Vinyl to Mp3 questions

[Floyd]

Hello everyone I want to take the time this year to get my vinyl collection to mp3 format so I can use it with my newly purchased Traktor Scratch Pro.
I need to know the fastest way to do this and what bit rate mp3 file I should convert the wave to since I love to scratch I assume the bit rate is very important? I recorded a record with the Audio 8 in TSP last night but it seemed like the volume on the wave file was low when I loaded that wave into a deck on TSP. Any tips on this would be great I have done this once before with Audcity and the results on volume level varied from track to track.
Can I take a picture of the record sleeve and add it to the mp3 file for album art too? If there is a program that can make this a little less time consuming please let me know as I have several crates. Thanks DDTT!!!

[rhombus_77]

This might help you:

http://www.djtechtools.com/forum/showthread.php?t=10063

[bumtsch]

Don't bother recording through a mixer, go straight to the Audio8.
Try to record hot while avoiding clipping at all costs ! This will mean playing with the input gain with whatever you're using to record. This knob is conveniently located next to the record level metter + switch in Traktor. Then fine tune the level in an external editor.
If you really wanna stick to mp3, just stick to CBR 320kbps using the LAME encoder (--alt-preset insane or whatever the flag is). I'd losslessly compress them to .flac myself but it's your call (and hard drive space).

As for the album art, once all the tunes are tagged and inside your Traktor collection, you can use a tool called Trainspotter which will automate fetching album art from Discogs when available. I haven't had to use that feature but this should hopefully cut a lot of the hassle

[Sanderbongertman]

I think trainspotter also has built in recording. This way you can record, get the mp3 tags and the artwork all in one program and then add it to your TSP collection.

[Floyd]

Cool I will look into .flac & trainspotter I have not heard of either one of them. What about click removal features and such?

[Floyd]

Dude I opened up a can of worms with the format question I did a google search on the .Flac format and there is a ton of info out there but my main concerns would be does Traktor play .Flac also can I use .Flac with itunes & iphone? So I would also need to download my beatport files as a wav instead of mp3 too. Do you guys think this is the best choice for long term use?