The News team came and interviewed me.  Here’s the copy from the airing April 9th 

 

AUSTIN  –  Call it back to the future.  Record sales — yes, record sales — are hot again.  But what if you want to turn that perfect LP into an MP3?  

 

“They’re almost like little time capsules from a different place,” said Brian DiFrank of Whetstone Audio in Austin.

 

A different place and a different time.

 

“So you can put on a record from 1963, and it’s almost like being in 1963,” he said.

 

From Stevie Ray Vaughan, to soul gospel, to Austin music legend Roky Erickson, DiFrank loves vinyl.

 

“They just sound better,” he said.

 

So DiFrank was the guy to ask, How do you transfer all those great records onto your computer?  DiFrank recommends a small device called an “iMic.”  One end connects to your turntable or amplifier, the other to your computer’s sound card jack.

 

“So you can see the sound waves already going through the computer right now,” he said as he showed us how it works.

 

iMic comes with software to record your tunes.  A quick search of the internet can find you plenty of other free programs to do the same thing.

 

“Pretty simple process really,” said DiFrank.

 

So what will it cost you to transfer your record collection?  You have to have a record player.  The adapter will run you around 35 dollars, and remember, you have to be patient while your record transfers over.

 

DiFrank recommended a high-quality turntable for decent audio quality.

 

“You’re going to spend at least three or four hundred dollars for a decent turntable,” he warned.

 

Some less-expensive models come with their own USB cables to connect directly to your computer, but DiFrank says their audio quality is iffy.

 

“Usually the ones with the built in USB aren’t that great,” he said.   “I don’t want to be an audio snob, but they’re just not.”

 

Other experts also say an amplifier is a must.  Otherwise, the audio may be too faint on your computer.

 

So whether it’s jazz, rock-and-roll, or just a slow jam to take you back to another time…

 

“It is kind of theraputic to be able to walk over and pull out a record and put it on a turntable,” said DiFrank.

 

Now you can enjoy those tunes on the go, without taking the turntable along.