Thursday, January 3, 2008
MY NEW TOY
So Gerry, what have you been doing with your free time lately?
Hey, thanks for asking. I’m spending a fair amount of time playing with a new toy. It’s called a “U-Record.”
Basically, what is does it let you digitize (it’s a word, I looked it up) your records and cassette tapes, and sends them right into your iTunes library.
All you have to do is plug your turntable (or cassette deck) into the little black box, then plug the box into your computer. It is blessedly simple. Really, I got it right the FIRST time, which is highly unusual.
For years, it’s broken my little heart when I go down to the basement and see my old turntable boxed up on a shelf, and then trip over four boxes full of records.
So far, I’ve transferred more than 200 songs, and they sound as good as the record. (That means your good records will sound great, and your scratched records will sound scratched. There is another, different, program that will clean that up, but I don’t understand it. Yet.)
It’s been a nice walk down memory lane, listening to many of these records for the first time in years.
I did invest in good headphones, and it’s a pleasure to hear the power of Levi Stubbs’ lead vocals for the Four Tops…the writing genius of Stevie Wonder…the evolution of Buffalo Springfield to Poco, CSN (and Y), and Loggins & Messina…the musicians backing Maria Muldaur…the subversive vocal of Grace Slick on “White Rabbit”…and the melding of Simon & Garfunkel’s voices, though in retrospect, some of Simon’s writing now
strikes me as pretentious. For a change, I concentrated on the voices of Mary and Flo/Cindy backing up Diana. I was never much of a Carpenters fan, but did you ever hear their version of “Masquerade?” And as enjoyable as it is to hear them again, why is The Dave Clark Five in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame?
As a bonus, I’ve actually read two books while doing this, and I’m on my third. (If you’re a Steve Martin fan, by all means read his new autobiography.)
Hey, thanks for asking. I’m spending a fair amount of time playing with a new toy. It’s called a “U-Record.”
Basically, what is does it let you digitize (it’s a word, I looked it up) your records and cassette tapes, and sends them right into your iTunes library.
All you have to do is plug your turntable (or cassette deck) into the little black box, then plug the box into your computer. It is blessedly simple. Really, I got it right the FIRST time, which is highly unusual.
For years, it’s broken my little heart when I go down to the basement and see my old turntable boxed up on a shelf, and then trip over four boxes full of records.
So far, I’ve transferred more than 200 songs, and they sound as good as the record. (That means your good records will sound great, and your scratched records will sound scratched. There is another, different, program that will clean that up, but I don’t understand it. Yet.)
It’s been a nice walk down memory lane, listening to many of these records for the first time in years.I did invest in good headphones, and it’s a pleasure to hear the power of Levi Stubbs’ lead vocals for the Four Tops…the writing genius of Stevie Wonder…the evolution of Buffalo Springfield to Poco, CSN (and Y), and Loggins & Messina…the musicians backing Maria Muldaur…the subversive vocal of Grace Slick on “White Rabbit”…and the melding of Simon & Garfunkel’s voices, though in retrospect, some of Simon’s writing now
strikes me as pretentious. For a change, I concentrated on the voices of Mary and Flo/Cindy backing up Diana. I was never much of a Carpenters fan, but did you ever hear their version of “Masquerade?” And as enjoyable as it is to hear them again, why is The Dave Clark Five in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame?As a bonus, I’ve actually read two books while doing this, and I’m on my third. (If you’re a Steve Martin fan, by all means read his new autobiography.)
Listening to old favorites and reading some good books.
Not a bad way to spend winter days.
Posted at 9:53 PM by Gerry
7 Comments:
Sounds very cool - definitely a toy I would love; now if I only still had a turntable that worked!
I inherited dozens of great jazz albums when my uncle passed away a few years ago. Would love to get them into my iPod!
See, Gerry, now I can say it was your fault that I had to go search out both a new turntable (wish me luck) AND this new toy. :)
LPF, my turntable works just fine, but I haven't used it in a long time. And Gerry, I have that Dave Clark Five LP right here, along with my other "oldies but goldies." In fact, I think their next album release was HAVING A WILD WEEKEND, in '65 (??), a soundtrack of their A HARD DAY'S NIGHT poor movie ripoff. But I went to see it, at the Strand Theater, nonetheless. Makes one realize just how good the Beatles were at that time in their careers, when the oldest, Ringo, was only 24. John was 23, Paul barely 22, and young George, much missed, as is John, was a young 21. My goodness, talk about feeling old!
Hey, the newscasts were great last night, with that "new" face joining you and Lisa, and Brad and Kevin, and sometimes Joe D, the self-proclaimed Yankee fan. Great stuff, Mister "senior" Connecticut anchorperson.
I still have my turntable in my living room, but alas, it doesn't work anymore. I have the Dave Clark Five album and I should listen to it again now that I'm older and wiser. I used to love them! I'm going to have to go home tonight and look through all my albums. It would be fun to listen to them again and walk down memory lane. All I need is a new needle for my turntable. Any idea where to find one?
Linda
P.S. It so good to hear you are reading books! A library is a great place to visit any time of year, but especially great in the winter. Not only can you find great books of every variety to read, but also movies in VHS and DVD format. And it's all free! (Unless you are late in returning them). Can you tell I work at a library and love it!
LPF and Linda...I checked, and amazon.com has turntables and cartridges. And LPF, you can always blame me.
Linda, so far I've read an autobiography, a mystery, and now I'm working on a work of recent history that interests me.
And Peter...it seems like yesterday we were watching the Beatles on Ed Sullivan.
Thanks for the tip, Gerry. I should have known that Amazon would have something! See what you've gone and done now??!! You've assisted in creating an obsessed music monster! ;)
Peter, I've got stacks of old albums that have been sitting around for years. Collection starts with early 60's rock, musicals and jazz and goes through late 70's/early 80's rock bands. Some from my own collection, some hubby's, and some inherited - an eclectic collection! Now I'm inspired to replace the turntable and get them all digitized. Likely would be cheaper than trying to replace them all with CDs - I'd guess many of them couldn't be found!
OOOOO!!!! I no longer have my turntable and have retired most of my vinyl, but I still have TONS of cassettes and a deck! And I practically worship my iPod. My "oldies" are from the late-70s on (think MTV debut era), but I LOVE Motown (especially Smokey. My aunt used to rock me to sleep to Ooo Baby Baby.) Gerry--you may have created a monster.
Go for it, Beckie.
Late '70's? MTV? I'm thinking Robert Palmer and Golden Earring.
Post a Comment
<< Home