Software

[stoutfellow]

The software that came with the LP/MP3 converter is Sound Forge Audio Studio 9.0, which is apparently a full-blown music suite. How sophisticated it is I don't know; I don't have any immediate plans to investigate its capacities, but it's evidently good for a lot more than I expected.

One slightly troublesome matter is this. The converter copies one side of an LP as a single audio file, and then attempts to determine where the track boundaries are. It's only successful at this about half the time, unfortunately, but it is possible to set the boundaries by hand, and I've learned how to do this. Unfortunately again, though, it frequently won't allow me to set the boundary precisely where I want it; it's either here or it's here - 15 seconds, or something, which results in a bit of one track getting attached to the previous or the next. It's never more than a few second's worth, but it's still mildly annoying. (Saving the tracks after you've set them by hand is also a bit more time-consuming.)

Since my last post, I've added Gordon Lightfoot's If You Could Read My Mind, Neil Diamond's Beautiful Noise, Linda Ronstadt's Simple Dreams (that's the one with "Blue Bayou"), and Kenny Loggins' Celebrate Me Home. Almost all of the LPs are, like these, from about 1975-1983, and reflect where my tastes were then. (I still like these - I wouldn't be transferring them otherwise - but I've developed tastes for several other kinds of music since.)

Comments

[stoutfellow]

I find it interesting, comparing the Diamond of that era with the Diamond of ten or twenty years earlier. It's hard - for me at least - to believe that they're the same singer. Fortunately, I like both of them, except when the later Diamond tries to sing the early Diamond's songs. ("Cherry, Cherry", in particular, is one he should have stayed away from.)

[xinef]

Hmm, when did Neil Diamond start? My copy of Beautiful Noise was ca 1976. I don't think he dates back 20 years prior to that, at least not commercially. But admit that I don't know the details of his career. But I don't think of Beautiful Noise as late ND.

[stoutfellow]

To be honest, I was a bit off in both directions. I thought BN was a bit later - ca. 1980 - and that ND's career began a bit earlier. (1962 or 1965, depending on how you choose to count.) In any case, I'll stand by the "ten or" half of the original phrase.

Chronological details aside, though, it seems to me that the Diamond of the mid-seventies had shifted well towards the pop end of the rock-pop spectrum, with a smoother sound but less of an edge. Subjective, I'll admit, and of course YMMV, but that's my impression.

[xinef]

p.s. I started as an undergrad in 1976, for context.