How can I get my (vinyl) record music into iTunes Match?

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How can I get my (vinyl) record music into iTunes Match?

I have a rather large collection of music on CDs, Tapes, and records.

Now that iTunes Match exists I would like to include all of my music into my iTunes library.

There is no easy way (that I know of) to load anything except CDs into iTunes. So for the rest of the library one must either buy all the music again or buy equipment to play the music one time and convert it to a newer format.

My CD collection is mostly loaded and since 99.999% (virtually all) of that music is already in iTunes Match it is not uploaded to iTunes again, but it quickly becomes available to play on all my iTunes Authorized Devices.

With the exception of that 1 in ten thousand songs that I may have that iTunes does not have in the Match library there is no reason to import the music at all - other than to prove I have the actual CD's. (In any case I suppose I could have borrowed them for that anyway.)

However for CDs at least they can be imported - but for tapes and records I know of no direct way.

With something state-of-the-art like iTunes Match and my PC(s), iPhone(s) and iPad, why use stone-age-like means to prove ownership of outside-of-iTunes music?

Why not provide some other information to identify albums owned and have them available in iTunes Match without the 99.999% useless step of loading them?

In fact for most tape music it is no longer playable (to convert) as the rollers in the tape devices deteriorate and they no longer play.

Vinyl records play just fine, just not easily into a PC without purchase of expensive equipment that would be used only for the one-time load (which is really just for proof-of-ownership).

What a ridiculous waste of time, energy and funds for that 1 in 10,000 songs that may not yet exist in the iTunes Match library. Okay, as the music gets older it may even be 2 in 10,000 - but I doubt it.

I remember that each album (and 45 rpm single) has identifying information scratched into it (around the inside of the innermost track) - can that (or something else) suffice as proof of ownership to get the music into iTunes Match?

Please respond with ideas to quickly and easily get already-owned vinyl record music into an iTunes Match library.

I personally do not care if 1 (or 2) out of 10,000 of my songs gets lost because it is not in the iTunes Match library - couldn't be that good in that case anyway.

Thanks!!

iTunes in Windows-OTHER, Windows 7, Have 3 PC's all dual boot Win7-8

Posted on Apr 2, 2012 4:14 PM

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Answer 1

Apr 3, 2012 6:22 PM in response to BuildIT

It seems like you're bouncing around a few thoughts, here. The main thing I'm getting from your post is that you want a way to Match vinyl and tape purchases without having to actually import them into your PC and digitize them - does that sound correct? If so, then I have no solution for you, unfortunately. "Proof of ownership" is not something Apple likely cares about, this is a just a subscription service that assumes that the music in question is on your PC already. It can just as easily match a pirated MP3 album from a P2P share or something you ripped from the library. You have to understand what the service is and who they are targeting.

But as for "needle dropping" vinyl being a waste of time? Imo, it is not. I do have the equipment and it wasn't very costly at all. And, with some time to perfect your digitizing skills, you may find that those old records may actually sound better than their iTunes Match counterparts. You might even have some LP's that don't even have an CD / iTunes counterpart, so digitizing them may be your only option to hear them on your iPod/iPad.

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Answer 2

Apr 16, 2012 6:53 PM in response to BuildIT

I too have not figured out how to convert my vinyl collection to iTunes match. Here is what I have tried:

I record my vinyl records onto CD using a Sony RCD-W500C which makes a very high quality recording. I make sure the song lengths are the same as those from the same album at the iTunes store.

Then I import the CD into my iTunes music library. I have to enter the names of the tracks manually because Gracenote cannot identify the names of the songs. I do this while the music is in my iTunes music library and the CD has been ejected from my PC.

Then I try to get the iTunes Match, but it never works. I do, however, get the artwork from iTunes. iTunes then uploads my songs into the iCloud. When I download them back onto my PC and iPhone 4s, I get the identicle recording that I imported onto iTunes. I know this because I can hear the static and crackling of the vinyl. I don't necessarily mind that noise, but I figured if I paid for the iTunes Match I should get the AAC 256 bps music. After all it doesn't cost iTunes anything to give it to me. And there's no way I'm going to purchase all my vinyl records again. I have about 500 albums.

I do buy all my new music from iTunes because I think it is the best system available. I just think it could be so much better if they would let me download the highest quality recording of the music I own from them.

I have also tried the Sony Sound Forge Audio Studio which records my vinyl records into a music file on my PC. But that doesn't get the match either.

THERE HAS TO BE SOMEBODY OUT THERE THAT CAN TELL US WHAT ITUNES MATCH LOOKS AT IN OUR MUSIC UPLOADS THAT DETERMINES WHETHER THEY GIVE US THE MATCH!!!!!!

When you download a CD, there is some information embedded in the CD that iTunes matches. I don't believe there is any information embeded in the vinyl albums, but when I burn them onto a CD-maybe I could add the info onto the CD before trying to match it if I just knew what they looked for.

I would appreciate any help anyone can give me on this.

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Answer 3

Apr 16, 2012 7:07 PM in response to jonathanfrommankato

It's looking at waveforms, as far as we can tell (just a guess, but it's the best guess I think we have). With that in mind, your vinyl rips are 1) a different mastering than what's in iTunes most likely and 2) the pops / clicks and potential pitch differences could all have an affect on the waveform, and thus the matching process.

I have over 600 LP's and I've been slowly needle dropping (digitizing) them and attempting to Match them as well. But in my case it's more for reference as I actually prefer my vinyl copies as I clean up the clicks. And my pitch control should be fairly spot-on, as well as my silence before / after. But with all that in mind, I'm still getting maybe 30-40% matched on average. There seems to be no pattern that I can find.

As I mentioned before, it's a subscription service tailored more for digital sources like Amazon MP3's or CD rips. Vinyl and tape rips are not only going to be very difficult to Match, but it's just not a market segment Apple is likely looking to capture. Personally I'd try to clean up what you have via tools like "ClickRepair" (please google it, it's the best $40 I've spent on pop/click removal). Between that and Sound Forge (or Audacity, which is a free tool) I've gotten some good results that I'm very happy with. But it definitely requires some time to do hundreds of LP's.

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