ConvertVinylRecordsToCDs.com

Congratulations!  We’re assuming that you have your WAV file saved to preserve the original sound of your vinyl records.  Now you will want to create MP3 files to listen to your music.  In order to do that, you will need software that will take your WAV file and compress it into an MP3 file which you can then play in most any CD player or MP3 player.  Don’t worry, your original WAV file will still be there.  All we will be doing is creating a new file of lesser quality that is in a compatible format for listing on portable devices.  The functional aspect of any software that will do this conversion is the MP3 codec.

So what encoder is the best?  There is no good answer to that question.  It depends largely in part as to what you are looking for.  Some encoders are optimized for speed, others for quality, and still others for optimal quality at a certain bitrate.  First ask yourself the question, where will I be using these MP3 files for the most part?  Will it be listinging at home in my easy chair?  Will it be in my car while I’m driving down the highway?  Will it be with headphone on a solid state MP3 player?  The answer to these questions should drive the decision you make regarding your choice of software with an MP3 encoder.

For listening from your easy chair using high quality speakers, I would recommend a codec that is optimized for quality at a bitrate of no less that 256K.  For listening on the road from your car speakers (typically of lesser quality than a home stereo system), then I would opt for a high speed codec with compression down to the 64K-128K range, which will allow you to fit 100+ songs onto a single CD!  Lastly, if you are listening through your headphones using an MP3 player, then something in between the other extremes is probably the best.

Whatever software you choose, you can rest assured that it will not take nearly the amount of time and effort you put into your primary project of moving the recordings from your vinyl records to digital storage.  If you create an MP3 file and it doesn’t have the quality or compression that you expected, simply delete the file and start over with some other setting until you get it where you want it.  After all, your WAV file is there for you to use as the source whenever you would like to experiment.

Tags: cd player, codec, headphones, MP3, mp3 codec, MP3 encoder, mp3 player, vinyl records, wav