I could easily rip the LPs to digital files, and call that sufficient, but I\u2019m kind of old-school and anachronistic: I like to make CDs that include not only the audio files but also the liner notes and the artwork. This is possible with programs like Toast, which you can use to create what are called \u201cEnhanced Audio\u201d CDs that have separate sub-volumes for the musical tracks and digital data.<\/p>\n
It also turns out that when you create a CD that closely replicates the order and timing of the original LP it will often be recognized by Apple Music (ne\u00e9 iTunes) as a commercially produced CD, and Music will automatically download the metadata like the performer, song title, and album from Gracenote, saving a lot of manual data entry.<\/p>\n
My workflow for the project goes something like this: play an LP while recording it through a Scarlett 24 bit stereo A\/D converter<\/a>. The stereo digital stream is captured by Amadeus Pro<\/a>, a sound editing program also available from the Mac App Store<\/a>.<\/p>\n Send the resulting AIFF file through a (now obsolete) program called ClickRepair<\/a> to clean up the clicks and pops of the vinyl record, restoring it to near-CD audio quality. Adjust the levels of the tracks, and split the tracks out to individual files in 16-bit AIFF format back in Amadeus Pro again.<\/p>\n Photograph the album cover, front and back, along with any enclosed liner notes. Then burn the whole data set to a CD using a CD burner program. I am careful to use the highest quality discs that I can lay my hands on, and run the burning program at minimum speed (usually 4X); with good quality Taiyo Yuden or JVC discs (now superseded by CMC.) I have had good luck with CDs still being readable after 15 years.<\/p>\n Once the CD has been burned, I mount it so that Music sees it and tries to match it up to a commercial CD product; often it will find an appropriate match, and then I just direct Music to rip the CD to MP3 format within Music. (If it doesn\u2019t find a match with Gracenote I have to manually enter the metadata in Music before ripping the CD to an MP3). Now when I sync with my iPhone the MP3 gets transferred to the phone, where I can listen to it on the go, or in the car, or at work. I archive the AIFF files and photo documentation on a NAS for safekeeping.<\/p>\n You might be listening to this, thinking \u201cOptical media is dead, Apple got rid of it ten years ago, why should I care?\u201d One reason that I can think of is that I still think that it is good to have a layered defense against data loss.<\/p>\n There is a technology out there called the M-Disc, which is supposedly archival quality; the manufacturer has put their discs through rigorous testing, and they make the claim that data stored on an M-Disc should last a 1000 years. Even if you discount that specific claim, it seems likely that an M-Disc will hold your data through the next generation or two. So maybe it makes sense to put together a couple of M-Disc DVD\u2019s containing your most irreplaceable family photos, videos, and oral histories. You can get a USB interface M-Disc compatible portable CD\/DVD burner<\/a> from Other World Computing for only $35, and the M-Discs themselves are available from Amazon<\/a>.<\/p>\n So what is the problem to be solved then? In one word: Toast. I started using Toast 5 back in 2003 when it ran on a Titanium PowerBook G4. Corel (formerly Roxio) has continued to issue new versions of Toast that correspond roughly to major operating system changes; they\u2019re now up to version 20, and although they have added features to the suite of software that they ship with Toast, the underlying main program hasn\u2019t changed much.<\/p>\n In fact, I would say that the main program has actually regressed: I used to re-purchase the whole shooting match under duress every three or four years when Apple\u2019s operating system changes made the old Toast unusable, and was often disappointed to note that old reliable features that were critical to my workflow were either hidden or bug-ridden. If Toast 5 were able to run on my current hardware, that\u2019s what I would be using.<\/p>\n I forget what exactly it was that was the final straw for me. It might have been the more stringent licensing check that was unable to handle allowing more than one user on a given machine to be able to run the program without performing a directory copy in Terminal (which I was perfectly capable of doing, but it was annoying). I decided to go looking for a replacement for Toast.<\/p>\n I want to mention here a useful resource that perhaps our listeners might not be aware of, or perhaps were aware of at one time but have forgotten. That resource is the website alternativeto.net<\/a>. You can go to the website, type in the name of a program, and it will show you crowd-sourced alternatives that perform a similar function.<\/p>\n
![\"Drag](\"https:\/\/www.podfeet.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/07\/Drag-and-drop-files-to-build-an-audio-CD.png\" "\\"Drag")
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