I have a pretty decent LP collection that I would like to convert into CDs, but I don't know how to do it. What kind of equipment/software do you need to do this besides the obvious turntable & CD burner ? How would I connect the turntable to the computer ? Thanks in advance.

Use a disk compressor??

Oh, this wasn't a riddle??  Ok.

You hook your turntable up to your PC's sound card (probably have to go through your stereo system as well), play the LP, and use recording software on the PC to capture the sound to the hard drive as 44.1KHz/16bit PCM data with a WAV header.  (Optionally, if the recording software won't create a WAV header for you, you might have to put one on the file.  But most recording software should do it if you ask it to.)

Once that's done, you use CD recording software to burn the file onto CD.  All of the packages that I have seen for CD burning take .WAV files for burning music CDs.  (Well, except for DiskJuggler, but that's another story.)

The only downside to all of this is that it depends heavily on the quality of your turntable, stereo, and sound card.

I would highly recommend reading this guys site.

[url=http://homepages.nildram.co.uk/~abcomp/lp-cdr.htm]Transferring LPs to CDR: Some Advice[/url]

As per all above...

Come off your stereo, from RCA line outs, to a stereo 1/8" plug.  Radio Shack stuff.

Plug this into your sound card's Line In.

Use Goldwave, from www.goldwave.com to record, as above, 16 bit, stereo, 44khz sampling.

Set Goldwave to record from line in.

After you record your wav file, in Goldwave, under Effects / Filter / use the Pop/click filter.  This will removed the Rice Krispies.

NOW you can save the file, and after you have done each track like this, you can burn them to CD-R, via Adaptec or other CD burner program, as a music CD.  Don't waste money on "music CD-R's".

Helpful hints... when burning CD's, turn off your virus scanner, and everything else you can do without.  Do no multitasking.

If you are making coffee coasters instead of CD's, you may not have enough RAM.  YOu need bare minimum, 128 Mb, but 192, 256, or more is much better.

Mantis, check out this site. I'm thinking of getting one of these myself.
[url]www.fostex.com/Products/phonopreamp.html[/url]
It's available at:[url]www.musiciansfriend.com/srs7/sid=020317214805068003037225481571/search/g=home?q=terratec+preamp[/url]

coyote3

I started to do the same thing, but decided that it would be much better to just by the CDs, cost a Hell of a lotta money, but the quality is much better than I could do myself.

(1) Put LP on a lathe and cut down to same size as a CD.

(2) Fill hole in LP with a commercial plastic filler.

(3) Sand with fine paper to remove grooves and smooth hole filler.

(4) Spray paint with a light metallic paint color.

Voila!  CD.

What coyote3 said...This would be the best way to connect the two.
the other way yould be to use the rec(or output) jacks on the tape section of your reciever.

 Also, if you are looking to get the best possible duplication, and your albums are in great shape, spend the few bux to get a new stylus on your turntable.

Thanks for the help !