Does anyone have any experience copying LP's onto computers? My Dad has a decent record collection, and he wants digital copies for MP3 players/CD's.

We tried plugging my laptop into the headphone jack of our stereo amp, but that didn't work too well because the volume was all messed up.

Has anyone used a USB turntable?

I have an USB turntable, it's good for its purpose and you can get decent mp3s out of it.

Unless you're a no-lifer I MEAN audiophile.

I just got a USB turntable yesterday, interestingly enough. I haven't used it yet, so I can't comment. You can record over analog using your computer, it just depends on whether your turntable has a pre-amp or not.

don't use the headphone out... use a line level recording output (often labeled as tape or cd out) and if your dad's turntable is a good one you would be better served looking at a decent USB recording interface you can get one that will cost about the same as a USB turntable but will give you better sound quality than a USB turntable (and more than likely much better quality than the laptop's sound"card")

make sure to use a decent cartridge with a clean stylus and clean the records before recording to minimize surface noise

also learning how to use whatever audio editing software you have access to is a good idea so you can deal with any noise that still occurs after cleaning the record/stylus

also to trigger happy chewie... the turntable itself doesn't need to have a preamp but a preamp has to be somewhere in the signal chain before going to the computer... a stereo receiver with a line level output or a dedicated phono preamp will work

My dad uses this: http://www.ionaudio.com/ionttusb to convert his record collection

Anyone else think "Lets Play"?

i just used a composite output to whatever it is that computers use, and plugged my turntable into my laptop (my computer has too many inputs, and the sound device is a pain to manage), and used audacity to record it. (though one of the records I have has some tracks that cant be listened to properly as it they skip a lot, and the record itself actualy has cat prints on it O.o, though some of the tracks still play fine, it was one of my mother's most listened to records)

that's why you are supposed to CLEAN YOUR DAMN RECORDS

alot of skipping can be fixed with a good cleaning...

Over at whatcd there is a ban on any vinyl rips that are done with a USB Turntable, so it's usually not recommended unless you really don't care.

Definitely invest in the USB recording interface. Working with a laptop port usually does not lead to very good quality, and sometimes a lot of noise is generated

kinda hard when it probably haddnt been played in at least 20 years, and she said that she may have accidently spilled something on it.

Also, cleaning stuff for records isnt all that common any more.

cleaning stuff for records isn't as common at stores.. but there's the magical place called the internet where all kinds of vinyl care products can be found

One of those USB interfaces sounds interesting because then we wouldn't have to take the entire stereo setup over to the computer.

FastGamerr and Chewie, what kinds of USB turntables did you get?