I want to buy a record player!

juliebunny

Like a lot of people I know, I weirdly got rid of my stereo system with record player but not my records! I would now like to play them / get onto MP3 or DVD format.

I'm looking for something compact (if that's possible) - can anyone recommend anything? Something along these lines:

http://www.uk-jukeboxes.co.uk/Steepletone-SMC99R-4-In-1-Music-Centre-USB-Transfer-Vinyl-To-USB-Light-Dark-Wood

flashg67

I have a Bush MTT1 (there's a few on ebay) that you can plug into an amp in the traditional way. You can then connect the amp to your PC - you may need a lead (About £1-2) to convert to the 3.5mm jack on the PC soundcard.

Windows (I'm using Win7) has a basic sound recorder built in.

If you just want to digitize them onto your PC, look for a 'USB Turntable' - again, a few on eBay etc under £50

Edit to add - I've found this quite time consuming because it's all done it real time so I only tend to bother for rare/deleted music, but it's definitely more MSE to avoid buyin all your music again!

juliebunny

Thanks Flashg67. I'm thinking it might be quite fun to play all my old records again anyway! i'm a bit of an old goth so about half my records are saleable - I've sent a list to a record store in London who buys them. I was so embarrased when it came back and I'd forgotten to take my Wham album off it!

googler

How much are you willing or able to spend?

JamesK10

Nothing wierd about that in my view, you did it the right way round if there were bits of the midi system going wrong, even if the record player was OK.

Unless you're using the records as frisbees, they'll retain their sound quality so keep them. Convert them to Lossless or WAV first of all using something open source like Audacity (a free download, results will depend on the soundcard as well) and that'll be that, no need to buy a CD, just rip down to MP3 or your preferred smaller format for a walkman or phone.

Any of the above brand names are worth investigating and Numark are another maker of higher-end/DJ turntables that have now made a home-plus-PC-conversion record deck - it's £70-120 on average.

Pro-Ject, Rega and other brand names that made record players for the mid to high-end, they've jacked up their prices to more like £180-300 if you want models with speed change switches and RCA ports on the back.

davehills

Richer sounds have them, I believe.

Edit: Checked and they have a reasonable range starting from £70 for one you can connect to your PC via USB, to digitise all your records. Also a Sony one for just over £100 which looks quite good.

Exile_geordie

JamesK10 wrote: »

Any of the above brand names are worth investigating and Numark are another maker of higher-end/DJ turntables that have now made a home-plus-PC-conversion record deck - it's £70-120 on average.

.

Numark do not make high end DJ equipment. But I have heard their USB decks are of a very good build.

sickparrot

Be careful with the cheap USB turntables, some of them don't have anti-skate adjustment on the arms and this can cause all sorts of skipping problems. From the recordings it's obvious that the needle presses against one side of the groove much more than the other, it can be balanced out in the editor but it's not ideal. The one we got from Comet suffers from this and I've hardly used it as a result.

I do have a proper arm from an old scrap turntable which I intend to fit one day with some surgery but it's just getting round to it.