# Digital downloads

Category: Geeks r Us

## Post 1 by Imprecator (The Zone's Spelling Nazi) on Thursday, 04-Sep-2014 14:27:16

Wondering if anyone knows of an mp3 store that sells tracks that were sourced from vinyl and cassettes as well as CDs? Some of the stuff I want never came out in the CD format and I don't have a turntable, or the space for one. And of course rare records and tapes go for outrageous prices on Ebay.

## Post 2 by forereel (Just posting.) on Thursday, 04-Sep-2014 22:31:19

Amazon, ITunes.
You can move the tracks from your computer to an MP3 player that isn't Apple.
You just have to put them in your my music folder.
The Amazon MP3 downloader will do that for you. ITunes you have to copy them.
Google music, Rhapsody, these as well.

## Post 3 by Imprecator (The Zone's Spelling Nazi) on Thursday, 04-Sep-2014 23:05:50

No no no. I'm talking about a site the actually sells tracks that were digitized from rare and out of print records and tapes that never came out on c.

## Post 4 by forereel (Just posting.) on Thursday, 04-Sep-2014 23:21:36

Ah. Okay.
Amazon has some odd items, but I'm not sure on that one.
Most people as you pointed out, use a turntable or something to make there own.
I'll post if I find one.

## Post 5 by GreenTurtle (Music is life. Love. Vitality.) on Friday, 05-Sep-2014 17:25:07

Other than blogs, which vary widely in quality and legality, I'm not sure. I doubt there's a strictly legit platform for this, but it would be an interesting concept.

## Post 6 by Imprecator (The Zone's Spelling Nazi) on Friday, 05-Sep-2014 17:34:47

Yeah, you never know if the blogger cleaned the tape heads, or if they have a good turntable, stylus, tone arm, etc.

## Post 7 by forereel (Just posting.) on Friday, 05-Sep-2014 19:18:15

I'd just purchase a turntable, or tape machine that connected to my computer and do it myself.
I don't think there that expensive.

## Post 8 by GreenTurtle (Music is life. Love. Vitality.) on Friday, 05-Sep-2014 21:26:40

Well, that really depends on how much you're willing to spend.

## Post 9 by Imprecator (The Zone's Spelling Nazi) on Friday, 05-Sep-2014 23:23:28

And as I say, the records and tapes themselves go for insane amounts of money. I spent fifty bucks on a rare CD from amazon once, don't think I wanna go over that.

## Post 10 by forereel (Just posting.) on Saturday, 06-Sep-2014 13:52:39

That might be due to how you go about getting them.
Have you tried used record stores, pawn shops, and such?
Even libraries have some content.
I don't know what exactly, as to artist, you'd be interested in, but maybe do a search for used recordings buy that artist?
Ebay as well might net you the recordsfor a reasonable price.
Now, you get yourself a USB terntable, and go to it.
I don't think record companies are allowing legit sales of stuff never released digitally, so seems like this might be a do it yourself deal.
You live in Denver, I think. Have you tried a place called Wax Tracks?
If they are still in business, they'd have tones of old content.

## Post 11 by brandonmcginty (Generic Zoner) on Sunday, 07-Sep-2014 21:46:56

Out of curiosity, mind posting a couple of artist/track titles you're looking for?
Be interesting to do some searching, see what I can find. (I'm not promising anything, though.)

## Post 12 by GreenTurtle (Music is life. Love. Vitality.) on Monday, 08-Sep-2014 0:23:40

$50 for a CD? No thanks. Even for a record that's a little up there, but I'd pay that much if I had to, if it was something I wanted enough. But certainly not for a medium that degrades within a few years, as opposed to one that will stay solid and dependable through decades if you take care of it.
I've bought rare cd's from Amazon myself, but I won't pay over $10 for those. Just a personal preference.

## Post 13 by JH_Radio (I've now got the silver prolific poster award! wahoo!) on Monday, 08-Sep-2014 18:26:05

good god, don't use a USB turntable! NO! double no! and triple no!

## Post 14 by Imprecator (The Zone's Spelling Nazi) on Monday, 08-Sep-2014 20:19:24

OK, calm down. You're gonna give yourself a heart attack.

## Post 15 by forereel (Just posting.) on Monday, 08-Sep-2014 23:14:52

Suggest how he gets analog content on to his computer, or in digital format with out using a USB turntable?

## Post 16 by JH_Radio (I've now got the silver prolific poster award! wahoo!) on Tuesday, 09-Sep-2014 13:36:02

use a real turntable with a phono amp to amplify the level to line level input. .

## Post 17 by forereel (Just posting.) on Tuesday, 09-Sep-2014 16:30:07

He'd need some recording software, and a host of other things, before that content could be made available to load on to his MP3 player.
He'll not get any better quality.

## Post 18 by Imprecator (The Zone's Spelling Nazi) on Tuesday, 09-Sep-2014 17:03:21

I have no room for a turntable.

