USB turntables. How hard is it to convert my records so I can put them on my iPod?

Hi,

It's pretty straight forward.

You need a USB turntable, a free USB connection on your computer and an audio recording program. I recommend Audacity which is a free download (but is included with a lot of USB turntables you buy).

Load up Audacity

In Audacity make sure the input is "USB turntable" or "Stereo Mix" may also work.

Press record and then a track appears with a blue wave. Play the song on the vinyl initally to test to see if sound waves are drawing on Audacity.

You may need to adjust the input recording volume if the sound is too quiet or too loud (modulated). Once you've set the volume, click the little x on the left hand side where it says AUDIO TRACK and it has the L-R and Gain sliders

Press record again and then play the song in it's entirity on vinyl.

Once the song has finished press Stop

Click File then Export Audio

Save it as any file you like (save as WAV for best audio quality and let iTunes convert the audio to MP3 or M4A)

Import the song into iTunes

Connect your iPod

Load music onto iPod as you normally would for any songs imported from CD or downloaded.

Yes that does sound long winded but it's easier once you know how to do it and you've recorded a few songs.

This is a screenshot of Audacity in action:

http://s28.postimg.org/c1gkbmai5/audacity_example....

If you have a few seconds of silence at the beginning of the song you can highlight the silent bits in Audacity after recording and hitting the backspace key on your keyboard before exporting your recording. There is more detail of Audacity on their website and they have a FAQ and user guide on there too.

The easiest way would be to find your music on iTunes store and download it that way.