# Napster and the Future of the Recording Industry **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [March 13, 2000, 4:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/napster-and-the-future-of-the-recording-industry/17959 "2000-03-13T04:02:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2000, 10:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/napster-and-the-future-of-the-recording-industry/17959/61 "2000-03-20T10:31:00Z")
[hijack] I was intrigued by the digression on locating obscure oldies on Napster. Does this mean there’s a way to convert songs on LP or 45 into mp3 form? I’d be _very_ interested in finding out how to do this, if it’s possible. [/hijack] P.S. Thanks, Gaudere, for saving us from The Curse of the Extra-Wide Page! * * * The mark of a truly great mind isn’t whether you’re right or wrong. It’s how well you can weasel out of a jam. - Unca Cecil ---
**Author:** ![Revtim](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/revtim/32/1042_2.png) [@Revtim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Revtim)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2000, 1:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/napster-and-the-future-of-the-recording-industry/17959/62 "2000-03-20T13:53:00Z")
RTFirefly, a friend of mine has an audio card with audio input jacks, and he’s been making CDs from his vinyl and tapes. I’m pretty sure the software he uses could make MP3s, too. And if it couldn’t, there plenty of software to make the end-result CD into MP3s. I suspect that most of the oldies I’ve been finding on Napster come from oldies collections released on CD, though. ---
**Author:** ![Revtim](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/revtim/32/1042_2.png) [@Revtim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Revtim)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2000, 5:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/napster-and-the-future-of-the-recording-industry/17959/63 "2000-03-20T17:07:00Z")
My buddy who makes the CDs was just by, and he told me the software he uses is called “McMillan Dart Recorder Studio” or something similar. He bought it in a software store. ---
**Author:** ![Mojo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/85f322/32.png) [@Mojo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mojo)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2000, 6:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/napster-and-the-future-of-the-recording-industry/17959/64 "2000-03-21T06:06:00Z")
RTFirefly, like Revtim said you can use a sound card with audio inputs to record LPs to your computer using the Sound Recorder under Accessories\>Multimedia. This will record the record in .WAV format and from there you can use an encoder (like the shareware BladeEncoder) to convert it to MP3. There are also programs you can use to clean up the sounds (eliminate clicks, pops, and hisses). My friend has his record player hooked up to his Minidisc- the minidisc audio compression algorithm typically cleans up the record imperfections and then converts it to MP3. The “Gin and Juice” isn’t by Phish, it’s by an Austin group named “The Gourds”. There was a very brief MPSIMS thread where this was covered. The mistake arose because Phish (not the group, a NYC based rapper) does backing vocals on Snoop and Dre’s albums and Phish (the group) does covers similar in style to this- although typically never in the studio and sans mandolin (they usually use a banjo). > [@](#): > > The total cost of a new CD should be about $4. This is how Virgin, Sony, Atlantic, Columbia, RCA (etc.) can afford airplanes, glass & steel building complexes, high quality drugs, prostitutes, lavish parties, and limos. Amen. ---
**Author:** ![Mojo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/85f322/32.png) [@Mojo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mojo)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2000, 6:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/napster-and-the-future-of-the-recording-industry/17959/65 "2000-03-21T06:08:00Z")
In my last post it should read "and then **he** converts it to MP3. The Minidisc does not have a MP3 conversion utility and I did not mean to imply that. ---
**Author:** ![Cooper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/50afbb/32.png) [@Cooper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cooper)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2000, 1:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/napster-and-the-future-of-the-recording-industry/17959/66 "2000-03-21T01:56:00Z")
Mojo: Can you find discography link to prove its The Gourds and not String Cheese Incident? I’ve listend to other stuff by String Cheese and it most certainly sounds like them to me. Admittedly I find it odd that its a studio track and yet its not on any String Cheese Discography… ---
**Author:** ![Mojo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/85f322/32.png) [@Mojo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mojo)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2000, 2:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/napster-and-the-future-of-the-recording-industry/17959/67 "2000-03-21T02:53:00Z")
Sure can. Hopefully this won’t cause scrolling problems: [http://www.cdnow.com/cgi-bin/mserver/SID=1076168945/pagename=/RP/CDN/FIND/album.html/artistid=GOURDS/itemid=584839](http://www.cdnow.com/cgi-bin/mserver/SID=1076168945/pagename=/RP/CDN/FIND/album.html/artistid=GOURDS/itemid=584839) ---
**Author:** ![Cooper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/50afbb/32.png) [@Cooper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cooper)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2000, 6:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/napster-and-the-future-of-the-recording-industry/17959/68 "2000-03-23T06:20:00Z")
Sure enough Mojo, you are right. You can even listen to part of the track through real audio. This means there are at least two bands unwittingly stealing publicity from The Gourds, Phish and The String Cheese Incident (both of which get credit for this track on lots of MP3s being distributed). ---
**Author:** ![PatronAnejo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ac8455/32.png) [@PatronAnejo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PatronAnejo)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2000, 3:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/napster-and-the-future-of-the-recording-industry/17959/69 "2000-04-15T03:22:00Z")
Has this discussin moved somewhere else? ---
**Author:** ![PatronAnejo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ac8455/32.png) [@PatronAnejo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PatronAnejo)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2000, 3:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/napster-and-the-future-of-the-recording-industry/17959/70 "2000-04-15T03:28:00Z")
_Discussin’_? I did grow up in Tennessee, but that’s actually a typo. Discussion. What happened to it? ---
**Author:** ![lamerino](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/5f9b8f/32.png) [@lamerino](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lamerino)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2000, 5:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/napster-and-the-future-of-the-recording-industry/17959/71 "2000-04-15T05:25:00Z")
More on Napster on the MPSIMS forum [http://boards.straightdope.com/ubb/Forum4/HTML/007183.html](http://boards.straightdope.com/ubb/Forum4/HTML/007183.html) * * * Soccer Mom, Pizza, Bridge, and not in that order [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/napster-and-the-future-of-the-recording-industry/17959.md?page=3)