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As a way of collecting and playing music, the vinyl (and earlier shellac) record has been supplanted by various digital formats. The oldest, now in its third decade, is the standard CD. CD players range from inexpensive portable units for personal use, to expensive "Hi-Fi" players intended as a component of a sound system. Computers can also play CDs.
CDs store the data, captured at the rate of 44100 samples per second, as 16-bit data. This requires about 10MB of storage for each minute of stereo sound. Since an audio CD can store 800MB, equivalent to 80 minutes, and since a CD is relatively convenient both for use and storage, it has become a popular medium for collecting and playing music.
Many people are converting their old gramophone records, particularly Vinyl LPs, to CD, because they do not wish to continue to use a record player to play them. Once the sound from the record has been captured as CD quality data, it can also be converted to other formats which store the data in highly compressed form, such as AAC, MP3, and WMA. Pocket-sized players for these formats are also becoming popular.
Playing the record involves physical contact with a stylus, which is likely to inflict cumulative damage, particularly where there is mistracking caused by small particles which have adhered to the groove wall, or other reasons, such as a worn stylus. Vinyl records are also quite subject to scratches, even with careful handling. In most cases, record playback will be accompanied by annoying "clicks" and "crackle". Older or damaged records may have huge clicks and thumps which completely disrupt the listening experience.
Although there are significant issues surrounding the use of CDs for long-term stable storage, actually playing a CD does not involve physical contact, and should not damage it. CDs, like LPs, are succeptible to scratches, but it is generally not so difficult to handle them in a way which avoids this. So there are considerable advantages in transferring LPs to CD, although it is a wise precaution to continue to store the LPs in suitable conditions.
New in version 1.2.5:
Compatible with "Final Vinyl" version 2 from Griffin Technology. Fixes a bug which could prevent processing of certain wave files.
System requirements:
Java 1.4 or later.
System support
PPC
$25 Demoware
For more information, visit:
http://wwwmaths.anu.edu.au/~briand/sound/
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