Methods for transfer of albums to CD


A friend of mine has a very large collection of mint albums, including a beatles import box set, and a franklin mint jazz anthology which includes some fantastic music. I own a computer with a HP cd burner, Roxio Easy CD creator 5 software, but no decent sound card. I was wondering if any of you have had any success at creating good sounding CD's from vinyl, and what equipment I might need. I am sure I need a sound card for the computer with an analog and/or digital input, and one of the add on phono pre-amps, which I would likely use later to add analog to my system. Any suggestions and or experiences, both good and bad, will be appreciated. My current system:

Cary 808 amp, SLP 2002 pre-amp, Theta pro gen and Data, B&W 802 Matrix II, and a Windows 95 based PC with CD burner.

Mike
mike7142
Check out the Card Deluxe by Digital Audio Labs. It's great and can be gotten for under $400.
Lazarus, could you post the website for downloading the shareware. Both programs sound very useful, and much easier than the Sonic Foundry that I mentioned, particularly since separating into tracks is not very easy on Sonic Foundry.
Yes, and Lazarus, could you also let me know where you got the midiman sound card and what the approximate cost was. And thanks to all for your input thus far.
the midiman audiophile 2496 can be purchased on ebay right now for under $200. when i bought mine, i payed closer to 450. :(

the same company makes both the lp ripper and recorder. here's their website.

http://www.cfbsoftware.com/

as for the "mp3 to cd" program, any one will do, i'm sure. i like the one i use, as it has some neat features like cd text and stuff.

please don't hesitate to ask if you have any more questions. just be warned: the audiophile 2496 is a bit daunting to set up initially, as it's intended for professional musicians and has lots of functions that many of us will never need. once you read the manual, though, it gets easier.

the "lp" program duo is the polar opposite, however. they have simple learning curve and omit all useless functions.
I haven't used it, but the Terratec Phono Preamp, sold separately or packaged with the Studio software, seems like it could be the solution for transferring LP's to CD. The Studio software is supposed to help clean up damage or wear on the LP.

Check out these reviews and see if it makes sense:

http://www.3dsoundsurge.com/press/pr1710.html

http://www.proaudioreview.com/par/november00/TerraTec-Web.shtml

--Neil