Does anyone know of a place in Bangkok that can convert a vinyl LP to mp3?

37 minutes ago, ianh68 said:

Does anyone know of a place in Bangkok that can convert a vinyl LP to mp3?

paying someone to do this would be very expensive due to the time it takes
depending how much vinyl you have
it may be cheaper to buy the needed hardware if any and do yourself
it is not difficult i was doing this 20 years ago, 
you basically hook the turntable up to the PC
and record as it plays, afaik there is no quick way to do this
apart from playing fastest speed possible on turntable then adjust once ripped

How many albums are you looking to rip?
do you want the crackle or want the sound also cleaned up?

*Never discard your vinyl, it will last much longer than any current digital medium.


 

why post this question again?
seeing your last post others already gave great info
including turntables with USB built for this (new to me, but as i said it is simple to do)

i assume this is just another engagement post

https://aseannow.com/topic/1349308-conversion-to-mp3/

34 minutes ago, patman30 said:

*Never discard your vinyl, it will last much longer than any current digital medium.

I don't understand this. While vinyl can be durable if cared for, it's still susceptible to wear, scratches, and environmental factors. Digital media, when properly maintained (e.g., backed up, migrated), can theoretically last indefinitely without degradation. So, in terms of longevity, digital formats are superior.

29 minutes ago, Digitalbanana said:

I don't understand this. While vinyl can be durable if cared for, it's still susceptible to wear, scratches, and environmental factors. Digital media, when properly maintained (e.g., backed up, migrated), can theoretically last indefinitely without degradation. So, in terms of longevity, digital formats are superior.

you validate my point
storing digitally will require migration at some point
ie. moving data to a NEW device

even new SSDs have a shelf life of 12-15 years
but that is yet to be seen
remember when it was claimed CD's and DVD's last a very long time,
and that has turned out to be completely false

digital formats stored on single digital medium are inferior due to hardware degradation,
unless you migrate or use multiple devices etc
*note: I stated medium not format in earlier post, this is where you may have got confused by my comment

I was referring to the storage of vinyl,
I did not mean the vinyl can be used and played etc 
of course that would degrade the vinyl
but if ripping the content from vinyl to digital
do not then discard the vinyl, which was my point stated last
the vinyl IS the backup

 

It depends on what kind of quality you're looking for. Vinyl doesn't have particularly good dynamic range and lacks bass due to the amount of space it would take to incorporate it, so it's using a curve to boost it on playback. There's a massive difference in sound depending on the pre-amp and especially the cartridge you use.

 

So, if you are that kind of audiophile, USB turntables will not achieve anything near the quality you are looking for.

 

If your turntable is properly maintained and has direct output (no built-in pre-amp or can bypass it) and your favourite cartridge, you can use direct output into external pre-amp, like Hegel V10, and use XLR cables to a digitizer like Tascam DA-3000 at 192 kHz 24 bit WAV. Most of these digitizers support SDXC or CF cards.

 

Assuming you already have a turntable with cartridge and no preamp, this semi professional setup will still set you back about 100,000 THB.

 

If you are not looking for particularly high quality transfer, simply use USB output from the turntable (if it has it), else pre-amped RCA output into a quality sound card, open sound recording application on your computer and select your sound card input, press record.

 

Either way, you might want to open files in Cubase or similar audio editor to remove the annoying pops and tone the audio to your liking once you're done.

 

Really depends on what level of quality you're looking for.

 

EDIT: And I just saw OP is asking for conversion to MP3... forget all the above and just get a cheap modern turntable with either USB output to plug into your computer or one that has USB-host socket for USB-stick or SD card to record to.

On 11/15/2025 at 10:56 AM, patman30 said:

digital formats stored on single digital medium are inferior due to hardware degradation,
unless you migrate or use multiple devices etc

Your argument makes no sense at all as to why to keep vinyl as backups! Migration of digital data has been a standard procedure since its invention and is as simple as anything just copying data from an older medium to a newer one. Certainly easier than copying from degrading vinyl records.. Keeping vinyl safe from the environment is a fools errand in comparison. Unless you are someone with a liking for things retro or the fuller sound of analogue discs some notice, sling them all out and go 100% digital. You know it makes sense.

