Phono Inputs...what can I use them for?

I think Viridian's and Stan's suggestions are good. To explain what Elizabeth and I were saying, generally a phono stage is used to accept a very low level, comparatively weak, signal from a phono cartridge and amplify that signal. Thus , there is an amplification stage in the phono stage that, were you to feed it a signal that is too strong, would overload the unit. The RIAA equalization is also built into a phono stage--records were intentionally cut with reduced low frequencies so they could be cut on the record and played back by a stylus (I'm oversimplifying--I'm sure other frequencies were intentionally changed during the cutting of the record)--the phono stage has a built in equalizer to attempt to restore the frequencies to what they were on the master tape. If you play back a source like a CD that was not "reverse equalized" like a record was, it will skew the frequency response of the music on the CD.

Good answers.I like the separate input box idea too.

Thanks for the inspiration, everyone.

If you can believe it, I'm not so interested in a second input box...unless cost is totally in it's favor. I love the amp: not because it has resale value, but because I *use* it. And I plan to keep on using it for the forseeable future. I don't plan on selling it. It's not that expensive to replace anyway. So I cut its resale value by half...so what. Would I get $100 worth of value out of having one of the two phono inputs made into something more useful? It'll be something I'll consider.

Thanks for the explanations all. I had not idea what RIAA equalization was/is...good to know. Now I've just got to find someone in the Seattle area who can recap this thing, and replace the phono input into another AUX. Then I'll be happy until my golden years....

Not being the sharpest knife in the drawer, I didn't realize that I could use the Tape function to listen to another channel. I've always wondered by the word "Tape" wasn't on the input selector. Hmmm...But, I see from the specs that the input voltage is the same as that of the AUX channel. I can plug my TV into one of them. That's what I'm looking to do. Plug in an MP3 player a TV and perhaps a CD/DVD player into it, so I can stop fiddling with cords and plugs. Thanks, everyone for helping out.