
hard drive. First, connect the cable from the headphone jack on the phonograph to the line in on the
computer. Double click the little speaker icon at the bottom right of the computer screen. The play
control program will open. There usually will be five sections for this program - Play Control,
MP3/Wave, MIDI Synth, Line In and CD Audio. Just check to make sure the Line In Mute box is not
checked. If it is, the line in will not play, so just uncheck the box. The top photo on the top right
shows the play control as it may look. The mute boxes are on the bottom of the control box. If you have a Windows operating system, open the program called Windows Explorer. This program gives you access to all the files and folders on your hard drive. In the folder called "My Music" create a new folder and give it a name of your choice. Usually this will be the album name or artist who recorded the song you are recording. Now you are ready to record music to your computer. the middle photo on the right shows Windows Explorer open with all the files I have created for my digital music collection. Next, open the recording software. It may also have a control for the line in so you will need to set this control so the it is not muted. The manufacturers all have a little bit different method, but generally you will start a new file, click begin recording, then start the music on the phonograph. You should be able to hear the music playing through the speakers on your computer. When the music has finished playing, stop the recording and save it as the name of the song. Usually you will have a choice as to saving the file as an MP3 or WAVE file. Both should play on any playback device, but the WAVE file is almost twice as big as an MP3, so it will occupy more space on your hard drive. You now have your first song recorded on your computer. Congratulations! When recording from LP's you have a choice of recording the entire side of the record, or recording one song at a time. Usually it is best to record one song at a time. Recording an entire LP side creates a massive file that is difficult to work with. When you record individual songs, you can then play them individually, without having to listen to the entire side of the LP. Learning how to record old vinyl 45's and LP's to your computer is not hard at all. Once you have recorded all your old music to the computer, it is a simple task to load it on an MP3 player to listen to digital music anywhere you go. This is much easier than lugging that old phonograph around on your back. Then there is the matter of finding an extension cord which is very, very long. |
  |