Vinyl To Cd - Better Interface Than Line-in?, (What Again?) Options

[Peter B.]

Hello:

No doubt this question has already been answered a thousand times, but...

All I want to do is transcribe vinyl LPs to CD. I've been using the line level inputs on two different PowerBooks (G3 and G4), but can definitely hear the 'loss' in the final product.

I'm wondering if an external USB analog to digital device will give better results?

The iMic is not (apparently) thought highly of here, but might it be a noticeable improvement over the straight line-in arrangement?

And/or is there a relatively inexpensive alternative that would give a superior result?

Thanks very much for your time and patience.

Peter B.

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[kevinr]

I know that it gets a bad press, BUT I have been using an iMic and Final Vinyl (downloaded from the Griffin website - for some reason the one on the budled CD didn't work). The sound may not be as good as a CD, but it's on a par with other MP3s when transferred to iTunes. Perfectly acceptable to me, anyway.