[sclug] Vinyl to digital

[Neil Haughton]

Hi Guys,

I am planning a Winter Project. I have in the attic a very good turntable
and cartridge and quite a reasonable collection of vinyl LPs from the 60s to
the 80s (possibly beyond). Most of this I don't also have on CD so I want to
transfer this music to my music player (my iPod-alike).

Quality is paramount. I've rejected the various USB-record-decks that are
available on the grounds that whilst simple to use, the deck end always
looks a bit cheap and cheerful, and anyway I have good quality equipment for
the vinyl end of things already.

 I have a Debian Squeeze box fitted with a soundcard with audio line input,
and all the software toys (Audacity, LAME etc) installed but I have also
been put off using my existing (cheap) soundcard for the A-D function, on
the grounds of audio quality. A-D is probably the critical bit for this
exercise if I want good results.

So the missing link seems to be the A-D bit. My research shows a number of
analogue -> USB devices out there, many at modest prices, for 'studio and
DJ' use. You basically plug an analogue line input into one side, and it
appears as a digital signal at a USB socket on the other side. Several claim
not to need drivers or separate power supply, so they appear to offer the
perfect solution for me, ie:

[Turntable] -> [amplifier phono input -> amplifier line output] ->
[analogue-USB device] -> [USB port on Debian box] and hence to digital file
for further processing by Audacity or whatever.

At a pinch and under extreme sufferance I could use my wife's elderly
Windows XP laptop, but that would really go against the grain so something
that 'just works' with a Linux box is going to be de rigueur, if not near
essential.

Does anyone have any experience with these analogue-USB devices (eg this
sort of thing <http://www.soundware.co.uk/sc/sections/USB%20Solutions> ),
maybe for recording bands or something? I'd like to hear what you think
about how well they work, how good the quality is, whether you really need
to go up in price to get high quality A-D conversion, etc.

Has anyone undertaken a similar project? I'd like to hear how you did it.

Look forward to lots of replies!

TIA

Neil.