All listeners need is a USB turntable and a micro-USB cable to attach it to their phone, at which point they simply load the Vinyl Recorder app and press record. An integration with Gracenote means that after a few seconds, the service will identify the song from its online database, then add information to your digital vinyl rip — including the artist name, song title, album title, album artwork, and genre tags.
Best of all, the music is recorded to your phone in high-quality 16-bit, 48k FLAC files, which means you will be able to hear CD-quality versions of every track you rip, wherever you go. This makes it an excellent option for record collectors who always listen to vinyl at home but who have yet to settle on a good portable solution. With the Vinyl Recorder app, you can take your rarest and most coveted vinyl wherever you are not willing to risk taking the real thing.
The app itself is free, but Convert Technologies does charge a fee per-track for ripping your favorite analog cuts. Those who plan on ripping just a few of their favorite tracks can do so for cheap — 10 tracks costs around $2.50 — and those interested in backing up more of their library can do so for a reasonably affordable sum as well, with 250 tracks costing about $40.
The application is currently for Android only but the company is planning to port it to iOS as soon as it can, even offering an email sign up for iPhone users on its website. To learn more, be sure to check out the promo video included at the top of this post.
Looking to get into vinyl but don’t know where to start? We have a list of our favorite affordable turntables and the best entry-level phono preamps, as well as a good amount of pointers as to how to start a perfect vinyl record collection.
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