Disklavier

Ann,

At it's most basic, recording an LP (in the case of vinyl) from your 
turntable to your computer is not really much different than the 
process used in the past to make cassette tape recording of a LP. 

You'll need some hardware to get the audio signal from the turntable 
and into your computer and some software, both for recording, and 
for "burning" (creating) the CD.

Fortunately, any PC with a modest spec, a soundcard and a CD-R 
burner can be used to transfer vinyl to a CD. 

The process goes something like this:

The output of your turntable will go into either your stereo system 
(receiver) or into a "phono preamp".  Then, the output from your 
stereo system (or preamp) will be plugged into the "line input" on 
your computer's sound card (e.g., Sound Blaster).

The proper signal to send to your computer's soundcard will need to 
come from either the phono output on your stereo system (if it has 
one) or from the outputs available on the phono preamp the outputs.  
This is necessary because a standard turntable does not generate 
the "line level" signal that is required to record to your 
computer's sound card and/or provide the required RIAA 
equalization.  That is, you can't plug a turntable directly to a 
sound card because you will not get enough level to record 
successfully and the result won't sound good.  There are newer 
turntables available that have the phono preamp built in.

A sound card is a piece of hardware on your computer referred to as 
an "audio interface" that allows you to take an external signal, say 
from your stereo, and get the signal into to your computer.  It 
takes the analog signal from the device you plug you turntable into 
(stereo receiver, phono preamp, etc.), digitizes it, and records it 
to the PC in a language that your computer can understand using a 
format referred to as a wave (.wav) file.

As for software packages, it comes down to cost and the features you 
need.

If your son simply wants to record to your computer and burn a CD, 
there is lots of software that will accomplish, including shareware, 
etc.  However, if your son's LPs are in less than pristine condition 
and he wants to removes the "clicks, crackles and pops then 
specialized software will be required.

rrl_edm

--- In disklavier@yahoogroups.com, "annmeris" <ann@q...> wrote:
>
> I have a son who has a large record collection and for his xmas 
> present wants us to get him the necessary things to convert vinyl 
to 
> CD. Does anyone know how to do that?
> Thanks,
> Ann
>