2008 is the year I go completely digital. This includes:
– Converting VHS tapes to DVD
– Converting Albums to MP3
– Converting Cassettes to MP3
– Converting CDs to MP3
– Converting C64 Disks to D64
For converting VHS tapes to DVD, I am using this Magnavox DVD Recorder/VCR Combo. The conversion process is rather painless; in fact, the most painful part of the process is sitting and watching all these old VHS tapes, which makes me wonder why I’m doing this. I’m not converting movies (unless they were never released on DVD). Instead, I’m focusing on television programs (lots of old MTV recordings) and home movies.
For converting CDs to MP3, I use FreeRip. I started with 192k bitrates but have since upgraded to 256k. I’m approximately 1/3 the way through my 1,200 CD collection.
For converting cassettes to MP3, I use SoundForge and a cassette deck plugged in to my computer’s soundcard. These are compressed to 192k which is probably overkill for cassettes. The tapes I’m recording in generally fall under one of two categories; tapes I made as a kid (usually recorded from radio), and cassettes of local bands that never made it to CD.
For converting albums to MP3, I’m again using SoundForge and the Ion USB Turntable my dad got me for Christmas. I haven’t hooked it up yet because I still have the cassette mess wired up to the computer, but after I finish those it’s off to the vinyl. These shouldn’t take long; I’ll only be converting over the albums I had as a kid that again never made it to CD.
For converting my old Commodore floppy disks to D64 disk images, I’m using a big technical convoluted system that I just went into great detail discussing at tech.robohara.com — so I won’t bore you with the details here. The gist of it is, I am preserving all my old Commodore 64 diskettes in a digital format.
I love starting off the New Year with a ton of projects lined up!
Ironically, as I read ‘n respond to this, there’s a tape playing in the background, hooked up to a PC, recording and finally converting to a more compact, not deteriorating and space-saving MP3 format. Though the project’s not “officially” begun, it’s one of those real-time tasks that affords opportunity to do other stuff – like clean out (and archive) emails.
Ah, those wonderful January projects!