Hi Steve: Most if not all standalone recorders let you set a "make-a-new-track here" threshold. It's not perfect but it's another solution. In Soundforge, all you do is put mark (the M key) between tracks then "convert marker to regions" and "save each region as a separate file". Only takes as long as to scroll thru the waveform and make the marks and then how long the computer grinds. As for slides, you are very right that there is expensive outsourcing or time-consuming DIY but nothing in between. My parents took thousands of Kodachrome slides and they all are still vivid color but I have not had the time to tackle that job yet. That will be one of MY retirement projects. -- Tom Fine ----- Original Message ----- From: "Steve Ramm" <[log in to unmask]> To: <[log in to unmask]> Sent: Tuesday, April 03, 2007 10:29 PM Subject: Re: [ARSCLIST] Anyone familiar with "Spin It Again" Software to convert Lps a... > Thanks guys! Somehow I thought I;d get answers like that knowing this a > highly "technical" group. I know I didn't want to transfer my Lps using one of > those cheap combo jobs. > > Actually at this point in my life - 62 - I'm spending so much time listening > to new releases of old material (for my monthly column in In The Groove) > that I'm not about to build up a big library. Basically I want music on the go. > And, I don't want to be a "sound archive" as my materials isn't THAT rare! > Look, doesn't everyone have hours of old radio comedy shows? And after those of > us over 50 (60?) go no one will want them anyway. > > My problem with cassettes and reels is that I don't have time to figure out > where in the tape there is a song I want to hear. Looking at the demo on Spin > It Again, I fugured I could set up a portable tape player next to my PC, run > the tape through the software to the PC and it would pretty much separate the > tracks between silence. Then I could index it and burn to CDs if I want. My > PC probably has a decent sound card. Heck, I'm happy with the radio shows I > record with Total Recorder - which at less than $20.00 is something I love and > it's easy for a dummy like me to use. > > Tom, you pointed out value of time. I agree and that's why I wanted > something that would work quickly and easily and I'm not planning on doing it for > anyone's ears but mine. I have mid range speakers on my stereo and my MP3 > player. I'm into the content not whether the frequency is high or low. Spin it > again offers declickers in the software. It's low end I realize. > > I tried to use Audacity to cut up a long program once and got, not only > stumped, but it took time. It's way too technical for me. And my Dell PC cost > less than $500. without a monitor so I'm not looking to even put $75.00 more > into a sound card. I just thought this might serve my purpose. > > If you guys want, maybe someone can go to their site and look at demo and > give me thoughts on the downside of using it ASSUMING you want dubbing for > dummies of mostly speech, voices and some live concert recordings - that will > eventually be discarded.. and not spend over $50. > > Though it's somewhat different, I've been reading a lot of articles lately > to transfer slides (Photo slides) to digital. I was one of those who only took > slides cause they were cheaper than prints. I have thousands. Well, the > consensus of all is that there is NO INEXPENSIVE way to do it. If you have done > by services it comes to about 50 cents per slide scanned. If you do it yourself > it will take at least 3 minutes per slide to scan and save PLUS the cost of > a $100. scanner. Multiply this by time value and a few thousand slides and > you can see it won't work. I have no heirs who will care anyway. But these > technological changes have really moved fast in our lifetime. > > So thanks for the replies. I won't do anything right away but I might use > their free trial (which lets you record indefinitely but only burn three CDs or > or save 3 digital files. > > Steve > > > > > > ************************************** See what's free at http://www.aol.com. >