What is the best software and hardware for recording vinyl records to cd?

Question

I am on a budget, so cheap is good... to a point, lol

Answer 1

If you have a component turntable that has the 'left & right' lead lines that plug into you normal stereo/receiver, it's really simple. Go to Radio Shack, Wal*Mart, ect., and get an adaptor with the 'RCA' type 'stereo' inputs ( left and right ) and the small 1/8" male plug that will plug into your sound card ( "line in" on sound card in back of PC mini tower, etc.). You will need your turntable close to the PC 'tower' as to reach the input of sound card, or buy extension 'RCA' type lines ( some refer to these left and right as another 'type', but they're the kind that would be 'left & right' input/output on the back of a stereo VCR, DVD player, etc.

Open your Windows sound 'mixer' ( usually in the utility tray ). Choose 'options' and choose/check 'Aux' input ... save. From there, a program like "Gold Wave" or maybe even the latest version of Windows Media Player might record, but I'm unsure about that program and it's recording abilities. I have always used "Gold Wave" ( it's a freebie download ). If you can hear the sound from the turntable while playing a vinyl disk, it can be recorded into a .wav file. If you choose to, you can compress it into an mp3 file if you have an mp3 compressor. Actually, I like .wav files' sound and attributes, except for 'size', sound and attributes better than .mp3 files.
Mack