Digitizing Old Audio

Now that you've ripped your CD collection and copied it to your digital music player, what about those old cassettes, vinyl LPs, 8-track and reel-to-reel tapes that are sitting around gathering dust? Audiophiles everywhere have magnificent collections of sound recordings on old (and increasingly obsolete and deteriorating) media. But how to digitize them?

Roxio's new CD Spin Doctor -- part of its Boom Box software collection -- allows a Mac to translate an in-line analog audio input from a turntable or tape player, and convert it to MP3, AAC or Apple Losless digital format. Once recorded, the file can be cleaned up, edited, and imported into iTunes.



The software is for Macs only, and costs about $50 (plus an additional $40 or so if your Mac needs an audio input connection). It also includes several other products, such as tools for making recordings with a microphone. These could be useful for digitizing antique recordings too old to be played on modern stereo equipment.

Beyond serving as new gadgets for iPod fans, these tools provide a valuable service by allowing music lovers to copy and preserve beloved recordings that might otherwise be lost to both time and progress.

A collection of Mac-based audio software is available at Rogue Amoeba.

A Real video showing the process is available here.

Source: Forbes