You can literally download anything. Its like saying id loke to transfer my Asia Carrera VHS collection.  Why bother 

This is a stupid windup.

 

Name the album and ill send it to you in lossless MP3.

 

Guaranteed it is available on Spotify anyway.

On 11/15/2025 at 10:56 AM, patman30 said:

you validate my point
storing digitally will require migration at some point
ie. moving data to a NEW device

I am not validating your point at all. I am totally perplexed by it? Why is migrating data from old digital storage to newer digital storage difficult? Its done every moment of the day, automatically, incl backing up this forum contents as we discuss it. Same applies to music.

16 hours ago, short-Timer said:

This is a stupid windup.

 

Name the album and ill send it to you in lossless MP3.

 

Guaranteed it is available on Spotify anyway.

Yes and no.

 

1. There are some vinyls that were never uploaded anywhere as they are very limited runs. Heck, my dad's band had one when I was a kid. Surely you would not find that anywhere.

 

2. But even for those available... there's a catch. When CDs came out with vastly superior dynamic range to that of cassette tape and vinyl, instead of using that to its advantage, there seems to have been a race among record labels to make CDs louder by compressing the sound. While that made them a lot louder than any other media, it also crushed the sound, literally destroying it. I think the worst offender was Metallica's Death Magnetic album. Unfortunately, CDs are often used as source for the digital streaming services for music from yesteryears, and this loudness war just made this music sound terrible. An old vinyl will sound way better than those CDs or anything ripped off them.

 

 

Above is from Wired article discussing compression (https://www.wired.com/2008/09/does-metallicas/) - top is the original, bottom is compressed version (for illustration). A Thai comparison would be when village festival music volume is pumped up so high speakers start distorting. You get the idea.

 

I won't test you on getting some obscure album that had only a handful of copies made as I agree that for mainstream music, you're absolutely right. The time and effort to digitize vinyls is a total waste when you can download the same thing.

On 11/15/2025 at 9:18 AM, ianh68 said:

Does anyone know of a place in Bangkok that can convert a vinyl LP to mp3?

 

An easier solution would be to look up the LP or tracks you want to convert to mp3 on you tube. Then use a free Youtube converter to convert the video to mp3 ( deletes video but keeps audio )  . Finally download to your computer or store on a stick. 

 

I use this site but there are many others. Fast and simple.

 

https://ezconv.com/8xnp

On 11/16/2025 at 11:25 PM, short-Timer said:

This is a stupid windup.

 

Name the album and ill send it to you in lossless MP3.

 

Guaranteed it is available on Spotify anyway.

Not sure who you think is the wind up merchant. Never mind, thanks for the offer. Try this.

On 11/15/2025 at 10:02 AM, patman30 said:

why post this question again?
seeing your last post others already gave great info
including turntables with USB built for this (new to me, but as i said it is simple to do)

i assume this is just another engagement post

https://aseannow.com/topic/1349308-conversion-to-mp3/

 

Apologies. I had forgotten my earlier post. There was one reply worth following up so thanks for the reminder.

On 11/17/2025 at 8:21 AM, Digitalbanana said:

I am not validating your point at all. I am totally perplexed by it? Why is migrating data from old digital storage to newer digital storage difficult? Its done every moment of the day, automatically, incl backing up this forum contents as we discuss it. Same applies to music.

i never said anything was difficult
i never said it was more practical
it is purely about preservation
Vinyl will last longer than any digital medium, that is a fact.
It also lasts longer than most peoples memory
 

On 11/19/2025 at 10:31 AM, trucking said:

 

An easier solution would be to look up the LP or tracks you want to convert to mp3 on you tube. Then use a free Youtube converter to convert the video to mp3 ( deletes video but keeps audio )  . Finally download to your computer or store on a stick. 

 

I use this site but there are many others. Fast and simple.

 

https://ezconv.com/8xnp

I cannot find the album in question  ("Comrades Come Rally") on YouTube, nor the individual tracks.