78 vinyl records to cd

[jrj]

I am getting ready to purchase an ION electronic component to transfer my LP's to cd's. I have several 78's and the ION component I am looking at says that I can convert 78's with the "bundled software". Does that mean it is a feature included in Audacity?
Thank you,
JRJ

[steve]

Audacity and ION are not related.

ION have chosen to bundle Audacity with their products, though often the included version is a rather old version. The latest version of Audacity is available (free) from the main Audacity web site. At this time, the recommended version is Audacity 1.3.9.

Many owners of ION turntables use them successfully with Audacity, though there have been issues reported with some of their cheaper models. Some of the cheap ones have plastic platters that are not well balanced and may suffer from "wow" (as in "wow and flutter" - speed irregularity). Also, quite a lot of the early ones had problems with their USB connections, but we've not seen much of this problem for about a year now, so hopefully they have fixed it.

Some of the IONs are very cheap, and these models are probably best avoided. Look at the build quality before deciding which model to go for.
The other option, if you have an old high quality turntable packed away in a loft or garage, is to dig it out, get it serviced and a new stylus/belt fitted, and get a USB sound card that has a phono (RIAA) pre-amplifier built in.

[waxcylinder]

One feature of Audacity that will help you with 78 digitization is the set of Equalization curves for the various RIAA equalizations that were applied by the different manufacturers. Noote that unlike with vinyl LPs where a stand RIAA curve was agreed on almost from the outset - with 78s each manufacture used their own RIAA settings (and sometimes they used more than one). The set in Audacity is fairly comprehensive, but is by no means complete - however you can adjust and set your own customized equalization curves.

The Noise reduction and click removal functionality of Audacity will help you clean up the sound somewhat (but never completely). There are some commercial packages available for a small outlay which do a somewhat better job of cleanup than Audacity - post back if you require more info regarding this.

And as SteveTF says I would download 1.3.9 and start out with that version - you can get it from here: http://audacityteam.org/download/

WC

[waxcylinder]

Also I note that ION sell additional special stylus/cartridge for use with 78s - you really should use one of thos. The sytandard one supplyed for vinyl is not really suitable for use on shellac 78s.

WC