Like most people who grew up during the ’60s, ’70s, and ’80s, I have amassed quite a collection of vinyl records. So many, in fact, that it would be too expensive to replace them all with CDs or digital downloads to take advantage of modern technology – that is, to carry my entire collection with me in a pocket-sized music player containing thousands of songs.

So what’s a music-loving baby boomer to do? Paying a commercial service to transfer my records to CD costs more than buying a new CD, and I can’t borrow them all from my friends; no one I know has as eclectic a record collection as mine. As much as I love my records, and would never part with them, I still need to be able to listen to them in the car, on the bike, or on vacation, and the size of the records, not to mention the equipment needed to play. them – makes them the least portable of any recording medium. It would be easier and cheaper! – hire a band to travel with me and play covers of my favorite songs.

But seriously, this is a problem many of us face, and I thought it was insurmountable until I discovered a fantastic invention: the USB turntable. A turntable that plugs directly into your computer and allows you to transfer records directly into digital format via easy-to-use software that is included with the turntable purchase or is free to download online. My favorite is the TTi USB turntable with iPod dock, yes an iPod dock! This excellent invention even allows you to record directly to an iPod, avoiding the need to first record to your hard drive and then download to the player.

This is a fantastic machine, although it can be time consuming as it has to play the discs at the correct speed, but what problem could there be listening to your record collection while it’s being transferred to a new medium, one that allows for so many possibilities? It’s easy, all you have to do is play it through your computer or iPod every time you listen to a record. A bit of a tweak with the software: you have to separate the sound file onto separate tracks, and your record can now go wherever you go. Bright.