Analog music is awesome, but it isn’t convenient. Yes, putting your favorite album on a turntable and dropping that tonearm at home is an amazing experience, but you can’t take it with you. Plus, if you have a rare or inherited copy of a record that you love, it will only offer a limited number of plays before you need to find another one to replace it. Sure, the life of your vinyl can be improved by properly setting up your turntable and using the best methods to clean your records, but if you truly want to hold onto those sounds forever, you should consider digitizing them. Here’s how.

The hardware

Sadly, there is no catch-all method for digitizing your vinyl collection and the exact process depends on what kind of equipment you have. Some turntables come with built-in phono preamps; others rely on a receiver with a built-in phono preamp or a stand-alone phono preamp. Many modern turntables feature both a built-in preamp and USB output, allowing you to quickly and efficiently convert that musty copy of Steely Dan’s Can’t Buy a Thrill with little effort.

That’s not to say you can’t convert your vinyl to a digital format without an integrated USB output, but opting for a turntable built with said output makes the process far easier. Below is one such turntable we recommend. If this doesn’t work for you, check out our rundown of the best turntables.

If you’re deeply invested in a large collection of vinyl records, a high-quality player like the Sony PS-HX500 might be worth your money. The player is outfitted with a top-notch Texas Instruments digital audio converter (DAC) that transfers at a minimum of 16-bit resolution (that’s CD quality). That’s just the minimum, though — this bad boy can transfer files up to 5.6MHz DSD, which no other record player can do. If you’re an audiophile, this is simply the best choice.

The software

Getting the signal from your turntable to your computer is only the first step. The second part of the process is finding the right software application to record the audio. Although there are several premium applications designed to help you rip audio from your turntable — like Pure Vinyl and Vinyl Studio — the open-source Audacity will suffice for most users. This freemium application may not offer dedicated tools for converting vinyl into more accessible formats, but it can still record at sampling rates up to 192kHz, and export the resulting audio files as either an MP3, AIFF, FLAC, or WAV for playback on a slew of popular platforms. The interface may not be polished, either, but the software works with Windows-, Mac-, and Linux-based machines.

Regardless of which software you use, we recommend that you record at a minimum of 16 bits sampled at 44.1kHz. You can always create a compressed copy from a lossless one, but you can’t improve the quality of audio files without going through the recording process again. If you have a large library of vinyl — which seems likely, given that you’re here looking to digitize your entire collection — that is a serious time commitment.

The process

Once you have the necessary gear and software in order, it’s time to start the digitization process. Although you’re more than welcome to digitize your vinyl wherever you see fit, we recommend choosing a space that’s relatively quiet and devoid of outside vibrations — i.e., passing trains, stomping children — that may cause rumbling or an unwanted needle skip.

Step 1: Clean your vinyl

Vinyl has a knack for getting dirty — dust accumulates over time, fingers leave behind oils and other muck — so it’s best to clean your albums. Any imperfection, whether it stems from scratches or mere dust, will be recorded when digitizing. Consider buying at least a simple bristle or micro-fiber brush and some cleaning solution if you haven’t already.

Step 2: Connect your devices

Next, connect your devices. If using a turntable with an integrated USB output, plug the USB cable into the corresponding port on your computer. If using a turntable without a USB output, connect your record player to a stand-alone preamp or A/V receiver before relaying the RCA connection (via monitor output) to the “line in” port on your computer using the RCA-to-3.5mm cable.

Step 3: Launch Audacity

Open Audacity, or your preferred audio-recording software of choice, on your Mac or PC. Select the appropriate input source from the system preferences pane or a similar settings panel in the program. If using Audacity , click Edit and select System Preferences before selecting “Line in” from the drop-down menu within the Recording section of the Devices pane. Keep in mind you may have to additionally select the input source from within your computer’s main sound panel.

Step 4: Record

Click the Record button and start your record to begin capturing audio from your selected source, adjusting the input levels to reduce clipping and subsequent distortion when needed. In Audacity, the record button is represented by a red circle in the topmost navigational toolbar.

Step 5: Wait

Allow your desired section or the entirety side of the record to play through before clicking the Stop button, represented by a yellow square in Audacity and typically resting beside the Record button in most audio suites.

Step 6: Split the tracks

If you’re like most people, chances are you would rather split the entirety of the record into individual tracks. If using Audacity, click and drag your cursor to highlight the duration of a particular track. Afterward, click the Tracks option within the toolbar, select Add Label At Selection from the resulting drop-down menu, and name the track appropriately. There are better tools for this process than Audacity (see: Perfect Tunes) but it’s free, which is nice.

Step 7: Export

Once you have split and named each track, click File within the toolbar and select Export Multiple from within the drop-down menu. Afterward, choose your desired file format, save location, and enter any missing metadata in the resulting pop-up menu before clicking the Export button in the bottom-right corner.

Step 8: Enjoy

Once finished converting, enjoy your newly digitized music in the media player of your choice!

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