Anyone taping their vinyl?

[Oldlistener50]

Thinking this might be a good idea to preserve the vinyl and allow me to play songs over and over if I want and put my favorites on single tapes instead of skipping songs on the records (which I now know isn't a good idea)

 

[Adam]

I converted some favorite songs of mine from vinyl to digital years ago. I think they sound fine, but I don't have a high-end turntable setup like some folks. As the years have gone on, it seems like more and more music is available on the internet, so it's easier for me to just Google it.

 

[TLS Guy]

Thinking this might be a good idea to preserve the vinyl and allow me to play songs over and over if I want and put my favorites on single tapes instead of skipping songs on the records (which I now know isn't a good idea)

What tapes are we talking about here? If you mean cassette forget it. To get the same quality as a good turntable you need half track reel to reel at least, running at 15 ips.

 

[Oldlistener50]

Agreed, and I'm just learning here

too. I've read some about tape and I do understand that you need a fast-moving tape.

I'm not ready to do anything just yet, I'm just trying to do some research.

 

[slipperybidness]

I've got a friend that does reel to reel and he says its really high quality. I don't know the details though.

 

[bikdav]

I've put a lot of my vinyl on CD with a Sony CD Recorder [RCD-W500C] that I bought at a yard sale for very cheap money. That way, I can play my collection almost anywhere _ including putting some music on my iPOD form the CDs.

 

[TLS Guy]

too. I've read some about tape and I do understand that you need a fast-moving tape.

I'm not ready to do anything just yet, I'm just trying to do some research.

Let me further your research.

The only reel to reel tape now available is from ATR magentics. This is a very high bias tape. Only a few hard to find vintage recorders can be adjusted to provide sufficient bias for these tapes.

Of all the tape machines I own, only this one could be adjusted to handle this tape. That is the machine shown here.

A 10.5 inch reel of ATR magnetic tape will provide 30 min of recording time at 15 ips and cost you $59 dollars.

You would need to find a vintage recorder capable of generating sufficient bias. You would have to pay someone like myself to refurbish the machine and adjust it to the new ATR tape. You could buy an ATR machine, which would cost you a lot more than your house.

So if you want to archive your discs you need to do it digitally and record them to hard drive.

 

[3db]

If your idea of taping vinyl is to preserve it, let me ease your fears by saying that it is not necessary. Opponents of vinyl have always cried out loud about records wearing out with each successive play. If that were the case, I woudnt have anything left of my Led Zep collection. These records that I have purchased new back in the 70s and early 80s have seen at a minimum 100 plays and they still sound very clean with hardly a pop or tick. A good starter turntable like the ProJect Debut will not hurt your vinyl collection. Turntables to avoid at all cost because they hurt vinyl are the cheap ones meant to plug into your computer's USB terminal for digital conversion to from the likes of Sony, Denon, the Technics knock offs like the Ion. Stay far away from them if you want to preserve your vinyl.

 

[j_garcia]

I used to tape my vinyl......in the 80s. The tapes are gone, albums still good. If you want to preserve the recordings or use them in a different type of device, then digital recording would be better than tape. Backing up to tape isn't going to preserve them forever either.

 

[bikdav]

If your idea of taping vinyl is to preserve it, let me ease your fears by saying that it is not necessary. Opponents of vinyl have always cried out loud about records wearing out with each successive play. If that were the case, I woudnt have anything left of my Led Zep collection. These records that I have purchased new back in the 70s and early 80s have seen at a minimum 100 plays and they still sound very clean with hardly a pop or tick. A good starter turntable like the ProJect Debut will not hurt your vinyl collection. Turntables to avoid at all cost because they hurt vinyl are the cheap ones meant to plug into your computer's USB terminal for digital conversion to from the likes of Sony, Denon, the Technics knock offs like the Ion. Stay far away from them if you want to preserve your vinyl.

Thank you for clearing up that fear. Some of the vinyl that I own has been played with ceramic cartridge turntables. You heard how much damage those were allegedly suppose to do. Guess what? Those LPs don't sound destroyed to me.