Ancient Vinyl Collection

I just recently inherited a bucketload of truly old school vinyls and I would really like to listen to them, however my dear old dad has informed me that playing them is not really a good idea since with every play they get just a little bit worn out.
I personally don't ever plan on selling them so I'm really not worried about preserving their pristine state, but I would like to make sure my kids and their kids can listen to them one day in the future when Vinyl is cool again.

So basically I need to know what the preffered method of recording a Vinyl to a CD is.
Can it be done in the home or am I going to have to look for a business that does this professionally?
Should I even bother or just man up and play them on my new found equally old school record player?

you could try one of these (or something similar)

(note: that's just the first example google turned up for "USB Turntable")

I'll second the suggestion for a USB turntable - play the vinyl once while converting it to digital, and from then on out, listen to it on CD. Your dad is right - vinyl will physically wear out with repeated listening. I know this from experience, having worn out 2 copies of R.E.M.s Murmur.

OK, so rather than using a USB turntable, since I already have an Audigy 2 Soundblaster external card, I've hooked up a newish standalone record player (the old one I found wont spin the turntable for some reason) straight into my soundcard and I am now recording directly into Adobe Soundbooth.
Is this awesome Y/N?

Also, throwing my two cents into the Vinyl Vs. CD argument, I am right now listening to the youngest of the collection, an original Bob Marley and the Wailers record. I have half the songs on CD as well, but this shits all over them, I am feel so fuckin chilled out right now thanks to Bob, it sounds amazing.

I'm a big fan of a normal turntable plugged into the line in jack on the soundcard. I'm also a big fan of using Sonic Foundry's Soundforge to clean it all up once it's recorded. What I'm not a fan of is ripping music in real time. Not only must you rip a record in real time, but then you have to cut it up into individual songs, and actually take the time to name them all. It took me a day to rip 300+ CDs. In that same time period I can rip maybe 10 records. If it's something that exists on CD or is available for download, buy it instead of ripping.

I wouldn't buy a usb table anyhow, the tables - specifically the arms and cartridges tend to be low quality. I assume your newish table has line level outputs rather than the old phono level inputs? That's a plus for you, but be sure that's the case or else you'll want to run the table outs through a pre-amp then into the soundcard. If it is phono level and you don't go through a phono pre-amp you'll have to turn the recording volume all the way up to get a close to proper level and sound will suffer.

I've not used Adobe Soundbooth, but I have used a bunch of other programs and found Magix Audio Cleaning to be what I liked the best. If you're interested in the sound cleaning programs I'd really emphasize this software. -I almost never use electronic cleaning, I'm stupidly anal about the recorded sound being pure to the source material, and I don't mind a little surface noise. But for the occasional thrift store record that's really fucked, this software does an amazing job of cleaning up without stepping on the rest of the sound, nothing else I've tried has come close.
With proper care (needs not be pricey) the amount you play the records isn't an issue. worn needles damage records quicker than anything. Playing dirty records is damaging also. For years I used a homemade record cleaning solution and I really doubt the pricey stuff I buy now is any better. for a quart: 6 parts distilled water, one part isopropyl (rubbing) alcohol, 6 drops photoflo. Photoflo is basically a very pure detergent used in developing film. you could use dish soap like Joy or whatever if necessary, but I'd cut the drops down a bit. If you're nice to someone at a developing shop and take a little container they'll probably give you 20 drops. The key is this tiny bit of detergent, it kills the static completely. Once the static is gone the dirt will come out of the grooves instead of staying electronically stuck in there and getting ground in with each play. You'll need to clean your needle often because it will now dig that crap out. -clean gently with straight isopropyl on a soft brush of some kind.

I can't really say what to apply the solution with besides a brush or pad designed for records, I'd buy one. I use a vacume record machine so for me drying isn't an issue. The alcohol is there mostly to aid in drying - you can do one of two things, apply the solution very sparingly and it will dry on it's own quickly, or develop some other way to aid the drying and using more solution will remove more grit so your needle doesn't have to. My friend rigged up a cordless drill with a record hole size bolt in it. two large fender washers with two pieces of rubber and a wing nut to tighten it down. spin the solution off the record and onto the cat or whatever. works nice.

DO NOT use any solution with alcohol on old 78rpm records, they are made of shellac not vinyl and they will melt. It is absolutely safe for vinyl though.

There is a vinyl junkies group, but it's not super active.

I did something similar to convert my 78s to mp3.

Also, I believe that music sounds best on the medium it was recorded for. So if something was recorded to be released on vinyl, it will always sound better on that, no matter how you remaster that shit.

Most of the truly ancient ones are simply too old to have CD counterparts, we're talking like "Roger Nigels Music Time Celebration Fest: Ten Amazing Country Songs from 1943" etc.

Buy a laser turntable, and you can play your records as much as you like without wearing them out. Prices start at $9990.

Get a good turntable and good stylus and play those records like they are supposed to be played. If you have a big collection I doubt you'll be able to wear the records out before your kids get their turn.

Transfering records that have never seen a CD release to digital is a worthwile effort, though. You might even think about starting a sharity blog.

That's an awesome idea! totally checking that out

It's very, very hard to wear out your records from normal play. I have been collecting and spinning vinyl for over 20 years now sound and the records I bought in 1986 sound just as good as they always did. In fact, the copy of Kiss Alive II I got when I was 9 years old still sounds great and I played that fucker about a thousand times. Unless your needle is a disater, I wouldn't even give it a thought. And those laser turntables are so bogus. Just listen to a cd if you're gonna get a laser turntable.