Converting Vinyl to Digital

You might get more responses asking this on the 'Digital' category, as this is all about digital conversion...

depends on what your budget is. I use an Antelope audio  Pure2 A to D. works very well. 

Look on the Tascam web site for a pro audio ADC. Friend uses an older model to transcript all his vinyl to digital, he stores the digital version to a CD or external hard drive. 

There is software also that can be used with a PC but its not as good IMO for the recording part anyway. That said this software in many cases separate the tracks and adds meta data (meta data being the track numbers and names). Thats the largest issue taking the single large file (1 per side) and breaking it into the separate tracks and then adding meta data. This is time consuming unless software is used and that will not be perfect.

Unless you have records that are not available in the digital domain already it’s a vert time-consuming venture. Worth it is subjective and you’ll have to decide if its worth it for you. I think if there is already a digital version, that will end up sounding better then a recording from a vinyl record.

There are some propriety devices and software out there for this but from my experience costly.

You might check out posts by John Ellison over on vinyl asylum. He uses a Tascam ADC, which is not terribly expensive, to convert his vinyl to digital and claims there is no audible difference in SQ between the original vinyl and the digital copy.

If you're looking for an activity or you have a special collection of very old rare vinyl, then this could be a great pursuit. However, it is somewhat like high end audio. Putting together a system to play music with great fidelity can take decades and cost a fortune. Converting analog to digital can be the same. It has all the potential trade offs.

I own an excellent vinyl rig (Contemporary top of the line Linn LP12 ~ $45K) and 2,000 vinyl records in pristine condition... many are audiophile pressings. My streaming leg of my system sounds just as good often better with high resolution recordings and I have access to millions of albums (half a million are high resolution) for $14 / month (Qobuz). So, when I thought about recording my vinyl I would have just invested the money in upgrading my DAC or streamer and making streaming sound better. 

Of course that is me, and we are in this pursuit for different reasons. You may really enjoy the process. Have fun.