Virtual Vinyl Player FAQ.
Details about the demo, license activation, local music collection, Album Crate, record behavior, sound processing, and file safety.
What is Virtual Vinyl Player?
It is a Windows desktop player that presents locally stored digital albums as virtual records. Album artwork, generated labels, record sides, duration-mapped grooves, a moving tonearm, stylus cues, surface effects, and turntable animation work together with familiar playback controls.
What restriction does the demo have?
The demo plays 60 seconds of the current track and then automatically advances to the next track on the record. Activating a purchased license key removes this restriction so tracks play in full.
Does the demo include the rest of the player experience?
Yes. The demo is intended to let you explore the collection browser, virtual turntable, playback workflow, record sides, themes, vinyl character, equalizer, artwork, and other player features. Its restriction is the 60-second playback limit on each track.
Does it stream from Spotify, Apple Music, or another service?
No. Virtual Vinyl Player is designed for a digital music collection stored locally on the Windows computer.
Which audio formats can be indexed?
MP3, FLAC, WAV, M4A, AAC, OGG, Opus, WMA, AIFF, and AIF can be indexed. Final playback support depends on the Windows Qt multimedia backend and codecs installed on the computer.
How does the Album Crate organize a collection?
Select a main music-library directory and one or more immediate subdirectories. The player scans each selection recursively, indexes folders containing at least two supported audio files, prepares cover thumbnails, and lets you search, sort, filter by genre, or isolate folders that need metadata review.
What can I do with the Album Queue?
Add albums from the crate by dragging or right-clicking, arrange the order, begin queued playback, skip to the next album, remove a selection, or clear the current queue. You can also create and name an album playlist, save it, load it later, update it after making changes, or delete it when you no longer need it.
How are tracks assigned to record sides?
Tagged disc and track numbers establish order. The player can automatically distribute tracks across complete two-sided records using a seven- or eight-track maximum per side, or you can identify the first track of Side B for a normal album.
What happens during a record flip?
The platter first coasts to a complete stop. The complete vinyl layer—including grooves, label, text, and transparent center opening—rises, enlarges, turns over, and returns to the platter while the deck and tonearm remain fixed.
Can the stylus be moved manually?
Yes. Pick up the headshell and drag it inward or outward across the playable grooves. Releasing it seeks to the matching point inside the record side, plays the brief contact cue, and starts from that exact groove position.
What vinyl-surface options are included?
Choose Clean Pressing, Lightly Played, Vintage, or Well-Worn. Surface effects are non-destructive, have their own level control, and continue through the space between tracks while the stylus stays down.
Does the main Volume control include the vinyl effects?
Yes. Main Volume controls album music, vinyl surface effects, and stylus contact or lift sounds together. Surface Effects Volume separately adjusts the balance of the continuous vinyl layer.
What does the equalizer include?
The equalizer provides a preamp and seven bands from 60 Hz through 12 kHz. Presets include Flat, Warm Vinyl, Rock, Jazz, Vocal, and Bass Boost. Equalizer processing affects album music, while the master Volume still controls music and effects together.
How does volume normalization work?
The Overall Album Volume Normalizer targets approximately −14 LUFS while protecting against clipping. Album mode preserves the intended relationship between tracks; Individual Tracks mode calculates a separate value for each song. ReplayGain is used when complete tags are available.
Can I choose a specific speaker or Bluetooth device?
Yes. Sound Output routes album music, vinyl effects, and stylus cues to System Default or a specific Windows playback device. The selection is remembered and safely falls back to System Default if the device later becomes unavailable.
Where does album artwork come from?
The player checks embedded artwork, preferred cover filenames, other images in the album folder, and then MusicBrainz and Cover Art Archive. You can select a local image, inspect online matches, or restore automatic artwork without writing changes into the album folder.
Does the player change my music files?
No. It does not rename, retag, normalize, move, delete, or otherwise modify source audio. Indexes, caches, preferences, equalized working audio, normalization data, and artwork overrides remain in application data.
Does it require Python to be installed?
No. The application downloads and prepares its own private runtime on first launch. It does not require or modify the system Python installation.
Read the full user’s guide.
The Release 1.5.0 guide covers setup and Windows security, demo and licensing behavior, the interface, Album Crate and Album Queue, playback, record sets, vinyl sound, equalization, artwork, normalization, themes, shortcuts, data, and troubleshooting.