## Post 19 by JH_Radio (I've now got the silver prolific poster award! wahoo!) on Tuesday, 09-Sep-2014 22:20:02

he'd get better quality. the bigger question is , would it be enough for him to notice or care. ordiphan cartrages and Shure is a good second option too.

## Post 20 by b3n (I'm going for the prolific poster awards!) on Wednesday, 10-Sep-2014 17:22:30

AFAIK the only way you're going to be able to do this legally would be to buy the originals. Failing that, have you tried posting on fan forums of the bands you're interested in? It's not possible to legally buy some songs of bands that I like, but quite a few of the collectors that hang out in the fan communities for said bands usually don't have a problem sharing tracks. Generally peoples attitude tends to be if you can buy it without spending an arm and a leg then you should buy it, if it's not possible to buy / very expensive then it gets shared.

## Post 21 by GreenTurtle (Music is life. Love. Vitality.) on Wednesday, 10-Sep-2014 23:00:59

Audacity is a free audio editor/recorder. Even without buying a high-end turntable, it would be possible to use that to make decent-sounding recordings of your vinyl. But if you don't have the storage space for any turntable, let alone vinyl to rip, I suppose that's out.
but yes, I do agree with the sentiment that USB turntables are crap as a rule.

## Post 22 by forereel (Just posting.) on Thursday, 11-Sep-2014 12:42:02

Some have some really heavy software now.
They have come a long way from what they were, and easier.
Your recordings going to be only as good as your source.

## Post 23 by GreenTurtle (Music is life. Love. Vitality.) on Friday, 12-Sep-2014 17:09:14

they're usually marketed with cheap cartridges and tonearms. That's the problem.
I've read so many reviews on Amazon with negative experiences about USB turntables. Usually, people put a lot of thought into their complaints, too. It's not just, "this sucks!" You can really get a sense of what the person didn't like about them.

## Post 24 by LeoGuardian (You mean there is something outside of this room with my computer in it?) on Friday, 12-Sep-2014 17:40:02

Usually the best reviews come from niche market items like this USB Turn Table market, because it's not everybody buying one. I'm one of the masses, who has never heard of such things and pretty much gave up anything to do with records when CDs came along in the 80s.

## Post 25 by Imprecator (The Zone's Spelling Nazi) on Friday, 12-Sep-2014 17:58:42

I'm curious about what the early early CDs sounded like.

## Post 26 by Imprecator (The Zone's Spelling Nazi) on Saturday, 13-Sep-2014 17:23:31

I have gold wave.

## Post 27 by GreenTurtle (Music is life. Love. Vitality.) on Sunday, 21-Sep-2014 1:33:05

Hmmm, that's something I never considered. Is there actually a difference between the way early cd's sounded and the way they sound now?

## Post 28 by Imprecator (The Zone's Spelling Nazi) on Sunday, 21-Sep-2014 13:27:45

Yeah, something to do with improper mastering and equalization. And I guess tape hiss could be heard on some early discs.

## Post 29 by Imprecator (The Zone's Spelling Nazi) on Thursday, 25-Sep-2014 15:15:02

Found a couple digital rips of vinyl only things I was looking for, by a lucky chance. Yippee!

## Post 30 by rdfreak (THE ONE AND ONLY TRUE-BLUE KANGA-KICKIN AUSIE) on Friday, 26-Sep-2014 0:52:58

To the original poster and topic, good question; I'd never thought about such a thing before but I wonder if not now, in the future, it could be done by perhaps putting the records on some sort of scanner or something. :)

## Post 31 by rdfreak (THE ONE AND ONLY TRUE-BLUE KANGA-KICKIN AUSIE) on Friday, 26-Sep-2014 0:53:30

sorry, If not now, in the future" even.

## Post 32 by Imprecator (The Zone's Spelling Nazi) on Friday, 26-Sep-2014 1:14:21

It's been done, but laser turntables and such are incredibly expensive. The pros mostly use them to take digital pictures of very old records and convert the picture of the waveform into sound. I've not heard the result of one of these but I've read the sound quality is far better than playing the record with a stylus.

## Post 33 by GreenTurtle (Music is life. Love. Vitality.) on Friday, 26-Sep-2014 23:26:32

I've also heard that these can do more damage to a record long-term, though, which is one reason, besides the price, that they never took off. I should do more checking into that, because, now that I think about it, it doesn't seem like that's entirely plausible.

## Post 34 by JH_Radio (I've now got the silver prolific poster award! wahoo!) on Saturday, 27-Sep-2014 12:02:55

lazor is deffinetly the way to go if you can afford it. for archival purpesses, that probably is the single best way to do records.
GoldWave will do you fine, matty .

## Post 35 by Imprecator (The Zone's Spelling Nazi) on Tuesday, 30-Sep-2014 5:22:29

I take it you own one then?