Six of the best gadgets and gizmos on a theme. This week: Six of the best gadgets to digitise your collections.
By Peter Jenkinson
Gathering dust in attics, cupboards, garages and sheds across the nation is a hoard of vinyl, VHS and tapes that are rarely, if ever, played, yet kept for posterity, their owners unable to release them from this limbo.
Perhaps owners have a romantic notion that the retro machines they were once played on are set for a return, but this simply isn't going to happen. However, these impressive collections are far from any expiry date so turn them into digital files and enjoy them on your 21st century devices.
Here's a collection of gadgets that makes going digital a doddle, with no confusing colour-coded cables or mind-boggling manuals to tackle...
Best of Both - LP 2 CD - £349.99 from www.play.com
Plugged into a set of speakers you can enjoy your 33, 45 and 78 rpm records in all their original sound and it also has a front-loading CD player to play your collection of shiny discs. Stick your vinyl in place and hit record and the music will be stored on the flash memory of the machine. It's then just a matter of putting a blank CD inside, hitting the burn button and a speedy transfer to CD will commence.
Compilation Converter - Tape Express - £49.99 from www.iwantoneofthose.com
Time to dig out all those compilation tapes you once made and give them the digital treatment with assistance from this old Walkman lookalike. Plug it into your PC and turn old mixes into MP3 files with ease. The EZ software inside allows you to work with your iTunes library so you can make the files easy to find when you're done.
Picture Perfection - Epson V300 Photo Scanner - £74.14 from www.amazon.co.uk
If you're running out of shelf space to store all your photo albums, then this scanner is ideal for turning old photos into digital snaps to store on your PC. Easy to set up, the V300 features photo fixing software that'll restore faded colours, do away with dust and more besides. Both Mac and PC compatible, it can even handle negatives and slides.
Reformat Your Films - ION Audio VHS player - £134.99 from www.play.com
The picture quality on VHS tapes can begin to deteriorate after frequent playing, so dig out those classics and get them digital without delay. Store the film footage on your computer and transfer it to a media player for viewing on the move or use the machine for burning direct to DVD.
Middle Man - U Record Music Converter- £49.95 from www.firebox.com
Attach one end to your prehistoric player, be that a ghetto blaster, a turntable or a tape deck, and the other to your Mac or PC and you are ready to rip. Convert all your old music into digital quickly and simply with software allowing you to correct imperfections and label tracks to store in your digital library.
Ready To Play - ION iProfile USB Turntable - £129 from www.djkit.com
Another vinyl converting machine able to transfer all your plastic platters into MP3 heaven to play from your PC. This model also has a nifty iPod dock so you can cut out the computer and send your grooved tunes direct to your portable player.
