By Robert Benson
The resurgence of vinyl records has followed many paths. From the ‘indie’ bands, who release colored vinyl or limited edition LP’s to the ‘classic rock’ artists who are re-releasing iconic albums, the role of vinyl records in our music landscape is changing.
Yes, people love their records, but there is a problem with vinyl, it is not portable. In the ‘iPod age’ music consumers want the convenience of digital music, but there is also a place for their treasured vinyl. In fact, we are seeing more and more ways to ‘convert’ vinyl to digital formats, to keep up with the digital age. USB turntables are flying off the shelves as well as all sorts of computer programs to help make records portable.
And seizing on this opportunity, there are a multitude of websites being made to allow music consumers to bypass the technical aspects of vinyl conversion to CD or MP3 formats. One such website, www.offtherecord-online.com, is taking advantage of this boon by offering simple ‘sound packages’ where music lovers can have their vinyl records transferred onto CD or to MP3. I spoke with Heather of offtherecord-online.com about their new endeavor to provide quality audio transfer services.
“We love music,” said Heather. “I play the guitar and love acoustic music, but my husband (Neil) is partial to punk, so we have quite an eclectic array of sounds in our household. We also realize that our customers love their music as well, therefore, we are guided by three simple principles to help bring their music to the 21st century.”
“We feel that our customers deserve to relive their music collections without having to max out a credit card, so the first thing we did was make our transfer services affordable,” detailed Heather. “Second, you should not have to suffer through a dizzying array of order options, add-ons and other charges, so we have made it very easy and simple; just choose the sound package that fits your needs. Our last principle is that we offer quality service, the customer is not just an order number and we can adapt to a specific need.”
I asked Heather why her and her husband decided to ‘open shop’ and provide this music transfer service.
“We grew up listening to records with our grandparents, from Disney stories to classical music. So, when these collections were passed down to us, we just had to find a way to share these pieces of family history with our own children,” detailed Heather. “So from our own family requesting the service offtherecord-online got started after we began offering our transferring services as a silent auction item for several local charities. We continue to support these charities, particularly Cottonwood Preschool and the SUDC (Sudden Unexpected Death in Children) Research fund. We also discovered that there were many music lovers out there that were looking for a way to transfer their cherished vinyl records to CD or MP3- without spending a small fortune. So we decided to go online and offer our services to music lovers in an affordable manner without compromising the sound quality-it is our top priority.”
But, with all the copyright laws and problems that come with re-recording music, is this all legal?
“In short, yes,” explained Heather. “A person has the legal right to make personal copies of music that they are in legal possession of, so it is certainly not illegal to pay someone to help you do it. That being said, we do insist that as part of this service a customer must fill out our legal waiver form stating that they are the sole possessor of the music that we are transferring and that they have no intention of distributing any copies that we make, for profit or otherwise.”
I inquired about the sound quality that offtherecord-online can provide.
“We guarantee our work and want our customers to be 100% satisfied. You will be impressed with the quality of music that comes through from the electronic cleaning process,” said Heather. “Our services literally bring new life and clarity to our customers cherished vinyl records. However, we also realize that by electronically ‘cleaning the music’ that too much can actually degrade the quality of the music, so it is our policy to strive for the best sound and find the optimum balance between removing as much of the pops, hisses and clicks that we can; while still preserving the original integrity of the records.”
“We also only accept a limited number of orders at once, so we can take the time to provide the customer with superb music quality and sound,” assured Heather.
So as this service becomes more popular and offtherecord-online starts to build a strong customer base, record lovers can rest easy that their beloved vinyl records are in capable hands. After all, this isn’t ‘rocket science,’ although the transfer services are being handled by one (Neil works as an aerospace engineer).
Offtherecord-online sample CD
Furthermore, archiving and conserving these old records is the ultimate way to preserve them. And offtherecord-online goes to great lengths to preserve the ‘look’ and integrity of the whole album, including front and back scans of the particular album cover for the jewel case inserts and even recording the albums on a CD that looks like a vinyl 45rpm record.
So as we listen to our ‘new recordings,’ we can rest easy knowing that it isn’t all about the money for offtherecord-online.com, but rather it is all about the most important element of their services, the love of the music.
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